150-Year-Old Resident Organ Preparing for Celebration
Extreme longevity is an object of rejoicing in in a community like ours. We have an apartment dweller nearing 104 and a sprightly 98-year-old TV camera volunteer in Residential Living, not to overlook several centenarians in our Health Care Center. But on September 15, all ears will be directed at our only 150-year-old resident, a priceless organ built by George Jardine & Son in 1869 for the Congregational Church in South Britain, Connecticut.
George Jardine, an organ builder originally from England, came to America in the 1830s with his family. A few short years later, he had become a major organ builder and owned a large factory in New York City. In 1871, Jardine retired and left the business to his sons. In March 1900, the firm of closed its doors after producing about 1,300 church organs and a significant number of chapel and residence organs during their 65 years in existence. The Jardine label remains a prestigious mark of organ quality to this day, however.
Back to our Jardine organ: Jardy had a colorful career, traveling from New England to Washington State, until it settled down at York Hospital in 1982, for use in their chapel. By that time it needed some TLC and prior to its spell in York it underwent a heavy-duty refurbishment in the Marietta, PA shop of Ray Brunner and Alan Heller. As it happens, York Hospital wouldn’t be the final home for Jardy: it was underused there, and the hospital contacted our then president, Judith Wallace, offering the Brethren Home the precious instrument.
It took more disassembling of course, but Jardy finally found its permanent home in our newly built Nicarry Meetinghouse in 1999. In 2003, organist Shirley Sprunger King – wife of Vernon King, our CEO at the time – instituted an organ concert series which continues to this day. We are honored that Shirley is returning to Cross Keys Village from Indiana where she currently resides to present a concert on Sunday, September 15, celebrating the organ’s 150th birthday. Violinist Venona Detrick, from the York Symphony Orchestra and the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, will be featured in some of the selections. The free, public performance will take place in Nicarry Meetinghouse, beginning at 2:30 p.m.