The Narrative Of The Organ Gift
The great American poet Emily Dickinson wrote:
“I've heard an Organ talk, sometimes
In a Cathedral Aisle,
And understood no word it said-
Yet held my breath, the while-And risen up-and gone away,
A more Berdardine Girl-
Yet-know not what was done to me
In that old Chapel Aisle.”
The Casavant Opus # 3861 comes to Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church out of a wonderful story of faithfulness and God’s providence. Like the speaking of the cathedral organ of which Dickinson wrote, the narrative of the organ gift is itself wonderfully faith nurturing, and needs to be shared as a part of the organ’s history.
The story begins with the life of Fred Eleazer Cooley (1872-1968). Living in the town of Milford, New Hampshire, Fred Cooley was a man of unusual productivity, and through the years, the community developed trusted confidence in his ability to repair, install and maintain their buildings, such as installing the boiler in the local laundry and the chimes in the steeple of the Congregational Church.
In a manner too seldom seen today, his personal support of the community was evident through the quality of his craftsmanship and the thoroughness of his labors. Like so many other New Englanders, Fred Cooley’s Christian faith was nurtured in the Congregational Church tradition. He once wrote in a letter to his children, as he worked on a church in the community, “I hope to build the church strong enough to serve generations to come.” And like his Calvinistic ancestors in the faith, a part of Fred Cooley’s Christian lifestyle included the discipline of frugality and saving. Over the years, he saved a portion of what he earned, investing it and cultivating it with the same patient, humble, and thorough care he brought to every task he did.
In 1952 Fred Cooley moved to Zephyrhills, Florida in order to be near his only son and family. Here he built his own home. And being a man never content to sit idly, he decided his Florida home needed the same amenity his New England homes had always had---a basement. So, at the age of 80, he set about to build one, setting himself the goal of removing fifty buckets of dirt a day from underneath his home. When finished, the basement, now with a poured concrete floor, became the place where Fred Cooley was often happiest---a workshop. Mr. Cooley would come into Tampa to visit his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and worshiped with them at their church, the Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church. He sat on the east side of the present sanctuary, near the window later given in memory of his son, Earl Cooley, by his family.
Fred Cooley had a deep love for his grandchildren. His little granddaughter Marcia Jones was a delight in her later years, and he had a particularly close relationship with his grandson, Bob Cooley. Toward the end of his 96 years of life, Fred Cooley set up a trust fund which he entrusted his grandson to manage, a trust fund which he intended would be a continued blessing in the community beyond his own life. Over the years the trust fund prospered. And the enduring gift begun by “Gramp” was a source of blessing to many good, charitable causes across generations, a means of continuing Fred E. Cooley’s careful support of God’s work in the world even beyond his own life.
In 2004 it became clear that the existing organ was failing and in need of extensive renovation. The pastor appointed an Organ Task Force to carefully study and make a recommendation to the Session on what would be the best path toward the finest music in the PCPC sanctuary. The task force concluded that a new organ was a much superior choice to renovating the old organ. After considerable study, they came to a determination that the right instrument for the PCPC sanctuary was a substantive pipe organ. One that, to paraphrase Emily Dickinson, would in its “speaking” raise Christian faith in hearts and souls. However, it did not appear that the means were at hand for the quality instrument that was needed.
However, as Isaiah tells us, “The Lord is a God who makes a way…” (43:16). Fred’s grandson, Bob Cooley, knew something of the Organ Task Force’s work because his wife Carolyn served on the committee. They have lived nearly all of their adult lives as members of the Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church and have long been generous supporters of its mission. As the Spirit spoke in Bob’s own heart, he concluded that the time was at hand to spend the gift his grandfather had planted long ago and entrusted to his grandson to manage. He recalled that his mother, Mary Cooley, had played the piano for children's Sunday School for many years, and his wife, Carolyn, had sung in the Chancel Choir for forty-four years. Music was very important to the Cooley family, so, he reasoned, what better way to invest the trust fund than in a new pipe organ for Palma Ceia Presbyterian. Bob approached the pastor, generously offering to make the trust finds available to fund the design, construction, and installation of Casavant Opus # 3861. When the gift was announced to the church officers, they received it unanimously, and rose in their session meeting and sang the doxology.
The craftsmanship of this exceptional organ reflects the character and values of Fred Eleazer Cooley’s life’s labors. It was built and installed through the efforts of artisans who, in the words of the psalmist, “bless the Lord with the work of their hands.” It builds up the church, reflecting his desire voiced years ago in that letter to his children, to one day “build a strong church that will serve generations to come.” It will sing of the faith in a church where Fred Cooley worshipped, and where his family has been ordained, baptized, confirmed, married, and often served in the ministry of music. The narrative of the gift is not only a story of Fred Cooley’s love and generosity, but a narrative of the capacity of God to providentially weave the golden thread of His purposes across generations. The dedication plaque on the organ reads as follows:
This Casavant Frères Organ
Opus #3861
Is Dedicated to the Glory of God
And to the Loving Memory of
Fred Eleazer Cooley
April 2007
“It is good to praise the Lord and to make music to your name, O Most High.” (Ps 92:1)
