2003 Year in Review

Madelyn Renkes, Organist for 75 Years

Madelyn Renkes has been playing the same organ at the Morrison United Methodist Church for the past 75 years.

Anyone who has ever been to the United Methodist Church in Morrison has probably heard Madelyn Renkes play the organ. Mrs. Renkes has been the church’s organist/pianist for the past 75 years. At age of 14, her mother asked her if she would like to play the piano at their church. Even though, like most teens, she was really more interested in being with her friends, she said she would. That choice would direct the rest of her life.

She married and had three children, but continued playing almost every church service, wedding, and funeral for the next 75 years. Now at age 89, she has begun to slow down a little. A few years ago she decided not to play weddings. “The practices take too long and all I have to do is play one song,” she explained. “When I started playing, most weddings were performed in the home instead of the church.” Her eyesight and hearing are deteriorating but she is still in good physical condition.

Before Mrs. Renkes started, her mother was the church pianist along with a cousin. At that time, the church had evening and morning services, which was a lot for a young girl. But in the 1920’s there were not as many extra-curricular activities. Music was one of the few. The church had a piano until they purchased an organ in 1929 for around $5000. Even though the church has been remodeled it still has the same organ today.

“The organ doesn’t have the loud/soft it needs. After the remodeling, they placed the pipes in the new room and there wasn’t enough space,” commented Mrs. Renkes.

Her parents decided to homestead in Canada with several other Morrison families several years before she was born. Her parents and her father’s two brothers moved to Alberta to farm. Her father had owned a men’s clothing store in Morrison before then. But when her mother became pregnant with Madelyn she came back and lived with her parents at 301 W. Main Street until Madelyn was born there in 1914. When her mother was expecting her brother, she became homesick for Morrison and they moved back when Madelyn was just 2 years old.

For one year as a young woman, Mrs. Renkes went to a musical college in Chicago but she was going steady with her future husband and returned to Morrison. Other than missing a week or two for vacations or for health reasons she has dedicated her life to music. Not only does she play for her own church but she had, on occasion, played for weddings for friends in other churches. In the past, she enjoyed doing duets with Nancy Poling on piano “they complement each other” and double duets (a quartet on two pianos). She has also played for the Messiah in Morrison. But the occasion is not as important as the music to her.

She credits some of her abilities to wonderful piano and organ teachers. She began piano lessons from Mrs. Matthew at seven years old. A Quad Cities woman gave lessons in an upstairs room downtown, then Julia Wallace, an accomplished organist at the Presbyterian Church, gave her several lessons on the organ.

Her children remember being brought to church every Sunday by their grandmother and she also watched them while her mother practiced or played for funerals. While her children were younger, she gave lessons, to her own and other children on Saturdays in the old “Renkes Funeral Home”, on south Genesee St. Her parents lived downstairs and she and her family lived upstairs.

The whole family is very musical. Her brother was a wonderful violin performer and when he retired to Morrison she was very excited about playing with him. They even made some records together. Her children all have had lessons and each played an instrument. Her daughter, Pat Cassens, gives piano lessons in Morrison. Her son, Phil Renkes, also of Morrison, played the trombone and other son David, from Ohio, played violin. Because her daughter gives lessons, even some of her grandchildren play piano.

Yearly Mrs. Renkes takes a driving test. She told her daughter, “When I can’t drive I’ll quit” but about a year ago her eyesight became too bad with macular degeneration that she couldn’t pass the test. But that did not stop her. She relies on family, friends, and church personal (even reporters) to drive her to and from the church for practices and services.

Another time she complained to the doctor she was tired. Her daughter reminded her that she had done 2 funerals, 2-3 hours of practice, and played bridge with her friends during the week and had done two services and a funeral on one Sunday. That would make a young person tired! She alternates Sundays between one and two services.

The old Hymns are her favorite type of music. For Mrs. Renkes music is the worship service. She plays three preludes before the service (more than most churches), which adds more practice time. But playing isn’t a job to her. She commented, “This is my church, and I love it! It’s kept me going (busy). It’s a good life and I’m doing what I want to do.” The congregation is conditioned to her music and they like her choice of music each week. Mrs. Renkes subscribes to Lawrence Co. and they send her monthly music. She says she has a huge amount of music to choose from. She plays by ear but can “read music like we read a book,” according to her daughter Pat. She can play a hymn without music, but even after 75 years of playing, she still practices each week.

When asked if there was anything else she ever wanted to do, her answer was “build a house”. She and late husband built a home on Norrish Road they lived in for 20 years.

The current minister of Morrison United Methodist Church, Rev. Dan Swinson, is eighteenth minister in the Morrison Church that Mrs. Renkes has played for. He commented, “It’s hard to believe that Calvin Coolidge was president when she started in 1928. She has done the same thing through different times and a changing world. It is difficult to find someone with the quality of training and the heart for the instrument. Organists are hard to find but she has the faith and dedication. Madelyn has been given a gift and she uses it humbly. You sense that what she does is for her God.”

The United Methodist Church has planned a concert in her honor. For more information visit our article Methodist Concert

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
November 12, 2003