Photo by Debbie Adams
By Debbie Adams
dadams@ourvalley.org
Several years ago, the organ in the main sanctuary at Bonsack Baptist Church was damaged by lightning. Repairs were made, but the church knew that the fix was temporary and began planning and creating a fund for a new instrument.
A committee was formed in March 2018 to research church organs and make the final selection on a new one for Bonsack. Members made visits to local churches and even to Maryland to hear different types and models. They eventually chose the 4 Manual Walker Technical Organ from Walker Technical Company because of “the quality of the instrument” and the fact that Walker “pays great attention to detail.”
Church organist (and committee chair) Susan Smith and Minister of Music Grant Frederick are delighted with the results of the committee’s diligent work and the church’s generosity. The organ was installed in August.
“We couldn’t be happier with the organ,” said Frederick. “It will be used for decades to come for worship, for weddings, for memorial services. The primary use of an organ is to lead the congregation’s singing; that’s where it is the most beautiful and most useful.”
The congregation will celebrate and dedicate the new organ with a hymn festival, organ concert, and reception on the afternoon of September 29, with the public invited to attend. The hymn festival is scheduled for 3 p.m. with the organ concert at 5:30 p.m. and the reception in between.
The guest organist for the concert is renowned concert artist Samuel Metzger, Director of Music and Organist at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tenn. He is heard regularly around the country in concert and has recorded several CDs. He received two Fulbright Scholarships allowing him to study in Germany and France.
The design of the Bonsack organ is based on an organ Metzger designed for his former church in Florida.
Bob Walker, founder of Walker Technical Company, will join Bonsack Baptist for the dedication services. He was most recently at Bonsack for the installation; he is the lead “voicer” on the project and made sure “each stop sounds just right in our sanctuary,” with 34 separate adjustments to be made for each note.
“We are thrilled to experience the rich sounds we hear coming from this instrument in our sanctuary and can’t wait to share it with the community!” said Smith. “The organ is magnificent, and Walker Technical Company has truly exceeded our expectations in all areas. Perhaps the most thrilling of all, though, is the privilege of hearing the congregation joyously sing on Sunday mornings while accompanying from this grand instrument.”
Bob Walker says that the new organ at Bonsack is unique— “there is nothing else like it in the world.” It was built to the specifications requested by Bonsack to meet the church’s individual needs and designed for a particular space. Every organ built and installed by Walker is one of a kind.
“It’s exciting for us to meet the needs of a church like Bonsack,” said Walker. “They are a good church who do things well.”
Walker Technical is located in Pennsylvania. Walker organs can be found throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad, including the Mormon Tabernacle, the Crystal Cathedral, Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center, and the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis.
There are many Walker-built or modified organs in the Roanoke area. The organ in the chapel at Raleigh Court Presbyterian and consultation with Mitch Weisiger, the Director of Music Ministries and organist there, was a big influence on the Bonsack committee in making a choice.
Walker founded his company in 1973, having grown up with a hardworking father who owned a lawnmower manufacturing plant. Walker says his father was a taskmaster who had him using a lathe at age 6, arc welding at age 7 or 8, helping to build an organ for his mother at age 10, and eventually building his first organ at age 14. He has now been building organs for over 50 years and working with the instruments for 67 years.
His father’s plant switched from manufacturing lawnmowers full time to building lawnmowers half the year and organs the other six months. At age 17, Walker took over the company. He served in the Air Force and then started his own business in 1973 going from building speakers to making electronic sound generators for church organs, to building complete organs.
Walker became a Christian at age 31, learned “there is a God” and took to heart scripture from Psalm 150 which says in part, “Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.”
“It’s God who wanted us to do this,” Walker says. “This is why I am going where I am going.”
Walker says the best Christian people came to him “out of the woodwork.” He hired the finest engineers and computer scientists, including his son, and the company continues to grow with “enthusiastic employees doing high quality work.” Their reputation has spread by word of mouth. They have no need to advertise.
Every Walker organ project is treated as a custom instrument, allowing them to address any acoustical environment. Their aim is to build the exact instrument the customer requests “without compromise.”
The wooden console for the Bonsack organ was outsourced to the R.A. Colby Organ Company in Johnson City, Tenn. The works, or “guts of the organ,” were created by Walker in Pennsylvania. Walker sampled all the sounds, created the computer system that runs it, the speakers, and the internal wiring.
Walker says the organ at Bonsack is unique in another way— the console is a French design with all the draw knobs in a curve equidistant from the organist’s shoulder, making them easier to reach and sweep across. This design is a rarity in the United States.
Many people think pipes when they think “organ,” but the digital organ market has taken over for several reasons. Pipe organs take up a great deal more space; they are much more costly; and pipe organs require much more maintenance— needing to be tuned several times a year. Generally, the range of a digital organ is greater;
Frederick says that a pipe organ equal in quality to the new digital organ at Bonsack would have some pipes 64 feet in height and some just a fraction of an inch.
The committee “picked the company they felt was best. Walker stood out against other organs in duplicating the sound of a pipe organ and in attention to detail.”
Bob Walker is known as a stickler for detail. He once sent his son Randy up in a basket on a rope to the top of the Crystal Cathedral (283 feet— there is no elevator) to “mike” the carillon bells for recording.
“This organ is so versatile— it works with congregation singing or it can be an ensemble instrument,” said Frederick. “It has a wide parameter of sound, from delicate to loud and boisterous, which can function well in any musical situation.”
The committee signed the contract in October 2018. Construction of the console began early in 2019. Installation of the organ at Bonsack Baptist took about two weeks. The first service with the new organ was on August 18.
Bonsack Baptist Church is located at 4845 Cloverdale Road in Roanoke. Chris Cadenhead is the pastor. The congregation, especially the music ministry, is eager for the community to join them for the events on September 29. Choirs from Thrasher Memorial United Methodist Church and Greene Memorial will be joining the celebration.
