Tribute to a deserving church musician

This past Sunday evening, I took the opportunity to attend and experience a great local church tradition in Venedocia: Gymanfa Ganu.  This strange name is the name given to  a Welsh tradition of hymn singing by a congregation in four part harmony and usually led by a conductor.  It is a wonderful tradition that Salem Presbyterian continues each year, packing their sanctuary with members, family members, friends, and visitors.  Singing many traditional Welsh hymns, those gathered raise the roof in singing their beloved hymns of the Welsh heritage.

This year, the chosen conductor was Christopher Uhl, son of Don and Faye Uhl, who still reside in Van Wert and have been longtime members of Van Wert’s First Presbyterian Church.  Their family has a Welsh heritage which made Christopher a perfect choice as conductor of the hymn festival. Christopher has also gone on since graduating from VWHS in 1978 to become a much respected sacred choral and orchestral conductor and organist.

As I was sitting in the Salem Presbyterian Church in Venedocia this past Sunday evening, Uhl recognized his one-time organ teacher who not only taught him the art and craft of organ playing, but also the love of church music. That person would be Gloria Wendel, who is still the organist at First United Methodist in Van Wert. As Christopher credited Gloria for inspiring him in music, it made me think of how many lives this lady has touched over her years of music service. I realize this because I have had the privilege of working with her at First Church for the past 23 years. But when Christopher mentioned it, I started thinking even more about just how far her musical branches have reached.

Not only is the Van Wert area filled with organists who learned the art of organ playing from Gloria, but the entire country is also filled with accomplished organists who were once her student.  Many of them have gone on to fill very respectable church music positions. I am sure there even more than I am aware of.

The reason I want to share this with you is not just because Gloria has been and still is a very fine organist and teacher, but it’s also because of the person she is. She grew up in rural Convoy and attended Ohio Wesleyan as well as Ohio State University. Following college, she married Larry Wendel, also a Convoy native who returned to the area to teach. He would eventually own his own construction business and then become executive secretary of The Van Wert County Foundation.

One thing led to another and the Lord opened the door for Gloria to become the church organist at First UM in Van Wert. I have no doubt that Gloria could have moved on to higher paying church jobs, but she became committed to First Church and has remained there for well over 55 years.

Working with Gloria, I have appreciated the commitment, love and zeal she has for music, and church music in particular.  One of my choir members has called her an angel on the organ bench.  She sings as she plays and knows more songs by heart than I know from a hymnal.  We take her ability (she also was blessed with perfect pitch) for granted.  Although she is an accomplished music reader, she can go from one song to another with ease and without music.  We witnessed this in Portland, Oregon when at General Conference, she pitch-hit at the last minute to play the perfect selection of hymns during the procession of the United Methodist bishops to start General Conference. You would have never guessed she didn’t have any music in front of her. This might have been her crowning jewel as the service was broadcast throughout the world!

So, yes, Christopher Uhl, you were the recipient of a great teacher and inspirational person, but for those of us lucky enough to work with and hear Gloria each week, we continue to be blessed!

FINÉ.