Gethsemane Lutheran Church, Hopkins, MN.

The Reuter organ at Gethsemane was installed in the early 1960's and was prepared for addition of a Choir division. When organist Joan Elander was tragically killed in a hit and run accident while walking with her husband, that knowledge was lost and the organ has remained incomplete for over 50 years. There were also prepared stops in the Swell. The Choir Gemshorn and Gemshorn Celeste pipes were installed, and they actually played from the Positiv keyboard but were physically located inside the Swell box! Visiting organists were greatly confused when so many stops did not work, so these were covered over with opaque tape. While the organ has remained reliable, leather failure in the swell engine and reservoirs has hastened a two-part project to update the organ. The first phase was a console and electrical overhaul to give the organist multiple memory levels, transposer, etc. This was provided by a Syndyne 8400 system. Since the Choir division will never be installed, we revised the stop layout to reflect what we propose for the second phase, which is mostly addition of a small Solo division as well as the prepared stops in the Swell.