Gratitude
On Saturday, June 28th, our parish celebrated the life of Johnny Wayne Bradburn, the organist/choirmaster of our parish from 1996-2010. The service can be viewed online at:
https://www.youtube.com/live/IPeT_yAr8ng?si=3ZRHhijxkioI-C10
When Fr. Morris and I met with the family, I learned that Johnny had not left specific instructions about the music for his service. In fact, Johnny probably would have preferred us all to gather at the local pub and lift a glass of Scotch in his honor instead of a church service. (I can confirm that we lifted that glass to Johnny at Dugan’s following Saturday’s service.) Johnny’s close friend, trumpeter Ed Bach, offered some suggestions, and the family had some ideas too. After readings were selected, I decided that the best way to craft the music for the service was to think about the spirit of the man we knew and loved. In total, 27 Emmanuel Choir members, 12 Red Door Ringers, a bagpiper, a trumpeter, an organist, two choristers, a 7-year-old cherub, and a congregation of the faithful, sang Johnny to heaven.
When I took over Johnny’s role as organist and choirmaster in September 2010, I inherited a program filled with some wonderful musicians. One of Johnny’s superpowers was his ability to encourage and inspire parishioners to offer their musical gifts as part of the liturgy. In addition to an adult choir and a handbell ensemble, I was introduced to soloists who regularly offered their musical talents. Amongst these fine musicians included Mary Lou Vaughan, soprano, Mary Lee Schulte, piano, Carolyn Hatcher, flute, John Hatcher, tenor, saxophone, and bagpipe, Lydia Gill, piano, Mollie Wilson and her Well-Seasoned Singers, Dr. Havner Parish, bassoon, Sarah Brown, soprano, Jamie Lutz, organ, and Carolyn Wade, soprano.
Johnny’s encouragement and championing of volunteers, young and old, is part of the musical heritage of Emmanuel. Carolyn Hatcher remarked to me last week that Johnny would come to her house every Tuesday morning to accompany her on the flute, primarily to encourage her to keep playing. He would similarly meet with Mary Lee Schulte, who became his piano duet partner of 10 years. I heard several people comment that Johnny was skilled at making even the most musically limited person feel like their talent was at a world-class level. That, my friends, is real ministry.
During his tenure, Johnny dutifully crafted the music for beautiful liturgies. When he played, it was with an absolute spirit of joy that permeated his entire being. He was a brilliant improviser. He took choristers to Royal School of Church Music programs. He directed larger choral works with orchestral accompaniment. Perhaps his most memorable musical achievement at Emmanuel was his direction of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. That large-scale musical production is legend.
My tenure at Emmanuel is all due to Johnny. In 2009, I was serving as organist at La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, a large parish of some 4,500 members, with a sanctuary that seats 1,200 and houses the largest church pipe organ in the state, comprised of 5,067 pipes. I was one of five music staff. My wife Amanda was living in Greensboro with her aunt and uncle while attending UNC-Chapel Hill, enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. While she was at a party, a discussion arose about what her husband did for a living. That conversation included Seena and Dale Beckman, friends of Amanda’s aunt and uncle, and close friends of Johnny Bradburn. In turn, my resume ended up in the hands of Johnny Bradburn and I soon received a phone call from him, a man I had never met nor known about, and he began to tell me all about Emmanuel, the vision that he and the rector and the parish had for a new church, master plan, and a new organ. I was intrigued, as it reminded me of the pioneering spirit prevalent in the church in Arizona.
On my next trip to North Carolina to see Amanda in October 2009, the rector invited us to come and visit. John Tampa gave us a tour of the campus and the area, shared the vision for Emmanuel’s future, and offered me the job on the spot, having never heard me play a note. He mentioned that the position wouldn’t start until the summer or fall of 2010 and hoped that I would give it great consideration. I asked that if he was serious, he should contact me again in the spring. He did.
The Monday after Palm Sunday, I was sitting in the rector’s office with Michelle Kaiser, Don Bridges, and John Tampa. They presented an offer to me, and as Amanda and I worked to discern our future, we spent several hours on the porch of the old Ryder Cup Room at the Carolina Inn at Johnny’s invitation. In that time, a storm blew through. For a decade-long desert dweller, the amount of rain that dropped from the sky was a deluge of water that I had not seen in a very long time. Soon after, the sun reappeared, and the sky became a beautiful “Carolina” blue. As we rocked in those characteristic white porch chairs, I drank more coffee than I had ever had in one sitting. We discussed music, the organ, life, the future, all the while watching the squirrels play on the green outside the hotel, the air fresh with pine, and the songs of birds being the loudest sounds in the air. It was a distant and stark contrast to the sights and sounds of my life in Arizona.
The spirit seemed to be leading us to North Carolina, and we decided to accept the call here, with the resolution that we would give it a year, and that if things didn’t work out, that there were plenty of other opportunities for us. In the intervening 15 years, life has happened. There have been triumphs and failures. There have been unexpected abundances and deep disappointments. There have been holy Christmas nights, beautiful Easter joys, and mountaintop experiences. I’ve played brides down the aisle from organs in the back and the front of the church. I’ve played for countless memorial services and witnessed many baptisms. We have had seven children – two lost to miscarriage – and made a home in Pinehurst. We have been blessed.
One afternoon, a few years after living here, I was on the golf course with Johnny. In the midst of our conversation, Johnny proclaimed that we had the best job in the world. I believe he was right. Sure, we get to make wonderful music, but the most valuable gifts received from our vocation are beyond monetary compensation or art. Our vocation affords us the gifts of the many relationships we form with those whom we serve, the families of love and support we call choirs, the moments of transcendence we experience through our liturgies, and the honor and privilege of being part of the cornerstones of life – baptism, confirmation, marriage, and death. Unique to our profession, we get to be witnesses and participants of the wide arc of life.
Following Johnny’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease, I watched the facilities that empowered Johnny with his musical and physical prowess slowly diminish. It was tough to witness, yet in my conversations with family members last week, the “gift” aspect of his disease was mentioned repeatedly. In that decline, Johnny had the opportunity to strengthen relationships with his children, family, and friends in deeper ways than any could have imagined. Even for me, the disease had relational implications as I developed friendships with Johnny’s four children and extended family. In his prime, Johnny was a man in constant motion. In his twilight years, it was the gift of time with Johnny that we were given. Admittedly, I wish I had given more of mine to him during his illness. I’m thankful that I was able to see him one last time after I learned that he was under Hospice care. We visited for close to an hour, and before I left, I played Debussy’s 1stArabesque for him. It was a gentle goodbye.
Since his passing, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on my friendship with Johnny. I even reviewed some old videos from our eight hand, two piano programs that we did together with Mary Lee Schulte and Lydia Gill. I invite you to enjoy this clip of Faust’s Waltz from 2013:
https://youtu.be/oID9d6d-Hw4?si=dKMnGJnWhtAIOzD0
In all my reflection though, the word that comes into my mind repeatedly is, gratitude. Thank you, Johnny, for having the intuition and wisdom to review my resume and then put trust in me as your successor. Thank you, Johnny, for the foundational work that you did here at Emmanuel that has led to the growth of our music ministry and church. Thank you, Johnny, for your friendship, love, and endless support as a colleague and mentor. When the parish gave me and my family a large love gift to support my sabbatical in 2017, it was Johnny who insisted we use it to travel to Scotland. His ideas and guidance gave my family the best 3 weeks of our lives. Johnny assured me that I could navigate those single-track roads without issue and because of him, we traveled to Iona, where I had one of the most holy spiritual moments of my life.
Lastly, thank you, Johnny, for hearing the call of Christ, who made you a minister to the people through music. Your tour of duty on the bench has finished. The time to, as you once quipped, “hang up your cleats,” has arrived. Someday, when that time comes for me, may I do so with the same courage and grace. Requiescat in pace Johnny, a child of God, and a good and faithful servant.
Dr. Homer A. Ferguson III
Orgainst/Choirmaster