Local couple to donate pump organ to MCC sale
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles highlighting local involvement in the 2002 Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale.
STAR-JOURNAL STAFF
Kansas' annual Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale is just two weeks away, and area churches are gearing up for their part in the event.
Although it takes place at the state fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Mennonites from across the state are participating in the event. And several of those donating goods to be auctioned or sold live in the Hillsboro area.
One of those objects is a pump organ nearly 100 years old. It's currently owned by Don and Lenora Klassen of Hillsboro.
The Klassens first came into possession of the organ when they bought it in 1969 from Lena Schmidt. At the time, Don Klassen was the administrator of Bethesda Hospital and Home in Goessel.
Schmidt, he said, received the organ as a wedding present. She was married to David Schmidt on Sept. 18, 1913.
When Schmidt moved into Bethesda Homes, she no longer had room for the organ, and since none of her children were interested in keeping it, Schmidt sold it to Don Klassen. He doesn't remember exactly what he paid for it, but the cost was probably around $200, he said.
So for more than 33 years, the organ stayed with the Klassen family.
"We carted it around wherever we went," Don Klassen said, laughing.
The organ brought back memories of his childhood in Mound Lake, Minn., when he and his siblings gathered round the family organ and sang songs together. His mother was an accomplished organist.
And when she came to visit Don and his family in later years, she once again worked her magic — this time, on Don's organ.
"She still had the magic touch," he said.
Don and Lenora have lived in several places throughout the Midwest during Don's days as a hospital administrator — Goessel, Garden City, and Colorado, to name a few.
"It's always had a prominent place in our home," he said. And it's in excellent condition — it's never had to be restored or altered.
Since the organ is a pump organ, it requires a little more muscle power than the typical electric, said Lenora — and both feet need to be working at the same time to produce a quality sound.
"They did a lot more walking back then," she said. "They had better leg muscles."
But now, it's time to downsize, Klassen said. He hopes that the organ will fetch at least $1,000 for the MCC relief organization.
And Lenora Klassen secretly hopes that one of her six children purchases the organ — to keep it in the family line, she said.
But, "one can't hold on to things forever," she said.
The Klassens are members of the First Mennonite Church.
