Warner Robins' First UMC celebrates church organist's long service
WARNER ROBINS -- On Nov. 7, 1965, Norma Hunt sat at the keyboard for the first time as the official organist for First United Methodist Church of Warner Robins.
That was 50 years ago.
The young Wesleyan College graduate had moved to Warner Robins a year before with her husband, Brev Hunt. He began teaching at Lindsey Elementary School and soon became principal. She began a career in speech pathology working at Houston Speech School and in Houston County public schools.
They joined First United Methodist and became volunteer workers. For Norma Hunt, that meant playing piano a bit and occasionally substituting for the regular organist. Then she became the regular organist.
Sitting at the keyboard year after year, Hunt endeared herself to the congregation and many in the community -- and them to her.
On Sunday, Norma Hunt's long service was celebrated. She was showered with love, thanks and well wishes and honored through a proclamation from Warner Robins Mayor Randy Toms. She was given a trip to the coming national convention of the American Guild of Organists.
But as great as those accolades are, Hunt maintains the real gift has been the 50-year-long opportunity to serve others in worshipping and glorifying God.
"We had a Hammond electronic organ when I began and met in what's now the social hall," Hunt said. "In 1967, we moved into the main sanctuary. Originally there was a curtain on stage and the organ and choir were behind it. During weddings, someone had to stand at the side and let me know what was going on or I wouldn't know what to do. In 1980, we got rid of the curtain."
The church got rid of the curtain because of renovations to accommodate a new organ: a Möller pipe organ with an immense multi-keyboard and pedal board console and massive banks of pipes.
For Hunt, who majored in education but minored in organ at Wesleyan and first played in church at age 10, the instrument is a delight.
"It's an honor to sit at it," Hunt said. "It was the first pipe organ in a church in Houston County and it's very satisfying to play. I'm not able to put things in words very well, but I feel I'm able to truly worship and express myself through music. I think a lot of others feel that way."
Hunt said First United Methodist blends music and worship drawing from many genres. She said a service may feature the Möller , piano, bells or contemporary praise band instruments. Styles range from pieces written centuries ago for the great pipe organs of Europe to modern hymns, jazz and rock.
Hunt maintains she and the pipe organ can hold their own against modern instruments. Due to refurbishments performed by Guzowski and Steppe Organ Builders and the ongoing efforts of church member Gene Youmans, the instrument is in top shape and in 1998 a solid-state console was added with the capability to play digital versions of almost any instrument.
But as much as Hunt loves the Möller, it isn't foremost in her thoughts of ministry.
"The organ sounds glorious, but what's really neat is when you have it and the congregation and choir singing joyfully along -- that's really wonderful," she said. "There's a verse that says we're to praise the Lord, for our God inhabits the praise of his people. That's the point. When I play, whether it's here or somewhere else where the instrument isn't really so good, the thing is to worship, to have my heart sing to the Lord."
MANY, MANY SONGS
Hunt couldn't be pinned to one favorite song from the thousands she's played, though she said she always finds "Holy, Holy, Holy" to be a great inspiration.
But if she did want to look over 50 years of songs and pick one, she has the resource: Hunt has kept notes from each service, wedding or other event she's played. And bulletins from the vast number of services.
A resource she said also helped in a recent church history written by Alline Kent.
"I get kidded for my note-keeping," Hunt said. "But they've been helpful. I don't want to repeat pieces too frequently so they get boring. And my notes from weddings have allowed me to repeat music for a couple from their parent's wedding. It's sentimental and means a lot."
There's more that can be said of Hunt's 50 years of ministry, her service to 11 senior pastors and 16 music directors and the countless services, choir rehearsals, youth groups and events.
Her friend and longtime First United Methodist member Joyce Phillips said one thing that can't be said is that it's ever been a "job" to Hunt.
"A lot of people see it as a job but that's not Norma," Phillips said. "This is her ministry. She's touched so many people and been nothing but a blessing. A big blessing."
But Hunt sums it up in another word: grateful.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity," she said. "I'm grateful for my husband and children's support. For the people I've served with and those who've let me be part of their lives. I'm grateful for the young people I've seen grow up and who are sticking with us and assuming leadership here as adults. Many of them I played for their wedding and had to tell myself, 'Don't cry, don't cry. You won't be able to see the music.' I have a lot to be grateful for."
And she has a lot more to do. Hunt said she has no plans to retire. (She's already done that once, she said, but somehow she just kept playing anyway.)
And she has to practice for next week.
Yes, she still does that.
Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.
This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Warner Robins' First UMC celebrates church organist's long service ."