Longtime Presbyterian Church organist to retire; reception planned July 27

The First Presbyterian Church of Hillsboro is preparing to say farewell to an organist whose dedicated service has been a fixture of their congregation since the 1960s, as Ralph Vance is set to retire this summer.

A retirement reception in Vance's honor will be held at the church on Sunday, July 27 from 2-4 p.m.

Vance said that the weekly choir rehearsal and two Sunday morning services a week are "getting to me."

"I'm tired," Vance said. "I have some arthritis in my fingers, and they don't respond the way I'd like them to."

Vance retired from Kroger after 38 years of service, so he said this is his "second retirement."

After his first retirement, Vance enrolled in college, earning an associate's degree from Chatfield College and a bachelor's degree from Xavier University. This is unsurprising, considering Vance's love of learning and music have been mainstays throughout his life, leading him to a number of music-related jobs and activities.

In fact, after taking piano lessons from Sarah Swisshelm, Vance taught himself to play the pipe organ.

"I took piano lessons for years and got the same books organ teachers used and taught myself to play the organ," Vance said. "The pipe organ is different, but the keys and the pedals are the same."

Vance also studied trombone for five years as a teenager.

"Now my trombone director's daughter is in my choir," Vance said.

Vance was assigned a position as chaplain's assistant after being drafted into the Army in 1957. He was stationed at Fort Devens in Boston, where he said he was given the job "because I could type and play organ."

"I worked for a Lutheran and a Southern Baptist, who were both wonderful chaplains," Vance said.

Vance first began working as a church organist at the Belfast Presbyterian Church, playing the reed organ. St. Mary's Episcopal Church later hired Vance after losing their director.

While still working at the Episcopal church, Vance started his almost 50-year tenure playing the organ for the Presbyterian Church when their choir director, Mary Muntz, told him the church was hiring. Vance said that he played the organ at both churches for a while and would have to play for three services each Sunday morning. At the end of the second morning service at the Presbyterian church, he would rush to play the same music at the Episcopal Church.

In addition to teaching himself how to play the organ, Vance also taught himself how to fix it, making adjustments whenever he notices a problem. Vance said that making repairs to the organ is "just obvious" to him and that he applied his love of math and physics to the mechanics of the musical instrument.

"The tracker action is still the same," Vance said. "If something breaks, I climb in and repair it."

One unique aspect of his 50 years at the Presbyterian Church is that Vance has played the same organ the entire time. He said the 115-year-old organ has been enlarged, adding over 1,000 new pipes since he started playing it in 1964, but it is still the same instrument.

"The organ never failed me all these years," Vance said.

Similarly, Reverend Maurice Mitchell said that Vance has not failed the church, providing "many years of service" and faithfulness.

"He's been faithful for a long, long time," Mitchell said. "When he had a heart attack, he was in the hospital one Sunday. The next Sunday, he was in a pew with his mother, and the Sunday after that, he was back up on the organ bench. He wasn't down very long before he was back. He seldom took a week off."

Vance said that he's played for "a lot of services" over the years, but one that stood out was when the Presbytery of Cincinnati held a meeting at the church.

"The church was filled with ministers and their wives, and they sang so loud, I couldn't hear myself play," Vance said.

In addition to his years as a church organist, Vance also played piano for Rotary Club for 30 years.

Vance said that Hillsboro High School music director David White, an organist himself, is training a young man to take over after his retirement.

Vance said that to his knowledge, the two churches where he served as organist are the only churches remaining in Hillsboro with an organ. It's a lost art, he said, but one that he still loves.

"I had a nice enjoyable time at the Presbyterian Church, and at the Episcopal church, too," Vance said.

Now that he is free to just enjoy one church service on Sunday mornings, Vance said he hopes to spend his spare time relaxing and traveling.

"I've lived a full and wonderful life," Vance said.