1975

Pastor Walter Kortrey, pictured here, conducting services. According to church historian Mark Anderson(1),

was very aware of the great difficulties that had ensued at Christ's Lutheran Church in Woodstock. He set about healing the congregation with great attention to the wide variety of opinions held not only within the congregation, but also among the townspeople in general. The story of his pastorate is the story of a slow but certain involvement of the congregation with the pressing social needs of the town.

There were 110 students in Sunday School.

The following is from the January/February issue of The Scroll(2):

Christ's Church choir joined with choirs from the other Woodstock churches at St. John's R.C. Parish Center to raise money for the Inter-Faith Social Action Group.

Lutheran Church Women met at Barbara Kortrey's home on Ohayo Mt. Road. Ginny Rose played piano, Doris Blatter sang. The group listened to the new recording called Christmas Joy featuring Pastor Kortrey and Mr. and Mrs. Victor Lasher.

Here is from the July issue:

The congregation of Christ's Lutheran Church has agreed to sponsor a Vietnamese refugee family. The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has responded to the congregation's assurance with the assignment of the family of Nguyen Hong Lac which includes his wife [Lien], their three children and a niece. More information will be given within the next few days.… Sponsorship calls upon us to provide temporary housing--the Church Council has moved to make the parsonage available for the family's use. [The parsonage was vacant, because Pastor Kortrey and his wife had their own home on Ohayo Mountain Road.] We should also provide essential furnishings and kitchen utensils and food and clothing to get started on. As sponsors we will also be offering our assistance in finding employment for the family breadwinner so that permanent resettlement and self-support may begin as soon as possible.…

Here is from the September issue:

Christ's Church endowment fund of $5,000 ($19,100 in 2006 dollars) established in 1972 through a bequest from the Frank Benson estate has been invested in an LCA American Missions Certificate.

The congregation was invited to the installation of Rev. David Arnold at St. Gregory's Episcopal Church.

Choir Director Doris Blatter and Organist Barbara Pickhardt ask that all choir members be on hand for the first rehearsal of the season on Thursday evening. They are planning for another year of special music and worship leadership.

The congregation was adjusting itself to the pipe organ it had obtained 4 years before (click the picture to enlarge it), originally built in 1885 by Hook & Hastings for the Baptist Church of Hopkinton, NH. According to historian Anderson(3):

The Hook and Hastings organ is almost perfectly matched to the acoustic and architectural space of the church building. It is a small, single manual (keyboard), and pedalboard instrument, with a tracker action (direct mechanical linkage), and with a limited number of stops. It was built in Boston in 1885, just ten years prior to the dedication of Christ's Church.

Over the years and even in the beginning, we were a little disappointed in that we felt the organ was capable of producing better results than we were getting. We had great difficulty in finding competent tuners.(4)

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Quoted in The Scroll, November 1979. (Close)

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What was not known when the organ was purchased… was that the instrument is pitched nearly a half tone higher than standard tuning. It is not possible to add lengths to pipes and so it will always remain at that high pitch. This can be a challenge for tenors trying to sing high parts! It was also quickly learned that wind instruments (clarinets, trumpet, oboes, etc.) could not tune high enough to play with the organ.(5)

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Quoted in Anderson, For All the Saints, op. cit., p. 156. (Close)

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Pastor Kortrey encouraged a small group calling themselves "the Friendly Visitation Group," led by Erwin and Elsa Holumzer, to begin a regular ministry of visits to two area homes for senior citizens located in Lake Hill.

There was a large and active Sunday School and a children's choir.

The congregation put a new roof on the shed (click either picture to enlarge it).

The church budget was $32,555 ($124,360 in 2006 dollars).

The following is from the November issue of The Scroll:

Preparations are underway for the 170th anniversary celebration.

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Gerald Ford (Republican) was President. The newly elected 94th Congress was in session. A dollar in that year would be worth $3.82 in 2006 for most consumable products.

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