Seattle, Washington
Church of the Ascension

Aeolian/Balcom & Vaughan

This was a major rebuild and enlargement of the existing AEolian
that had been installed used in 1957. Some work was done by 
Balcom and Vaughan in 1963, though the exact nature of this work 
is unclear. 

In the 1979 rebuild, a third manual was added to the organ. All 
of the AEolian chests were replaced with new Kilgen-style unit 
chests built by Balcom and Vaughan. A new Reisner gang switch 
relay was installed. A new Lucas combination action was installed 
inside the console. The original AEolian rocker tabs on diagonal 
jambs were removed and the large board above the manuals where 
the player had been became the stoprail with stopkeys - player 
removed. 

A new Stinkens principal chorus was added to the Great, as was a 
new 8\' Trumpet with 16\' extension. 

The new Solo division consisted of a Holz Gedeckt unit at 16, 8, 
5-1/3, 4, 2-2/3, and 2 pitches. This was actually a Tibia rank. 
Also new on the Solo was an 8\' Harfen Regal, though the chest was 
labeled \"Kinura.\" 

And stops from other divisions played on the Solo as well. A new 
16-8-4 Contre Basse unit was added to the Pedal. A new Rohrflote 
was added to the Swell playing at 8, 4, 2-2/3, 1-3/5, and 1-1/3 
with a new Block Flote at 2\'. 

This project was done through a gift from then organist Renaldo 
A. Baggett as a memorial to his mother. The rededication of the 
organ took place on Sunday, October 28, 1979 at 4:00, and the 
recital was played by Diane Fowler of University Congregational 
Church. 

At a later date, a 2nd Touch relay was added to the Great, and 
the original Great II Rauschpfeife was enlarged to III-V. 

Around 1997, rats got into the organ chamber through a hole they 
gnawed in the roof under the cupola. They ate much of the leather 
off of the regulators, and gnawed gaping holes in many of the 
metal pipes. The organ was sold for $10,000.00 to James R. 
Stettner dba Stettner Pipe Organs. 

The organ was subsequently dispersed in other projects and/or sold. The Balcom and Vaughan unit windchests and the Reisner 
relay were installed in a project at St. John the Evangelist 
Catholic Church in Seattle. The modified AEolian console was 
added later - donated by Clint and DeAnne Meadway. 

The Stinkens Great principal chorus, and the mixture chest, along
with the Rohrflote, Trompette unit, and Aeolian 4\' Harmonic Flute 
went to Chehalis United Methodist in a project. The AEolian 8\' 
Oboe went to a Lutheran church in Pasco, WA. Much of the 
remaining pipework was purchased by Wesley Spore of Bothell, WA. 
The harp has ended-up at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church. 

The church borrowed a large 2-man. & pedal Estey reed organ from 
Mr. Stettner for a time. And then borrowed a small 1-manual 
tracker demo organ from Rene Marceau before finally installing 
their new 2-manual Fritts tracker organ in 1999.

[Received on line from James R. Stettner April28, 2007.]