John L. Edwards_First Presbyterian_Oklahoma City

Chester William Cooke

Chester William Cooke, 86, died July 12 in Bath, Maine. He was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, on August 4, 1934, and was an alumnus of the Choate School, Wallingford, and the Loomis School, Windsor, Connecticut. He graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, in 1957, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity. Cooke was an officer of New Haven Savings Bank and an appraisal consultant for Connecticut Savings Bank, both of New Haven, retiring in 1992.

Roger Allen Banks died June 5 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was born October 12, 1940, in Lawrence, Kansas, and grew up in the funeral business in Wichita, Kansas, though developing an interest in music early in life. His first experience maintaining organs was with the theater pipe organ in his uncle’s basement. He attended the University of Kansas, majoring in electrical engineering, but moved with his parents to Oklahoma City in 1960 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree in 1965 from Oklahoma City University.

Roger Banks,

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Reuter Organ Company,

Lawrence, Kansas

First Presbyterian Church,

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

From Roger Banks

I first heard the M. P. Möller organ at First Presbyterian Church shortly after its installation in 1964. At that time, I was a senior at Oklahoma City University nearby. As one of the newest and largest organs in the Oklahoma City area, it should have been wonderful. After all, the specification indicated that it followed the latest trends in organbuilding and design at the time, yet I remember that, in that cavernous building, the result was much less
than satisfying.

Renovation of Casavant Opus 2756 at First Presbyterian Church, Knoxville, Tennessee