“Mary, Mary, quite contrary, we will miss you so, but since you chose retirement, we have to let you go.”
The greeting came from more than a hundred friends of Mary Downey, a member of the First United Methodist Church in Durango for nearly 45 years and church organist, who played her swan song during the Sunday morning service and, thus, began her retirement.
The group gathered in the church’s fellowship hall after the sermon to show their appreciation. Church members took turns reading poems, thoughtful remembrances of friendship and highlights of her years with the church.
“She really blessed us with her music,” Church Pastor Jeff Huber said. “Just such high-skill level.”
He said her direct manner is special, and he called her gracious.
“She has a very sharp wit and a great sense of humor,” he said. “We’ve had lots of choir directors, and she worked with all of them.”
Downey objected to all the fuss; but as guest of honor, a line of endearments flowed around her.
“I just love music,” she said. “I don’t like to be the center of attention. I’m not much on these kinds of things. I just like to wiggle in and out.”
Her first recital was 80 years ago, at age five. She played piano.
In high school, she began playing an organ for funeral services. She studied music at the Lebanon Valley Conservatory of Music, in Pennsylvania, where she met her future husband. But she wanted to be an accompanist, not a teacher, and she wasn’t fond of the endless practice of a concert pianist.
She and her late husband, Ralph, who eventually became the choir director at the church, came to Durango in 1969. He also taught music at Fort Lewis College, and they both nurtured music in the church.
Local historian Duane Smith shared that when the Downeys arrived, things began to change.
“Our choir really did become something,” he said.
The church’s new choir director, Jared Wright, spoke of how music knows no boundaries.
“It dispels the myth of an age gap,” he said. “There is no such thing. We teach kids that it’s those people that can show us not only the history, but the joy and love of playing music.”
She may be retiring, but she won’t stop playing piano. She has a baby grand at home.
“Oh, yeah, I’ll still play,” she said. “But it’s not the same. I think I’ll come back every now and then.”
After receiving gifts of thanks, letters, cards and even a reclining chair, she said she didn’t realize so many people cared. She also said everything about music is powerful.
“It’s more than we think it is,” she said.
As the crowd gave a heartfelt good-bye applause, she quipped: “Maybe I’ll re-apply.”
bmathis@durangohrald.com
