4,522 pipes take a hike

An Interview with Noah Robinson

The Holtkamp organ was installed at the Church of the Ascension forty-three years ago and dedicated on January 15, 1967. Later this month the organ will move cross-country in two 53-foot trucks and make its new home with the Robinson family near the Siskiyou National Forest in southern Oregon.

Art, Noah and Joshua Robinson, along with John Philp, have taken up residence in the sanctuary for three weeks this winter to dismantle and prepare the organ for a trip to the west coast. The other four Robinsons siblings, Arynne, Bethany, Matthew and Zachary, wanted to be here to help, but were not able to interrupt their schedules due to graduate school and the duties of veterinarians. Fortunately, Joshua was able to take time off from his studies to help his brother and father. The three of them are dismantling the organ and building 250 wooden boxes to ship the 4,522 pipes. They are assisted by John Philp, who has experience working with organs as a former employee of CB Fisk, a Massachusetts designer and builder of pipe organs. Louisa Gilder, an east coast friend of the Robinsons, is also helping out. Louisa is the daughter of George Gilder, the well-known economist, technologist, writer and commentator. She is also the great granddaughter of the famous Louis Comfort Tiffany, who designed one of the stained glass windows in our sanctuary.

The Robinsons are notable not only for their love of music but they also all have impressive professional credentials and careers. Of the seven Robinsons, two are PhD biochemists, three are currently studying for a PhD in nuclear engineering, and two are veterinarians. Noah and his father, Arthur Robinson, are protein biochemists and operate a nonprofit research institute and laboratory on their farm in Cave Junction, Oregon. Their primary research work is on protein chemistry and diagnosing diseases early through laboratory medical applications. Noah and his father have been in New York City in the past to work on projects with Dr. Bruce Merrifield, a chemist at Rockefeller University. It was Merrifield who synthesized the first enzyme from scratch, winning the Nobel Prize in 1984. Art Robinson also worked with Linus Pauling, another Nobel Prize winning chemist, in California prior to their move to Oregon.

How did the Robinson family become interested in pipe organs and how did they come to purchase the 81-rank Holtkamp organ from the Church of the Ascension? The story seems to have started with their mother, who died in 1988 and was an accomplished pianist. She had always wanted a pipe organ but never thought they would be able to afford one. All of the Robinson children learned to play the piano and play the organ as well, although Noah, Joshua, Bethany and Matthew are primarily interested in the Ascension Holtkamp pipe organ. Noah first played a pipe organ while attending Southern Oregon University. Since his legs were too long to play the practice organ, he was given permission to play the college's recital organ. The Robinsons especially like playing hymns. They attend churches in Cave Junction and sometimes have their own services at home playing the three organs they have already, including a 9-rank and a 16-rank pipe organ. Since many churches cannot afford to keep their pipe organs and change to electronic organs, the Robinsons watch for sales and bought a Moller 1903 a few years ago. They had always wanted a larger organ, so after seeing the Ascension Holtkamp listed in the Organ Clearing House they decided this was the one for them. At first insurance and moving costs seemed prohibitive, but fortunately they found a way to make the arrangements and began to plan their three-week stay here to dismantle the organ themselves.

Their first week at Ascension was spent building 250 large crates out of plywood along with packing the pipes in the crates. Some of the pipes are zinc, but most are composed of lead and tin making them very delicate. For this reason the pipes are wrapped in paper and plastic bubble wrap before being placed in the wooden crates. After placement, they use a special spray foam to surround and support the pipes. This is especially important for the reeds which can deform easily during shipment.

It is clearly evident that the Robinsons are a multi-talented, do-it-yourself family. Along with science and medicine, dismantling and installing pipe organs, their plans include building a house for each of the family members on their farm. Their goal is to eventually have an organ for each home. And by the way, another occupation on the farm is caring for a herd of 100 sheep, which Arynne began as a hobby when she was eleven years old.

The Robinsons also happen to be good friends with George Beverly Shea and recently spoke with him to wish him a happy 101st birthday. Mr. Shea is most famous for his singing career with The Reverend Billy Graham, and has a pipe organ in his home as well, which he still plays. Mr. Shea has sung to more than 200 million people, and holds the world record for singing live to the most people. Noah said his sister collected all of Mr. Shea's records, and the hobby eventually became a project to preserve and make his music available. They convinced the record companies to allow them to republish all of Shea's music and obtained the rights to reproduce 425 of Shea's original recordings — nearly a complete collection of his recorded music on 27 compact discs.

Since we were all curious about the new home for the Holtkamp, the Robinsons graciously allowed me to interview them for this article. We look forward to seeing them again as they plan to visit The Church of the Ascension in the future to hear the new Manton organ.

— Lisa Dunn

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