Susan Allen

Audrey Springer Glass played the organ at Incarnation United Church of Christ on  Dec. 7, 2003.

She also directed the choir. Those events were not unusual: Audrey has been playing the organ here since she was a teenager.

But this was a special Sunday, the final event of the church's observance of its 235th anniversary. Dr. Jerry Foltz from the UCC Central Atlantic Conference had come to bring greetings and to light the Advent candle. The whole congregation was invited to a luncheon following the worship service. Audrey knew all this; it had been planned for months. What she didn't know was that she was the guest of honor.

75 church members and friends joined to surprise and thank Audrey for her 40-plus years of devoted volunteer service to Incarnation. Her sisters, Janet and Kathy, and brothers George and John, were there. Everyone wore red socks, Audrey's preferred footwear when playing the organ. A banner proclaimed, "Audrey's Socks Rock!" The consistory gave her a new pair of red socks, and a mock check for $340,000, the estimated value of her time spent at choir rehearsals and church services.

Following the luncheon, which was catered by the Carriage House Inn, family members and friends saluted Audrey. Kathy Krom (Audrey's sister), Karen Glass-Haddon (Audrey's daughter), and Norine Haas offered poems which were both sweet and hilarious. Longtime friends Rebecca (Naill) Kile and Rebecca (Hays) Jones-known collectively as "The Beckys"-and Gail Frantz related tales from school days and other shared events. Other guests and friends spoke from the floor.