From one bench to another

By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item

Sun, May 18 2008

— DALMATIA -- Once a week, Northumberland County Judge William H. Wiest sits on a different bench and commands attention.
He has occupied the bench in Courtroom 2 of the Sunbury courthouse since his election in November 1997. But nearly every Sunday for the past 50 years, the judge has had a reserved spot on a wooden bench at Trinity United Church of Christ, off Route 147 in Dalmatia, where he plays the organ.
"I've been playing here since the first Sunday in October 1958," Judge Wiest said, flashing a broad smile as he gave a guided tour of the small church.
He always removes his shoes to play the impressive $88,000 Mohler 70s series pipe organ, purchased in 1976, on the church's second floor balcony. A small mirror affixed to the organ allows Judge Wiest to see what's happening in the pews and apse below.
Tapped at age 13 by his piano teacher, June Finn, to replace her as church organist when she left the area, he's very much at ease playing for more than 100 parishioners.
"It keeps me in practice," he said.
For the first 23 years, Judge Wiest played the organ every other week because Trinity was a union church and alternated services with a Lutheran congregation.
While attending Susquehanna University, where he received a bachelor's degree in music education, the judge continued to play at the church services.
He remained loyal to the church even when he moved to Carlisle, where he taught for two years in the mid-1960s, returning to his hometown every other week.
In the late 1960s, Judge Wiest settled in Dalmatia, where he and his wife, Karen, raised seven children.
Since 1981, when the church union was dissolved and Trinity began weekly services, he's been at the organ nearly every Sunday. Choir director Romaine Geist fills in about five or six times a year when he's on vacation.
His devotion to the church was recognized earlier this month by the congregation, which held a dinner in his honor and presented him with a framed note from United Church of Christ general minister and President John H. Thomas lauding his five decades of service.
"He has sacrificed a lot, performing not only Sundays, but at weddings, funerals and night services," said the Rev. Ellen Clement, the pastor. "Bill really does it as a ministry to God."
Now 62, Judge Wiest didn't plan to stay "on the bench" and play for his church all these years.
"Organists are hard to find, and there aren't a lot of young people who want to play," he said.
He's not thinking of a replacement right away. The judge said he has settled into a comfortable routine.
He laughs as he tells how a 3-year-old parishioner recently prompted him to begin playing with "Bill, it's time to start the service."
The Rev. Clement said Judge Wiest's easy-going manner and reliability make her job easier.
"It adds a lot to not have to worry about the music and know he's always there," she said.
As a jurist and an organist, Judge Wiest has been asked to perform double duty at many weddings. He'll officiate and perform at his daughter's wedding this summer.
His love of music also served him well during times of grief.
A day after he and his wife buried their sons, Tobias, 17, and David, 20, who died in a March 22, 1998, cabin fire with nine other young men and women, Judge Wiest was at the organ playing hymns.
"I wanted to do it," he said.
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