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Published on: 5/10/2008
Last Visited: 5/10/2008
COLUMBIANA â€" Judy Bott was in seventh grade when she decided she wanted to become a church organist.
Today, more than 50 years after achieving that goal, she is receiving the honor of having an anthem written by a renowned Christian composer and lyricist duo premiere in her honor.
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Bott, who has been playing the organ for Grace Church's services since Oct. 26, 1958, noted Besig and Price's names are some of the most respected in Christian composing, and it took three years of waiting for the church to get the two New Yorkers in for this visit.
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The honor of having an anthem by the two artists dedicated to her at its premiere is a bit unreal for Bott.
"Never in my wildest imagination did I dream that would happen to me," she said.
The event will be extra special for her because of the inclusion of several family members.Her sister and her sister's husband from Guilford Lake, her brother and her brother's wife from Salem and her nephew and her late brother's wife and son from Michigan all will be joining the church choir for the special occasion.
Bott got her first experience at the organ bench when she was in seventh grade.The Rev. Paul Gerard, then the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Lisbon, invited her to play the organ with him, letting her press the keys while he pushed the stops, which change the kind of sounds the pipes produce.
"We took the dust out of the rafters," she recalled with a wide, reminiscent grin.
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Her mother, Connie Bricker, 91, still works three days each week as part of a program for retired seniors in Lisbon, and Bott and her sister frequently joke that neither of them can retire yet while their mother is still working.
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Bott also works as assistant manager of Town & Country Nursery in New Springfield and is the former office manager of Elliot's Garden Center, Boardman.She said flowers are one of her interests in addition to music.
She is also a charter member and was the first president of Rather Bee Quilters, Columbiana, which has been in existence for nearly 10 years.
She has a husband, Karl, two adult children, Karen and Alan, and two granddaughters.But after so many years in the church, she said the entire congregation feels like one big extended family.
"It's been really a very rewarding time," she remarked.
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