On Sunday, September 12, 2010, Faith Lutheran Church, 6600 Woodrow Avenue, Austin, held several special events as part of its 60th anniversary. Faith Lutheran is one of eight churches established in the Brentwood and Crestview neighborhoods in the early 1950s.
The day of celebration began at 9 a.m. with a special service and rededication of the church’s refurbished pipe organ. Sunday School Rally Day and a kick-off of youth activities for the school year followed the morning service.
The 4 p.m. organ concert (with free-will offering) featured a multimedia presentation, Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach, with Sam Bauer performing Bach on the church’s Hook and Hastings pipe organ. Sam has been the church’s organist since the early 1970s. The church also has an impressive, stained-glass, traditional Rose Window. A light reception followed both the morning service and the concert.
Possibly best known as a physician, philosopher, and recipient of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, Albert Schweitzer also was a music scholar and organist. He was dedicated to the rescue, restoration, and study of pipe organs, and he made a number of commercial recordings performing Bach on the organ.
Faith Lutheran Church’s pipe organ was moved from a storage barn in Illinois to Austin in 1969. Over the next three years, the 34-rank organ, with 1,896 pipes, was restored by master pipe organ builder Otto Hofmann and dedicated members of Faith Lutheran’s congregation.
The son of German immigrants, Otto Hofmann was born in 1918 on a cotton farm in Kyle, Texas. When he was 18, he built his first organ for his home church in Kyle, and in 1954 he moved to Austin in an effort to expand his business. In 1980 he was elected the first American president of the International Society of Organ Builders. After working as an organ builder for more than 50 years, Otto retired in 1988 to “do a little acting,” as he described it. Shortly before he passed away in 2001, he had a role in Richard Linklater’s film Waking Life.
Interestingly, Otto met his second wife, Margret Hofmann, at a talk by Albert Schweitzer. Margret was a member of the Austin City Council in the 70s and is known as Austin’s Tree Lady, working for four decades to protect Austin’s trees. She also was a Quaker and peace activist. Two memorable, and timely, quotes by her:
Why tolerate one another? We should, instead, embrace one another.
If you do not speak up when you believe that you have a justified concern, soon you will no longer be able to make your voice heard.
In June 2010, the council designated a tiny park across from Austin City Hall as Margret Hofmann Oaks, in honor of her. Margret passed away on Thursday, February 2, 2011. You can read more about her life here.
Longtime writer, neighbor, and friend of Margret, Brad Buchholz, also wrote several articles about her. You can read them here and here.
Faith Lutheran Church celebrated its 65th anniversary on two Sundays in 2015—September 27 and October 11.
Copyright 2015 Susan Burneson. All rights reserved.