Paul Howarth

My mother made sure that all of her children took piano lessons. My lessons started in 5th grade and ended after 7th grade when basketball became my focus. Being a practicing Mormon, (www.mormon.org), I was asked at age 12 to play the congregational hymn each Sunday morning for the men's meeting. This gave me the opportunity to keep playing and working to learn the weekly hymn. The pipe organ in our Whittier California building came from Mary Pickford's home. Ted Johnson, the church custodian asked me if I wanted to try out the pipe organ and this led to one lesson with Jeanette Thatcher. I was hooked.This led to being called as Sunday School organist for congregational hymns and later as Sacrament meeting organist. During my Mormon mission to Ecuador, I always made friends with the Catholic leaders and they allowed me to play the enormous pipe organs in their cathedrals. After my mission, I took one semester of organ lessons from Gerald Dick who became a life-long friend.