My father was the greatest man on earth, I thought, and it was no wonder that he even had a piece published about him in an American newspaper. That newspaper cutting looks really old now, and although I can now see that it wasn’t actually anything terribly great, I think it should live for a while in my blog.

This was published in the Syracuse Herald Journal (14 April 1962).

It reads:

Indian Student Named Organist
Appointment of G.W. Baktarmitran of Tambaram, India, as organist at Westvale Community Baptist Church, has been announced by the Rev. George B. Hawthorne, minister.
Currently on leave from the Madras Christian College, he began his duties in the Westvale church last month. At present he is studying at Syracuse University for a Master’s degree in library science.
Before coming to this country he served six years as organist of the Tambaram Church of South India. He is on the staff of Madras College and serves as the librarian at the school. He was awarded a bachelor of science degree by Madras College. He is married and his wife resides in India.
His father is a retired Lutheran pastor and resides in Tambaram
Mrs. Betty Blye is director of choir at the Westvale church.

My dad needed the money and he was no good as a handy man or painter. Someone had offered to let him sleep in their loft, and just when he was wondering what to do, he saw an ad for the role of church organist.

When he went for the interview, he said he wasn’t treated well initially. The gentleman who gave him access to the organ was irritated when my father asked him how to work the instrument; it was an electric organ and he probably needed to know how to switch it on and where the stops were and so on. Obviously the interview went well once he was able to actually start playing. This kept him going for a year or so till he started working in Brooklyn Public Library. This is just one of many stories of how he coped and survived the USA as a student at a time when Indian students were rather rare.

After he got the role, he asked my mother to send him his music books, so he could play preludes and so on. He was so grateful to her for carefully packaging the books and promptly sending them, so he kept the packaging all his life. I still have it.

I also have this beautiful photo of my father with a lady, both of them in church-choir robes.

I wonder if this is the talented Betty Blye. I don’t see too many photos of her online to make sure. Even the Rev George B. Hawthorne is not to be found in the Internet, except for the odd mention in old newspapers. An era has ended.