James Raymond Garner (Associates)
1981

Updated through online information from James R. Stettner. -- The account is not entirely errant. I have confirmed the placement of the organ at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in San Luis Obispo.

NB. - E-mail correspondence from Jim Lewis has pointed out some inconsistencies between the dates quoted in the note above and the life span of Mrs. Hearst. Until further information is submitted to the Database, it appears unlikely that the account is accurate.

Identified through online information from James R. Stettner. -- According to a flier about the organ in its present home in Montana, the organ had been a gift to Grace Church by William Randolph Hearst in memory of his mother Phoebe Apperson Hearst. Somehow, the organ survived the 1906 earthquake and fire which all but destroyed Grace Church, and was sold to the Episcopal Church in San Luis Obispo, California where it remained until that church suffered a fire in the early 1960's. It was next privately owned, and set-up for a time at the San Diego County Fairgrounds in 1964 for an exhibition. It was restored in 1966 and installed at St. Peter's Episcopal in Del Mar, California where it remained until 1980 when it was replaced by a new Moller. It was then moved to Eidsvold Lutheran in Somers, MT. by Raymond Garner Associates of Crestline, California.