Mildred Hazelrigg Drenning

Mildred was born February 10, 1879 in Napoleon, Indiana.When she was five her family moved to Kansas. Her mother, Clara Hazelrigg was a pioneer for her time and devoted her life to Evangelism as pastor of the Auburndale Christian church.

Schooling

Mildred graduated from El Dorado High School in 1893 and Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia in 1896.

She received her B.S. degree in organ from Kansas University in 1912. She also studied at the New England Conservatory, Northwestern University and in New York with Clarence Dickinson (famed organ instructor).

Music Supervisor

Mildred was the music supervisor for Topeka Public schools for 14 years.

Marriage

She and Frank G. Drenning, a Topeka attorney, were married Christmas Day, 1918. Frank died in 1941.

Church Organist

She began playing organ in 1905 for the First Christian church.She was there for 46 years. 27 of those years she doubled as choir director.

1913 Mildred substituted as organist at Brick Presbyterian Church in New York during a vacation.

Mildred was honored in March of 1950.“For 40 years Mrs. Frank G. Drenning has supplied organ music for weddings, funeral and church services and never missed a Sunday at the First Christian church because of illness” (Topeka State Journal, March 18, 1950)

April of 1951 she receives the title of organist emeritus at an all-church fellowship dinner.

“It is a lot of work, but when you love it the way I do, you just couldn’t do anything else.”

Mildred died in February of 1961 at the age of 81 of injuries she received in a fall at her home on November 8, 1960.

Services were held at the First Christian Church with burial in Mount Hope Cemetery.Wall-Diffenderfer Mortuary handled the arrangements.

Pictures

Mildred Seated at the organ in the First Christian Church, where for 46 years she was pianist and organist.

The following was taken from the Topeka State Journal, February 11, 1961.Mildred wrote a series of articles in the American Guild of Organists This article was reprinted as a tribute to her shortly after her death.It is her reminiscences recalling some of the visits of dignitaries to Topeka.

“My love for the organ began with my first lesson on mother’s old cottage organ.The study of piano at Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia where I graduated was a prelude of my life work. The position of music supervisor in the Topeka public schools and my summer study in Boston and Chicago were interludes.

My real business in life was to play the pipe organ.The majesty of the instrument and the dignity of the music written for it fascinated me.In 1905, I began playing for the First Christian Church in Topeka and continued playing for forty-six years. The first organ was a Hutchings-Votey three manual and burned in the first of 1937, when lightning struck the church. The second organ, a three manual Reuter with an echo organ in the tower was put in the church in 1938.

Charles Stanford Skilton, organist and composer, was my teacher in Kansas University where I took my degree in organ. I loved to play his “Afterglow” with its one chime effect, and I deemed it a privilege to sit by him at a Guild convention.

Clarence Dickinson, with whom I studied and for whom I substituted during the summer of 1913 at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York, reduced me to utter humiliation in my first lesson.

He gave me a new interpretation of Bach’s ‘Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor.’ His ‘Reverie’ has been one of my best teaching pieces.

I became a member of the American Guild of Organists that year, my name being proposed by him. I have held every office in the Kansas Chapter. At the Southwest Regional Convention in Topeka, this April we went in a chartered bus on a day’s organ tour. Organs in Kansas University, Kansas City and Park College were heard. The final recital in the Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, MO., was played magnificently by Mario Salvador.

Clarence Eddy was brought by the Topeka Chamber of Commerce at my request to give a recital before the Kansas State Teachers Association. The organ in the old Auditorium was a large four manual Kimball, pneumatic action. Clarence Eddy was the first great organist to come to Topeka. People liked his quiet unassuming manner and his masterly playing.

President Woodrow Wilson spoke later in the same auditorium and I was the organist. There was a thrill in playing with a fine brass band, ‘The Star Spangled Banner.’

President William Howard Taft spoke on the State House grounds to an immense crowd. I stood on the platform by him and directed a chorus of a thousand school children in patriotic songs. The singers were massed on the south steps of the State House.

There are so many weddings in a life time of playing. Stained glass window and lighted candles do not surpass the glow on the face of the bride as she comes down the center aisle in her satin gown and long veil. I was married in the church on Christmas Day, 1918, to Frank G. Drenning, prominent attorney. Baskets of red poinsettias and small evergreen trees decorated the chancel.

It has been my privilege to hear many organs and choirs in the United States and Canada. In London, I went to Evensong in Westminster Abbey and heard the clear voices of the boys in Gounod’s ‘Sing Praises Unto the Lord.’ In Paris, I sat entranced through three masses in the church of the Madeleine. In rural France, I looked at the rows of white crosses in San Mihiel Cemetery, picked red poppies and thanked God for the sunshine, the singing of the larks and the American flag, flying in the breeze.”

MSNC Journal of Proceedings, Membership Roll lists Melvin as member 1912, 1915-1916, 1918

She was dean of Topeka organists and joined the American Guild of Organists in New York and was a charter member of the Kansas chapter. She held every office in the local chapter.

Mildred was a member of the American Guild of Organists, Kansas Guild of Organists and taught the Loyal Women’s Class of the church for nine years.

Special thanks go to the individuals who provided valuable materials and support for this project.Without their willingness and generosity of time and research, this project could not have been completed.

It is with my sincere thanks that I acknowledge the following individuals and their organizations: