Napoleon organist celebrates milestone anniversary

(NAPOLEON, Ind.) – A local church organist celebrated a milestone anniversary on Sunday. 

28-year-old Abby Wilder is one of the organ players at St. Maurice Catholic Church in Napoleon. 

The church held a surprise party as she celebrated her 20th anniversary of being their organist! 

Abby was just 8-years-old when she played for the first time.

She was given the opportunity after a priest heard her play during First Communion and the full-time organist, Mark Wirth, had a vacation one weekend.

“Father Rob said I could play the Mass and my mom had to rewrite all the music because I wasn’t advanced enough to play the music that Mark had,” Wilder recalled. 

She continued playing Masses and eventually became a full-time organist.

Nowadays, Wilder typically plays on Sundays while Wirth plays on Saturdays.

The Jac-Cen-Del graduate has played at several different churches but says St. Maurice is by far her favorite. 

“People sing, people participate and that means a lot. When you have a whole crowd of people singing it really makes you feel good,” she said. 

The parish feels the same way about her as they honored Wilder following Mass on Sunday. 

“I still call her the ‘little girl’ but she has grown up to become one heck of an organ player. We are so lucky to have her,” Wirth told the crowd. 

Wilder has a long way to go before she passes Wirth’s time as the organist. He began in 1972 and this marks his 54th year.

“We joke that you don’t get to retire from playing at church, you are a lifer. I hope to live long enough to beat his streak though,” Wilder said. 

Wilder is a full-time physical therapist and she and her husband have a young son and daughter. 

“Hopefully one day my kids will want to play the organ and I can sit next to them as they play for church,” Wilder said.