CELEBRATING her 100th birthday milestone in style over the weekend, local resident Kath Watts was doing what she loves, playing the organ at the Sunday service at the Mount Gambier Christ Church.
Despite an early scare on Saturday evening, when Kath went home from an earlier birthday celebration feeling unwell, she still managed to rise to the occasion the next morning.
“She played to the crowd and was just exceptional,” music director Rick Fisher said.
“I would call it unstoppable, she was absolutely the life of the party.”
With 83 years of experience, for Kath it was just another day at the office as she did not miss a beat playing to the dozens of people in attendance at the service and celebration.
“It was exciting, but probably not as exciting if it was something that happened once in a while – I have been doing this fairly regularly,” Kath joked.
“I started when I was 17, so it has always been a big part of my life.”
After learning the piano at a much younger age, Kath was first thrust into the more complex organ at her local Methodist Church in 1935 after her brother could no longer continue his commitments.
“I lived in Gawler and my brother played the organ at the Methodist Church, but he did pharmacy and had to work on Sunday nights, which is when the church used to open in those days,” Kath said.
“They paid me 20 pounds a year and after three years I thought I had improved a fair bit, so I asked for 30 pounds, but they didn’t give it to me, so I sent in my resignation.”
Looking back now, Kath felt lucky to have received a cash bonus.
“Because here, they don’t pay me anything,” she joked.
Learning from well-known Scottish organist John Horner, he alerted Kath to an opportunity at the St Peter’s Cathedral in Adelaide and she was lucky enough to win a scholarship.
“John took me out there, I had an audition and I was lucky enough to get the job as assistant organist,” Kath said.
Kath played at the St Peter’s Cathedral throughout World War II and it was there that she fell in love with a member of the Australian Air Force.
“When I was practicing once, a young man named Ron came up to the organ and he came up again the following practice,” she said.
“In those days there were a lot of service men camped near Gawler and I said to Ron ‘if you’d like to come up to my place for a meal, you would be welcome’, which was around 25 miles away, but he came and the rest was history.”
Ron was sent away on service, but Kath kept in touch via letters.
“He wrote to me and I answered, but I didn’t get a reply immediately, so I thought ‘well, bother him’,” she said.
“Anyway we ended up writing to each other every day, so we got to know each other via correspondence.”
Kath married Ron, had children and during those years she played for special Cathedral festivals, services and music programs and ABC state and national broadcasts.
She also gave midday recitals in the Adelaide Town Hall and concerts in the Elder Conservatorium.
“As well as being the first woman to be the assistant organist at the St Peter’s Cathedral, I believe I was also the first woman to play a midday recital at the Adelaide Town Hall,” Kath said.
While also going down in history as the first woman to play a midday recital, it is also of note that Kath has actually outlived two organs in the Adelaide Town Hall.
“She played the first organ that was there and they are now on their third,” Rick said.
Many years passed where more of her time was devoted to her family, but in 1983 she was appointed organist at St John’s Port Fairy.
By the time the new millennium came around, Kath landed in Mount Gambier and has been at the Mount Gambier Christ Church ever since.
“Organists have a very special skill and Kath is amongst the finest this place has had,” Rick said.
“We have been lucky enough to have her for 17 years.”
Kath was surprised she had been at the church for close to two decades.
“Time flies, doesn’t it,” she joked.
At 100 years old, Kath is still full of life and manages to live independently in Mount Gambier.
“When I was three years old, I had scarlet fever, which was quite a serious illness and I can remember having a nurse in the house and I can still see my little sister coming into the room and being ‘shooed’ out,” she said.
“I still have an older brother Sid, who is 18 months older than me and he was one of the Rats of Tobruk, so it is amazing that he has got to that.”
Living a long and full life is clearly in the genes of Kath’s family, with her aunty also living until the age of 108.
While Kath has now retired from full-time playing, she hopes to play the organ on the odd occasion for many more years to come.
“They are probably sick of me,” Kath joked.
Rick said Kath had tried to retire on many occasions, but she keeps on coming back.
“She has threatened to retire for the last 15 years, I think on about six occasions at Easter time she has said ‘this will be the last’, but it doesn’t quite work that way,” he said.
When she is not playing at the church, Kath is playing the organ at home and said she has never stopped learning about the instrument.
“It’s like anything, you learn all your life,” Kath said.
