By Carmen Voegeli
An 1881 Farrand Pump Organ manufactured in Detroit, Michigan will be on loan for five years with the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum in Huntington, Utah. This has been provided by Gene Alan Feichko on behalf of his parents, Joseph and Josephine Bishop Feichko, and his siblings, Julie Ann Feichko Error-Valdez (1938-2011), Betty Jolene Feichko McDonald-Lee, Shirley Ludeen Feichko Lopez, Jimmy Blair Feichko, John Andrew Feichko (1948-2015), and baby brother Feichko (1952-1952).
The pump organ was handed down from Gene’s great-grandmother, Elizabeth Ann Petty Christensen (1862-1933), to her daughter and Gene’s grandmother, Clara Ludeen Christensen Adams-Bishop-Clark (1891-1973), who resided in Cleveland, Utah with her second husband, Robert Oscar Bishop (1889-1954). Clara, in turn, handed it down to her daughter and Gene’s mother, Josephine Bishop Feichko (1917-1981), who was born and raised in Mohrland, Utah and graduated from North Emery High School in 1935. Josephine married Joseph Feichko in 1937 and raised their seven children on a farm in Carbonville that Joseph purchased from his father, Andrew Feichko, shorty after 1937.
A welcome gift no doubt, though there was little to no room for it in the Feichko farm house, which once was an old two-room schoolhouse that was disassembled from a recently closed mining town of Mohrland, Utah and moved to the Feichko property in Carbonville and rebuilt wall by wall in 1938. Years later, while looking for another place to keep the pump organ safe, Josephine Bishop Feichko asked her sister-in-law, Deone Oviatt Bishop to store the pump organ at her home located at 235 South 300 West in Price in the spring of 1972. Deone and her children utilized the organ and enjoyed the music in their home while they waited for word from Josephine on where the organ would be moved permanently.
Deone eventually sold the home in November 1979 to her son, Greg Bishop, as the house became too much for her to take care of as a single mother. However, Deone continued to reside at this location temporarily with her children and Greg’s family. The pump organ was eventually moved to the basement of the home as Greg’s family grew. Deone, along with Greg’s siblings, Nanette Bishop Richardson and Jeff Bishop, moved away shortly after the summer of 1979 and the pump organ remained in the basement of Greg’s home.
Prior to the death of Josephine Bishop Feichko in November 1981, she passed along word to Deone Oviatt Bishop that she wanted her son, Gene Feichko, to receive the organ when he was ready for it. Gene never knew what happened to the pump organ and thought it to be lost after Deone moved away from the house in 1979 and later on as Deone passed away in 2006.
In fact, the pump organ was almost completely forgotten about after Deone’s son, Greg Bishop, died suddenly in April 2015. Greg’s house sat for 1.5 years after his passing with the pump organ still in the basement of the home, undisturbed to the point the roof caved in and the house was needing some major repairs. The pump organ, up to this point, had been in this home for almost 45 years.
In the fall of 2016, Greg’s sister, Nanette Bishop Richardson, just happened to drive by her brother, Greg Bishop’s home one day and observed people and trucks at her brother’s home. She was provided information that extended family was coming to clear out the house in order to put the house on the market and Nanette wanted to make sure the organ was given to the rightful owner, Josephine Bishop Feichko’s son, Gene Feichko, currently living on the same farm property he was raised on in Carbonville. Nanette contact her brother, Jeff Bishop, and asked if he would retrieve the pump organ out of their brother’s basement in Price and deliver it to their first cousin, Gene Feichko. Gene then stored the organ on the family farm in an open garage for two years.
On September 21, 2018, Nanette Bishop Richardson paid a visit to her cousin, Gene, who happened to be absent when she arrived. Nanette discovered during a conversation with Gene’s wife, Kittie Pilling Feichko, that the pump organ was still covered and stored in the garage safe and sound.
Later that same evening, Nanette travelled two hours to Sandy City to spend the night at Gene’s sister, Shirley Ludeen Feichko Lopez’s home, in order to attend a Bishop-Feichko first cousin reunion and to help plan for a much larger Bishop family reunion in the fall of 2019. The event with family was enjoyable and afterward, Shirley’s husband, Mario Lopez, a talented musician and former graduate of Carbon High School in 1956, began playing music for Nanette on several wooden instruments he made himself. He also played Nanette an original musical composition he composed for his mother, Mary Lopez, a long-time resident of Price, who passed away on Veterans Day in 2012.
After observing and hearing the amazing handmade instruments, Nanette immediately suggested that Mario should travel to Carbonville to speak with his brother-in-law, Gene Feichko, to see if Gene would allow Mario to restore the 138-year-old family heirloom. Mario loved the idea and thought it would be a wonderful tribute for his wife’s family.
Mario made the trip to Carbonville with his trailer in tow in hopes he would receive permission to restore this beautiful instrument. Gene agreed and a plan was set in motion. Once the organ was restored, the pump organ could be placed on loan to a local museum, as a tribute to family and community, past and present. Mario hauled the organ back to Sandy City and began working diligently to restore the organ for the next 15 weeks during the cold winter months in his workshop.
Word spread quickly regarding the restoration and Mario’s daughter, Carmen Voegeli, contacted her friend, Lori Ann Larsen with Emery County Historical Society, asking for advice on a museum that would appreciate such a historic relic and at the same time, keeping it in the community and local area of which it came. The family was delighted to hear that the Daughters of Utah Pioneer (DUP) Museum of Huntington would be thrilled to display it for the local community for the next five years. Especially, with the knowledge that Gene’s great-grandmother, Elizabeth Ann Petty Christensen, the first owner of the organ, was the daughter of William George Petty, a Utah pioneer and a town, Pettyville now known as Sterling, named after him.
Anyone wishing to see this amazing pump organ may visit the Daughters of Utah Pioneer Museum located at 135 West 100 North in Huntington.
The family would like to express their thanks to Emery County Historical Society President Lori Ann Larsen and Dixie Bass, Co-Curator of the DUP Museum and prior Captain of the Huntington, Utah, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
