Pineville Park Baptist Church will celebrate Mrs. Sue Gene Hammons on Sunday, April 6, as she marks her 50th Anniversary as church organist.
Mrs. Sue Gene, as she is known to everyone at Pineville Park, started playing piano at an early age.
“When I was in daycare, down the street from my elementary school, there was a boy who left his beginning piano books there after he outgrew them. I started teaching myself from those books. At the time, I did not have a piano at my house, so I would go to church and play the piano there. Key of C songs were the best!”
Mrs. Hammons’ parents purchased a used upright piano in 1961, and eventually, she began taking piano from a teacher in her neighborhood. She began playing piano for Parkview Baptist Church – “back when it was a small church” – at the age of 16.
Mrs. Hammons graduated from LSU and completed a dietetic internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati in 1972-1973. She moved back to Louisiana with her husband Ken and settled in Opelousas. It was there, at First Baptist Opelousas, that she began playing the organ. The Hammons moved to Pineville in 1975.
“We came to Pineville Park Baptist Church because our dear friend John Harris was the pastor,” Mrs. Hammons said. “I have known him since I was 10. As it turned out, Anita Breeding, the organist at the time, had just had her fourth little boy, so I started playing for her. The rest is history.”
Friends and family are invited to a reception honoring Mrs. Hammons from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the church fellowship hall.
The church is located at 2455 LA-28, Pineville, LA 71360.
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