Richard 'Dick' Stoney

Have spent 56 years servicing home and church electronic organs. Also do a limited amount of church pipe organ service.

Was involved with the American Theater Organ Society for about 15 years restoring theater pipe organs. The same type that has just been installed in SPHS auditorium. Make a point of hearing it, it's very different than the organ most of us remember being played for pep rallies.

South Pasadena to
Baldwin Park to
Covina

My maternal grandfather was Raymond H. Thomas of E.N. Thomas Plumbing located on Fair Oaks just below Monterey road. Building is gone now having been taken over by the Standard Oil station on the corner.

The "E.N. Thomas" was my great grandfather who also lived here in So. Pasadena.

Mother Anita Thomas Stoney
Aunt Althea Thomas Fish

The two things that have carried over from High School are my time spent on stage crew and the hours spent in the dark room working on the Copa.

And I do owe a debt to Wayne Steimle my Physics teacher for encouraging me and giving me my first formal education in electronics.

I have remained active in the San Gabriel / Pomona Valley Polio Support Group. Although it was Kathy that had had Polio, these people are sort of "family".

My wife Kathy's stroke followed by two rounds of pneumonia (the second of which she did not make it) and my simultaneous forced retirement to take care of her made for a very large change in my life.

Photography
Acting as the I.T. person for our Polio Support Group.

Obviously both Theater and Classic organ music have played a big part in my life.

Listen to (conservative) talk radio.

At 76 I'm trying to get used to living alone and retired. My mind would like to go back to servicing organs but my health problems won't allow it.

Thank god for two people in my life, my daughter Lisa and my best friend Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen lost her husband about a year before Kathy died and has been a big help getting me through the grieving process.

5/2014
Things are changing fast for me. I apparently was misdiagnosed as not having polio when I was 15. It was what is called non-paralytic polio because it did not result in immediate paralysis, but there was still damage done to the nerves. It's a long story, but I am now suffering from post-polio-syndrome and am wearing braces on both legs and using a scooter. I have had problems all these years but the severity was apparently triggered by the trauma of losing Kathy. If anyone wants to know the details send me an e-mail off site and I will be glad to tell the whole story. It was a trip coming to this point.