{"id":9061,"date":"2025-08-06T14:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T18:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/?p=9061"},"modified":"2026-07-23T17:30:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T21:30:55","slug":"ministry-spotlight-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/ministry-spotlight-music\/","title":{"rendered":"MINISTRY SPOTLIGHT: Music Ministry Endowment by Maxine Ferguson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MAXINE FERGUSON 8\/7\/1930 – 5\/10\/2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

From Bond Street (near the Water Co canal, downtown) to Marquette Manor (86th Street);<\/em><\/p>\n

From St. Bridget\u2019s and St. Rita\u2019s to St. Thomas Aquinas and Butler-Tarkington;<\/em><\/p>\n

From St. Rita\u2019s Grade School, St. Agnes High School, Marian College (University), Butler<\/em><\/p>\n

University, and an honorary doctorate from Marian in 2018;<\/em><\/p>\n

From parents Benjamin M. McIntosh and Louise Galbreath;<\/em><\/p>\n

Maxine\u2019s life spanned the city and its cultures. She was known, familiar, almost everywhere she went.<\/p>\n

At St. Thomas, Maxine was the consummate church woman. She taught Sunday School; she attended and participated in most of the programs and activities offered by the church. She was a cantor as well as a member of the gospel choir. Maxine seemed to know everyone, and all welcomed her with pleasure. The stroke that eventually resulted in her demise occurred when she was \u201cout and about\u201d visiting the sick, a communion minister.<\/p>\n

Maxine had majored in music at Marian, specializing in bass because \u201cthat was what Sister needed.\u201d She was familiar with many types of music. Witness the music at her funeral: How great thou art<\/em>; Precious Lord, take my hand<\/em>; Eagle\u2019s wings<\/em>; Ave Maria<\/em>; and her mother Louise\u2019s favorite – Victory is mine<\/em>. Father Cliff Vogelsang presided at her funeral, with support from her chapter of the Ladies of Peter Claver.<\/p>\n

Maxine had no living relatives, but she had hundreds of friends and acquaintances. The more than 100 friends who signed her funeral memorial book attest to this. Since she had been living in nursing care, her possessions were limited to mementos from her worldwide travels, photos, and religious artifacts (statuses, rosaries, pictures). We distributed it to those who came to the funeral, hopefully inspiring someone else to continue her ministries.<\/p>\n

Maxine lived frugally but well on her teacher\u2019s salary. She had inherited from her mother, Louise, and managed to save more. Her financial assets went to a few friends, but mostly to Marian and St. Thomas Aquinas. In her will, she specified that the St. Thomas share should be used for the operation of the parish, not for capital improvements. This turned out to be over $180,000 and it is to be devoted to enhancing the music ministry of St. Thomas Aquinas, as a special Music Fund. We hope that you can benefit from her gift.<\/p>\n

by Lucy Riegel, June 7, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

Maxine often led others in prayer with this Prayer for Protection:<\/p>\n

May the Light of God surround you<\/p>\n

May the Love of God enfold you<\/p>\n

May the Power of God protect you<\/p>\n

May the Presence of God watch over you<\/p>\n

Know that Wherever you are, God is, and all is well<\/p>\n

by James Dilate Freeman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAXINE FERGUSON 8\/7\/1930 – 5\/10\/2024 From Bond Street (near the Water Co canal, downtown) to Marquette Manor (86th Street); From St. Bridget\u2019s and St. Rita\u2019s to St. Thomas Aquinas and Butler-Tarkington; From St. Rita\u2019s Grade School, St. Agnes High School, Marian College (University), Butler University, and an honorary doctorate from Marian in 2018; From parents […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9061"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9633,"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9061\/revisions\/9633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.staindy.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}