Mildred Reynolds has served 70 years at the keyboard in Whitewater

WHITEWATER -- When United Methodist Church pianist Mildred Reynolds places her hands on the keys and strikes the first chords of a song, she doesn't just play notes, she makes moving hymnal music with a strong tempo that reminds you, even without the words, what the music is about.

Having played for her first service on a distant Sunday here 70 years ago this weekend, today she will sit with her husband Gary and friends and be recognized for her talent and dedication at the little church on the hill 17 miles west of Cape Girardeau at the intersection of Highway 74 and Route A.

Her substitute, Mary Beth Helderman, will play, and the Rev. Don Kuehle will preach on "Women of Faith."

UMC District Superintendent Fred Leist of Cape Girardeau will participate, a plaque from the Missouri State Legislature will be presented, and a letter from Bishop Robert Schnase of Columbia will be read. Janie Brown and the Chestnut Mountain Gang of Cape Girardeau will perform for a carry-in luncheon, open to the public, after the 10:30 a.m. service.

Kuehle said Reynolds "is an accomplished pianist and an active and faithful church member.

Mildred Reynolds inside Whitewater United Methodist Church, where she has been the pianist for 70 years. (Laura Simon)

"Mildred is very friendly and makes a good impression on people," he said. "She is proud of and enjoys her family and her church family."

She was 13-year-old Mildred Proffer back then, and she still remembers the thrill of having the membership sing to her music for the first time. "I only knew about three hymns, but my teacher, Jessie B. Hill, told me she would teach me two a week, and she did," she said.

"My parents, Lee and Desdia, bought me a big secondhand piano from a lady at Oak Ridge for $25, and I still have it and play it."

An only child, Reynolds graduated from Delta High School in 1946, earned bachelor's and master's degrees with honors at Southeast Missouri State University and retired after teaching primarily second grade for 42 years at Needmore, near Gordonville, Whitewater and Delta R-5. She and her husband, a retired shoemaker for Florsheim Shoes in Cape Girardeau, will celebrate their 60th anniversary Nov. 6.

They have a son, Scott of Whitewater, three grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Their daughter Carla died in St. Louis after suffering broken ribs in a fall, and Mildred credits the church for helping them through that ordeal.

Mildred Reynolds inside Whitewater United Methodist Church, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013, where she has been the pianist for 70 years. (Laura Simon)

"We couldn't have done without them," she said, explaining that Whitewater UMC has about 50 regularly attending members. "The church has been a rock. The people are wonderful."

There is indeed a strong sense of connectedness among folks in Whitewater, where one of the members, 94-year-old Azalea Devore, may well have been there for Reynolds' first Sunday at the keyboard in the old church that was replaced by the current building at the same place in 1962.

"Azalea remembers the day I was born in a house at the corner near here," she said, noting that the house no longer exists. "She says, 'Me and one of my friends, Gertrude, sat in lawn chairs across the street until we heard you cry.'"

Asked to play, Reynolds renders "Amazing Grace" and a couple of pretty tunes the identities of which are puzzling. She explains that the tunes "are made-up songs by Mildred.

"Sometimes people ask what I played during the offertory," she says, chuckling and tapping her temple. "They're all up here."

Mildred Reynolds inside Whitewater United Methodist Church, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013, where she has been the pianist for 70 years. (Laura Simon)

Reynolds has never titled or counted her songs, written the music or sought a lyricist.

"The church people have always been here for us," she said. "I feel honored as well as blessed to have been their pianist, and I hope God will grant us many more years together."