The Margaret Metcalf Organ

The Chapel Restoration Committee encountered many problems during the restoration with one of the most significant being the organ restoration. Before Hurricane Hugo, the Medical University investigated restoring the organ; however, it was damaged beyond repair by the storm. An entirely new organ needed to be built. A subcommittee was formed to identify a company that could build an organ.

 The subcommittee was headed by Dr. Victor Del Bene, Professor of Medicine, and included Dr. William A. Gudger and Dr. Henry Martin. With a budget of $150,000, the subcommittee called upon Dr. Gudger, an Associate Professor of Music at the College of Charleston and a prominent community organist, to design an organ specific to the acoustics of the chapel. The subcommittee chose the Bedient Organ Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, to build the organ. The honor of naming the organ was given to a major contributor to its construction. Dr. I.S.H. Metcalf named the organ in memory of his wife, Margaret. Dr. John Fesperman, the Curator of Musical Instruments at the Smithsonian Institution, first played the organ on January 28, 1994.