Grace Lutheran Church is located in Chester, Virginia, which is between Richmond and Petersburg. The church built a new building in the 1950's, and prepared a space for a pipe organ in the gallery. When the Estey organ became available from the Chester Methodist Church when they built a new building in the 1960's, the organ was moved and installed by members of the church. As the organ had not had a facade, it was installed with the pipes located in the gallery, and a chamber was built around them, with the top of the chamber left open so the pipes and Swell box were visible.

The organ had been rebuilt while in the Methodist Church, with the action changed from tubular-pneumatic to electro-mechanical, but there had been no change to the pipework. Additional stops had been derived through unification, but with no pipes added, the upper notes were silent. This made it difficult for the organist to provide appropriate accompaniments or to play the literature. As the organ aged, the desire grew to make the organ more flexible and reliable.

Working with Organist/Choirmaster Randy McConnell and the chair of the Organ Committee, Yale Brandt, we were able to design a specification that made the best use of the existing pipework, and added those sounds that were lacking. We also designed a new façade for the organ, including casework of Mahogany, so that the organ both has the sound and appearance that are required.

The former Great Open Diapason was made into a firm Pedal stop, and extended to 16' pitch by electronic means, to provide the bass that the organ lacked. A new Principal rank was provided, with the basses in the façade. Also on the new Great chest are the former Swell Flute Harmonic pipes, and the pipes to extend the Quint throughout it's range. A new set of Chimes were installed, placed where they can both be seen and heard.

The Swell received a new Voix Celeste rank to go with the Salicional, as well as a Principal to give tonal focus to the division. There is also a full length 16' Trumpet in the Swell box, which provides the full thunder in the bass, as well as a solo and ensemble reed tone.

The action is solid-state multiplex, providing a Transposer to change the pitch of the organ. This is handy on those occasions when the pitch of the printed music doesn't match the range of the singers. A new combination action provides multiple memory systems for the various organists that use the organ. The result is like a new organ, giving support to the church's tradition of fine music.