In 46 years, Jamie Council Garvey watched her beloved St. John United Methodist Church on Greene Street in downtown Augusta go through many changes.
Eleven senior pastors, generations of choir members raising their children in music programs, several significant physical upgrades to the church and surviving a major hurricane were part of her time on staff.
“When I arrived, the sanctuary was covered in green carpeting — you know, the institutional green. The kneelers were green. The organ’s pipes were painted,” said Garvey at a reception after the Sept. 6 worship service, marking her retirement as the church’s organist and director of music…