In Memoriam of Jack Davies: 1915-2001

It is with great sadness that I must report the passing of one of the
very last links with the Aeolian Company -- Jack Davies.  I have just
had news of his death in April last year.

Few people will now know him, yet, when the English branch of the
Aeolian Company, in Hayes, Middlesex, ceased trading, during the early
'thirties, Jack's father, Alfred, and uncle, Bertram, acquired the pipe
organ division.  Jack worked alongside many former Aeolian Company
employees, and was probably the last living link with that company's
British operation.

It was my great privilege to meet Jack on one occasion towards the end
of his life, and to have many telephonic conversations with him.  I was
introduced to him by Richard Cole in 1998.  I took a tape recorder, and
we had a useful discussion about my pipe organ (which he rebuilt in the
'fifties) and about the Aeolian Company's organ division.  I shall
write up this session folly in due course.

Jack was keen and active to the end, and indeed my last 'phone call to
him was concerning swell engines, and Duo Art reversible stacks.  His
memory was wonderful, and he had the enthusiasm of someone half his age
or younger.

During the brief spell that I knew him, I was always grateful that he
spared me time to chat about the old days, and that he was able to help
me in the continuing restoration of an Aeolian Pipe Organ that he had
last seen in the nineteen sixties.  Thank you Jack.

Paul Morris