Worship

Roger Boss remembers being baptized at age 6 by the Rev. J T. Burns. Roger grew up in First Presbyterian Church, was a member of the church’s Boy Scout Troop 101, and was active in Westminster Youth Fellowship. Roger took piano lessons from 1st grade through high school, and played baritone all 4 years of high school marching and concert bands. At age 16, his curiosity about the pipe organ was nurtured by Dorothy Hanger, church organist for over 50 years.

He graduated from Lincoln College in 1959, awarded the music prize; attended St. Louis College of Pharmacy; served in the U. S. Air Force, graduating valedictorian from Syracuse University East European Language program; and was stationed 2 years in Germany.

Debbie Schweitzer, a Mason City native, has been a church organist since she was a high school freshman. She was trained in piano and organ by the late Isabelle Riggins of Easton. She also took lessons for one year at Bradley University while still in high school. Debbie graduated from Mason City High School and Eastern Illinois University with a B.S. in Education with a major in Spanish and a minor in Social Studies. She started her teaching career in Plano, Illinois in 1974 where she met her future husband Ken, a Monmouth native. They moved to Lincoln in 1977. Debbie then taught at Greenview and Mason City before she began at Lincoln Community High School, where she is now in her 21st year.

Both retired at the end of 2017 with at least three decades of service