LAST PAGE: Gloria Roberts, 93
For eight years, Cicero organist has entertained travelers at Hancock International Airport
By Mary Beth Roach
As passengers walk through the terminal at Syracuse Hancock International Airport to and from flights, they are likely to see —and more importantly — hear 93-year-old Gloria Roberts performing on the organ, a gig she started nearly eight years ago. While being interviewed recently, she often broke out into song, playing for people ascending the elevator and getting thumbs-ups in acknowledgement.
Q: How did you get started playing the organ?
A: When I was a child, my parents took me to the best teacher in town for piano. And I said to the teacher, ‘Play it for me.’ He did and I said, ‘I don’t need to see all this stuff. I play by ear.’ I didn’t play like I do now. If you name a song — perhaps I’ve heard it — and I can play it. It’s a gift. I can read music, but it’s not me.
Q: So, you never took lessons?
A: I took a few, but not many.
Q: How long do you think you’ve been playing?
A: With the piano, I was probably 8 years old. I had an organ at home 40 years ago. We bought the first organ sold out of the organ store at Penn Can Mall.
Q: Where was your hometown?
A: I was born in Nebraska in a town of 100. My dad was a pastor and we had a little church. The doctor drove 40 miles to deliver me in a house next to the church.
Q: What brought you to Syracuse?
A: I came here when I was about 10. We lived outside of Rochester. My father went to the Colgate Rochester [Crozer] Divinity School, he graduated and he had a Baptist Church in Penfield. Then we moved to Syracuse and he was pastor at Calvary Baptist Church.
Q: What is your instrument of choice — piano or organ?
A: Organ — because you don’t have to know as much to sound good.
Q: How did you get this gig out here?
A: My son, Steve Roberts. He approached the airport first, then he approached Bob Carbone [of the Piano and Organ Center, which provides the organ]. If my son hadn’t thought of this, I wouldn’t be here.
Q: What appeals to you about playing out here?
A: Here’s how I feel — God gave me a gift. I can’t explain how I play by ear. But what good is it if I don’t share it? So that was my purpose and I love it. He gave me that gift. Why would I stay home and just entertain myself?
Q: How often do you come out here?
A: I volunteer. I try to get out here as much as I can. They treat me royally.
Q: What is your favorite part?
A: The people that walk past, especially when you get a group or a team.
Q: Do you recall any of your favorite comments from people?
A: There’s so many. Some come through with sad stories, like ‘Can you play “Amazing Grace?” I just came from my mother’s funeral.’ ‘Or my grandmother used to do this.’ A favorite is when I play, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Kids come through and I can play “The Wheels on the Bus.”
Q: Do you have a favorite song to play?
A: “Unforgettable.”
Q: What does playing do for you?
A: It refreshes me. Every night I come home — I have a very small version of the organ — I’ll always play “Unforgettable.” I’ll always play a hymn that I grew up with, and I always play “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” I probably know 100 hymns by heart. My daughter was saying ‘you have to learn Dolly (Parton’s) “I Will Always Love You.”’ So, I went to YouTube and I listened to it and I tried it. I’ll get it.