The Day the Music Died

Author: Clare Lafferty

Jane Jarvis died over the weekend. For those who are not familiar with Jane, she was the organist at Shea from 1964 to 1979 and as much a fixture there as the NYC skyline sign, the 410 center field marking and Lindsay, Murph and Kiner.

When I used to go to games as a kid, the music was a big part of the whole experience. Not only did Jane play the traditional tunes (National Anthem, Meet the Mets) but she played jazz tunes. Her background was in jazz and she knew many famous jazz icons, like Lionel Hampton. She also worked for Muzak (you know, the elevator music people) composing songs that were also jazzy in nature.

Jane Jarvis brought a happy and uplifting attitude to Shea through her music during many years of bad baseball and sparse crowds. I'll never forget feeling so bad when the Mets announced they were going to canned music and Jane would no longer be playing the organ live there. A piece of Mets history was gone in an instant replaced with "progress".

Thank you Jane for the joy you brought me and many, many Mets fans throughout the years. You played for the Mets for 15 years and made Shea better because of it. Rest in peace, Jane.

Comments

[BRING BACK THE 69 METS]

THANKS cLAIRE FOR THE MEMORY -- ONE THING YOU FORGOT -- I THINK JANE JARVIS DATED PAT JARVIS WHO WAS A KEY STARTER FOR THE BRAVES IN 1969