Kedra Mabel Greaves, 99 of Bridgewater, died peacefully on December 22, 2018 at the Gill Odd Fellows Home in Ludlow, Vermont.

Kedra, the second child of Percy and Mabel Davis Greaves of Bridgewater, was born at home on August 17, 1919. She was predeceased by brother Kedric and was cherished by maternal and paternal grandparents who lived nearby. The family attended Bridgewater Congregational and the Church of Our Saviour ( Episcopal) in Killington. Kedra attended Bridgewater Village School and graduated from Woodstock High School in 1937, where she wrote the class history.

During a year at Green Mountain Junior College Kedra excelled in seven music courses. The following year she commuted to the University of Vermont for further music study, after which she relocated to Claremont, N.H. where she was pianist at Trinity Episcopal Church (since merged with Prince of Peace Lutheran Church) and traveled by train to Boston for weekly organ lessons with George Faxon at the Longy School of Music. Her first major recital — of the St. Saens` V ariations for Two Pianos — was there on June 30, 1942.

In the early 1950s Kedra moved to Long Island, N.Y. to teach at the Edith McIntosh School of Music and serve as music director of The Church of the Ascension (Episcopal) in Rockville Centre and as music chairperson of the Nassau County Council of Churches. While there Kedra co-authored with Edith McIntosh Manuals and Pedals: Essential Organ Techniques, Book One (1961), attended organ recitals by Virgil Fox at Riverside Church in Manhattan and studied diction at the Julliard School of Music. After her father's death in 1962 Kedra made frequent visits home to Bridgewater, returning permanently in 1968 and completing her B.S. degree at UVM in 1972.

Beginning in 1982, Kedra was organist and choir director at St. James Church in Woodstock, during which period she gave recitals at numerous churches in the Upper Valley and attended summer sessions at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. and national organ and hymn conventions. From 1996-2001 she was organist at St. Barnabas Church in Norwich. After receiving an associate diploma from the American Guild of Organists, she was dean of the Vermont chapter and Artist of the Year in 1998 and later was named an honorary life member.

Kedra's many interests included cooking with organic ingredients, knitting, and dying and spinning wool. For many years after retirement she studied French, German and Italian at the Thompson Senior Center in Woodstock. During later years at home she graciously welcomed visitors and appreciated the assistance and companionship of several caregivers.

Miss Greaves is survived locally by cousins Elizabeth Ward of Hanover, N.H. and Kathe Dennison Chipman of Brunswick, Me.,and dear friends Michael and Mary Madden of Ireland, formerly of Bridgewater.

A memorial service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church, Woodstock at 1:00 P.M. on Thursday January 10, 2019. Burial in the family plot in Riverside Cemetery, Woodstock will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to VNH Hospice of VT&NH, P.O. Box 881, Brattleboro, VT 05302 or the Bridgewater Fast Squad, PO Box 122, Bridgewater, VT 05034 .

Arrangements are by Cabot Funeral Home, Woodstock. An online guest book can be found at cabotfh.com