David N. Johnson was one of the most respected composers of organ and choral music during the 1960s and 70s. His music was primarily published by Augsburg, probably originating through his association with St. Olaf College in the early 60s, and was well known to American organists through his volumes of wedding music, trumpet tunes (primarily composed for official university functions during his tenure at Syracuse University), chorale preludes, and hymn-tune preludes. While he rose to national prominence during his tenures at St. Olaf, Syracuse University, and the University of Arizona, he spent three years at Alfred University (N.Y.) before he was famous (1957-1960). During his tenure at Alfred University, he taught music history and theory, composition, counterpoint, keyboard instruction, and conducted the University Chorus. He was organist at the church downtown, the Alfred Seventh-Day Baptist church, which met on Saturday and the Union University Church which rented the same building on Sunday. A large choir, comprised mostly of college students, sang at both services.
While at Alfred, he gave the occasional organ lesson at the Almond church, then possessing the only tracker within some miles of the University. He somehow convinced the church to allow him to baroquify the Gilbert & Butler. He likely sourced 2nd-hand pipes from local organ technicians and recycled G&B pipes repitched or cut-down. David Johnson played the re-dedication recital of baroque works and his own compositions to a packed house. It is unknown what the exact stoplist was as written on the stopknobs, but the disposition given with this entry is a reconstruction based on information from the former choir director who was there at the time of the rebuild. He mentioned the rebuild "was not entirely successful", and when the church had the opportunity a few years later to buy Harold Gleason's studio teaching organ from Eastman in 1963, they sold or gave the organ to a high school student in Wellsville who set the organ up in his parent's barn. After he graduated and left town, the organ was moved to storage in another building on the farm in the early 70s, which after the property was subsequently sold, burned to the ground under mysterious circumstances in the mid-70s. Sadly, the church threw out the Gleason studio Moller in favor of a poor-quality imitation instrument ca. 2015, and now has no organ for the first time in almost 120 years.
A newspaper photo of the organ set up in the barn in Wellsville shows the exposed Great pipework, i.e. the center flat of Diapason basses was removed. The Diapason 8' basses in the facade was mute after the rebuild, and I haven't been able to confirm yet if they were removed by Johnson and missing during the years 1959-1963, or if they were removed in Wellsville as superfluous.