Mrs. Bagnall, a graduate of the Hartt College, served First Church of Christ, Simsbury as organist for twenty-five years and was the organizer and director of the First Church handbell choirs. While her primary training was in piano, Charlotte had received some early organ instruction when as a teenager she helped with services in her home church.
When asked to serve as organist of First Church, she began serious studies in organ. Over the years, she became recognized not only for her technical skills but for her sensitivity to the role of music within a religious service. Charlotte’s dedication to her position as organist was an expression of her own deep faith and her belief in the importance of music as an expression of faith in worship.
From her own experience and as an active member of the American Guild of Organists, Charlotte was aware of the reducing numbers of college trained organists. She knew that churches were finding it increasingly difficult to recruit skilled trained organists for their music ministries and that they were turning to skilled pianists to fill this role. It seemed appropriate at her death in 1994 that a scholarship be established in her name to address this problem.