Longtime Houston gospel music organist shares talent in the community for more than 50 years

Monday, March 2, 2026
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It's a Tuesday morning on a quiet street in Houston's South Park neighborhood, and before you ever crack the door open at First South Main Missionary Baptist Church, your ears are ringing with music.

You can hear the sound of a choir, the piano, and the organ.

It's a choir rehearsal inside the 91-year-old sanctuary.

Organist Leona Wrey is the lead musician at the church.

"I told them they can cancel Sunday service because we've already had service for the week," Wrey joked.



As she slid into position on the organ, Wrey's matured fingers were purposely placed on the black and white keys.

"When you're playing, you're playing with both hands," Wrey said. "The left hand is for the base."

It's hard to miss her gold block heel, dancing along the organ's foot pedals.

"On the organ, your foot also gives the bass with the bass pedal," Wrey said. "I might have arthritis in my left hand or something (and) the base will still be there with my foot."

Leona Wrey has been making melodious melodies from memory all across the Houston area for more than 50 years.



"Baby, I have played everywhere," Wrey said. "I started in Third Ward, and I have ventured out in Fourth Ward, Fifth Ward, the Heights, Studewood, Texas City, Galveston."

It started when she was just five years old, and by the age of 18, she was already leading church services. She eventually started playing the piano and organ by ear.

Wrey believes that it was Gospel music that made her realize the power of what she calls her true gift, her ears.

"If I hear a song that I want to do, I'll listen," she said. I'll get me a tape recorder or earphones and I sit down at my piano, I also have a piano and organ at home. I sit down at the piano and organ and pick it up."

As a musician and choir instructor, Leona Wrey is known for her pantsuits and her no-nonsense personality.



"You know, I don't have a choir that sits up and talks and chews gum and writes notes," she said. "We don't do that here, and they don't do that nowhere I play."

She also doesn't play when it comes to questions about her age. That question remained unanswered.

"We don't tell ages," Wrey joked. "Tell them (I'm) old and foxy."

There are no questions off-limits when it comes to Leona Wrey's passion for playing the organ, and she doesn't plan to stop the music any time soon.

"It's a big part of my everyday life," Wrey said. "It enhances me mentally and spiritually and physically."

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