"It's [music] first and bridge second," she said.
Mrs Young played the piano in her younger years and made the transition to the organ as a favour, while living in Tarras.
"I was busy minding my own business and a vicar arrived and said, 'We haven't got an organist here in Tarras ... would you play for us?' and I said 'OK, I'll give it a try'."
She quickly discovered she had found her forte.
"I loved making music ... I just felt, oh, this is lovely, I can do this and serve my Lord and serve my community."
She spent the next 20 years playing at Tarras' combined Presbyterian and Anglican church, where she was "quite convinced" there was a hole in the little pump organ's bellows.
"You seemed to be pumping frantically, it was hard work."
Contemporary organs presented their own challenges though, she said.
"It's electronic now, it's all mod, and in one way it's easier, but in another way it's just a little bit more taxing because you've just got to get the sound right, you can be too loud, you can be too soft, you might have the wrong button on. I think an organ's quite beautiful and a piano's easy and fun."
After shifting to Wanaka, Mrs Young spent "more or less" every Sunday for 30 years playing at the Anglican church, as well as at funerals and weddings.
She retired from the largely voluntary role on May 6, the day she turned 80.
She received a long-service award issued by the Anglican Bishop of Dunedin, the Rt Rev Dr Kelvin Wright, which she has framed and hung next to her piano.
"It's very special. It's really quite touching."
Mrs Young still regularly plays the piano, including hymns for church services at Elmslie House retirement home, where her husband David lives, and "golden oldies" at the home's happy hours, where the residents' broad smiles and foot-tapping give her much satisfaction.
"It's a very lovely thing to be able to do, to make people happy."
