Download - Lest We Forget Part I
Their diligence challenged.
Their excellence dazzled.
Their passion inspired.
Their foresight showed the way.
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JJuulliiaa DDeeaann EEvvaannssMaterial prepared by James R. Nance
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MMiicchhaaeell JJoohhnnssttoonneeMaterial prepared by Karl Hickfang
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Lest We Forgetby Charles Nelson
On the stage of Lila Cockrell Hall, in the splendor of the HenryGonzales Convention Center in downtown San Antonio, the 1999 editionof the Texas Music Educator’s Association’s superb All-State Choir pol-ished the final phrases of its program to a splendor well beyond sixteen,seventeen and eighteen year old vocal and artistic norms. For the past fortyyears, in addition to an impressive array of octavo music, this choir hasperformed a repertoire of choral masterworks including Masses by Haydnand Beethoven, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, even Brahms grandGerman Requiem. This in itself is remarkable, but there is more.
The process which produces this highly select body of student singersalso produces a hand-picked choir of one hundred twenty voices in each ofthe twenty-three TMEA Regions. These region choirs, for the most part,perform the All-State Choir music. This means, that in the year the All-State Choir performed the Beethoven Mass in C Major, there were 2500+high school students in Texas who could sing every note of his/her part tothat masterwork!
Contrast this with the TMEA All-State Choir which met in MineralWells fifty years earlier. Those singers were selected by a letter sent to allTMEA choir teachers, which said, “Select a quartet of your best singers andbring them to the convention to sing in the All-State Choir”. Whatbrought the great change in the quality of the teaching of choral music inTexas? Who was responsible? Any astute observer of Texas school choirsfor the past sixty years can point to a number of teachers whose musical tal-ent, devotion to excellence and charismatic personalities inspired theirstudents with a passion to become, and teach others to become, music mak-ers.
“Lest we forget” highlights some of those who have gone before us whohave sown the seeds which have produced the bountiful musical and choralharvest which we now enjoy.
Introduction
WilfredC. Bain
Material prepared by Charles Nelson
44
Biographical SketchNorth Texas State Teachers College
Denton, Texas • 1938-1947
In the fall of 1938, the Music Department at North Texas State Teachers College
in Denton, Texas, was housed in several houses on the east side of the campus. The
faculty consisted of Mary Anderson and Gladys Kelso who taught piano, Floyd
Graham who directed the orchestra, the marching band and the stage band, and
Lillian Parrill who directed the choir. They shared the classroom teaching for the
twenty-five music majors they served.
Dr. Joseph McConnell, the president of NTSTC, hired Wilfred Conwell Bain, a
thirty four year old musician with an Ed.D. in Music Education from New York
University, to head the Music Department. Born in Canada, son of a minister,
Wilfred Bain had attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton NJ where he fell
under the influence of the school’s founder and president, John Finley Williamson.
Movie star handsome, with a deep, resonant speaking voice, in the flower of man-
hood, Wilfred Bain conveyed an air of confidence that was infectious. When he talked
to students, they believed him. When he talked to the mother of a prospective stu-
dent, her child was destined to enroll at NTSTC. He talked to a lot of mothers and
music major student enrollment grew by 109% in the first year of his administration.
By 1939, the NTSTC music department was awarded associate membership in the
National Association of Schools of Music; only the second teachers college in the
United States to be so designated. Two years later, NTSTC became a full member of
NASM. Dr. Bain was elected national vice president of the organization and was
appointed to a three-member committee to reevaluate the music curriculum for the
150 member schools. The Music Teachers National Association elected him as a
member of its national executive committee.
Though all this happened in the heart of the “great depression”, when the econ-
omy of the United States was at an all time low, a college education was still afford-
able. Tuition was just $25.00 a semester for all the hours a student could take. The
college owned the textbooks and loaned them to the students without fee. Applied
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music lessons were free. Many students did menial work for the college to pay for their
tuition and incidental expenses.
Since WCBs early training was in choral music, it wasn’t long until he had estab-
lished an a cappella choir which was impressing the local citizens with its power and
polish. He recruited singers from the college at large and in no time at all, everyone
on the campus, who was interested in singing, was singing in the choral program.
Practical, rather than musical, reasons determined the size of the touring choir.
Since a charter bus held forty passengers, the touring choir numbered forty. Buses
were available for charter, but money was not. Since WCB wanted to advertise the
NTSTC music department in the larger towns in the area, something must be done.
He contacted a large church in downtown Fort Worth and offered them a concert for
the price of a bus charter. Since they, too, were short of funds, his offer was reject-
ed. As the son of a minister, he well understood how churches operated. He offered
to sing a concert for a free will offering. They accepted. WCB gambled the bus fare
against a free will offering and won. A large and generous audience contributed more
than enough money for bus fare. As news of the quality of the choir spread, church-
es, schools and community organizations were willing to help with travel expenses if
the choir would come and sing for them.
Floyd Graham directed the NTSTC symphony orchestra. WCB knew that an
excellent orchestra was essential to the establishment of first-rate music department.
Besides recruiting within the State, he sent Floyd Graham to high schools in Chicago
and St. Louis, to recruit strings players. In turn for playing in the NTSTC orchestra
for four years, these players would be given jobs on campus which would allow them
to earn their expenses. A significant number of string students responded. The size
and quality of the orchestra grew.
With a more than competent orchestra and a significant number of well trained
singers, WCB challenged the students with a week long Bach Festival which brought
Bach’s masterworks to the North Texas community. The festival opened on a Sunday
afternoon with the presentation of the Passion According to St. Matthew. Each day of
that week, afternoon and evening concerts were given featuring church cantatas,
motets, organ works and concertos. The festival closed the following Sunday with a
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performance of Bach’s B minor Mass.
Not only did WCB know how to plan and build a music department, he knew how
to advertise. The afternoon and evening concerts during the festival were well attend-
ed, but the Sunday performances of the St. Matthew Passion and the B minor Mass,
played to a full house. Large numbers came from Dallas and Ft. Worth. John
Rosenfield, music critic for the Dallas News and Clyde Whitlock, music critic for the
Ft. Worth Star Telegram, attended the concerts and wrote complimentary reviews in
their respective papers. This festival was a phenomenal achievement for a music
department which, just three years earlier, had a faculty of four music teachers and a
handful of music majors.
In a short time the music department outgrew the several houses where they met
classes and practiced. A new three-story music building was planned and built. The
NTSTC Music Department was on the move.
Dallas and Houston had professional symphony orchestras. WCB visited Jacque
Singer, conductor of the Dallas Orchestra and Ernst Hoffmann, conductor of the
Houston Orchestra and offered the NTSTC Grand Chorus as a choral instrument to
perform the fourth movement of the Beethoven 9th Symphony. Since neither
orchestra had an organized choir available for major choral works, they were happy to
use the NTSTC resources. The advanced college singers sang the solos.
Dr. Bain felt that it was a privilege for students to have the opportunity to per-
form great choral masterworks. He felt so strongly that he required ALL music
majors, regardless of their chosen instrument, to sing in the Grand Chorus. Strict
attendance was taken and excessive absences were penalized by deducting points from
the offenders applied music grade. Though the instrumentalists complained about
this requirement, years later, they would boast of having sung the Beethoven 9th and
Brahms’ German Requiem with professional orchestras.
Multiple copies of all the standard collections of etudes, sonatas and vocal
anthologies for all voices and instruments were available from an applied music loan
library in the music building. On the way to the practice room, or lesson, the stu-
dent would check out music and return it when finished. A schedule was posted on
all practice room doors with assigned names and hours. The practice rooms were
Wilfred C. Bain
77
checked hourly and students who failed to meet their practice period were reported to
the office. Excessive absences resulted in loss of points on their applied music grade.
There were complaints about this enforced practice, however, most of the students
improved significantly each semester.
Following the tremendous success of the 1941 Bach Festival, a Brahms Festival was
announced for the spring of 1942. This festival encountered a severe impediment on
December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The majority of the col-
lege male population rushed to join the military service. Like all other colleges and
universities in the country, NTSTC was left with only men who were too young to be
drafted or physically unable to serve. The festival was presented but with modest suc-
cess.
Though the men of the A Cappella choir were committed to military service, it
took some time for the mechanics of the draft to call those who did not volunteer.
Long before Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war, a four state, twenty-one day
tour was planned for March of 1942. Among the stops were: Abilene; Odessa;
Amarillo; Roswell NM; El Paso; Alpine; Blanco; Houston; Galveston; Shreveport
LA; Russellville and Searcy AK. One can only guess what discussions must have gone
on between WCB and the school administration to allow a trip of this magnitude in
the middle of a semester. Somewhere near midpoint on that trip, the Chapel Choir,
also on tour, joined the A Cappella Choir in Houston and performed
Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
In 1943, WCB made an arrangement with the Texas Quality Network to broad-
cast a Bach Church Cantata every Sunday morning for six months. In addition to
other music, a cantata was prepared for each Sunday’s performance. Often, there was
also a Saturday rehearsal. In effect, for one six month period, the choir was rehears-
ing six days a week and performing on Sunday!
As gasoline and tires were rationed, it became impossible to charter a bus to tour
a choir. WCB found creative ways to get his choir about the State. Because of the
favorable weather conditions in Texas, Army Air Corps training fields and Army
Infantry camps were placed all over the State. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers
in these military installations needed some diversion from their military training, so
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their commanders were eager to have nonmilitary entertainment groups come and
perform for their troops. WCB made a deal with the U.S. Army for his choirs to tour
these military posts if the Army furnished the transportation. The Army had all the
gasoline and tires it needed so the NTSTC A Cappella Choir continued to tour dur-
ing W.W. II. under the auspices of the U.S. Army.
Though the male population of the school grew fewer, WCB was not willing to
discontinue performing the larger choral masterworks with the Grand Chorus. He
“invited” the male faculty members to join the chorus. The “invitation” was present-
ed in such a way that, though they complained behind his back, none of them
declined. A performance of the Bach Passion According to St. Matthew was sched-
uled. The work calls for a double choir and a double orchestra. There were enough
women to accommodate two choirs, but only enough men for one choir. Since, for
the most part, the choirs sang antiphonally he placed the men in between the women
of the two choirs, and had them sing both choir parts. There always seemed to be a
way to continue performing great music in spite of a world war and depleted forces.
Some four and a half years after Pearl Harbor, W.W. II came to an end and by
the grace of the G.I. Bill of Rights, a flood of veterans enrolled in colleges and uni-
versities all over the country. NTSTC was no exception. These were unusual fresh-
men. Men from 20 to 30 years old who had been ship commanders, piloted war
planes, lead troops into battle and even some who had been prisoners of war, enrolled
as music students. These were men with a purpose. They knew what they wanted to
do with the skills they were developing.
Many new faculty members were added to accommodate the burgeoning student
population. To give some idea of the flurry of vocal activity within the school, in addi-
tion to regular music classes, in 1946-1947, the A Cappella Choir:
1) toured a memorized choir program (for two weeks) throughout Texas and
New Mexico;
2) performed the choruses from Gluck’s “Orpheus” with the Houston Symphony
with Anna Kaskas from the Metropolitan Opera, in the garden of Miss Ima Hogg’s
estate in Houston.
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The Grand Chorus performed:
1) the Bach B minor Mass with the Houston Symphony;
2) the Brahms German Requiem with the Dallas Symphony;
3) the Verdi Requiem with the Dallas Symphony.
4) The Opera Workshop presented Gounod’s Faust to a Denton audience, then
toured the show to a number of different towns.
Considering that the entire A Cappella Choir was also in the Grand Chorus, and
were, basically, the entire Opera Workshop, this is an astounding amount of music to
have performed in one year, while taking enough classes to earn from 15 to 18 hours
of college credit!
In the spring of 1947, a rumor was heard, then verified that Wilfred Bain had
accepted a position as Dean of the School of Music at Indiana University. Their offer
doubled the salary he was making at NTSTC. The School of Music he developed for
Indiana University is a matter of record.
In the nine years he headed the Music Department in Denton, the department
grew from 25 to 450 music majors. The solid foundation he laid has sustained a
growth that has made the UNT College of Music one of the largest music schools in
the United States.
He had high standards and expected faculty and students alike to uphold those
standards. Those who adopted the standards he set were among those who had an
impact upon the choral climate in the State of Texas, and beyond. His work was sig-
nificant and should not be forgotten in the grand scheme of the history of choral
music in Texas.
Wilfred C. Bain
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Wilfred C. Bain Rememberedby Charles Nelson
The sources of life’s influences are often obscure and frequently complex.
However, sometimes a stimulus that causes a certain consequence stands out in ones
life in bold relief. It is easy to trace the inspiration for the work I did, in forty-eight
years of teaching, directly to North Texas State Teachers College (North Texas State
College/North Texas State University) in Denton, Texas and Wilfred. C. Bain.
During the 1939-1940 school year, while living in Fort Worth, my sister and I
heard that a choir from North Texas State Teachers College in Denton, was going to
give a concert at the First United Methodist Church and that we should make an effort
to hear this fine choir.
At the appointed time we were seated in the sanctuary watching forty singers,
dressed in purple velvet choir robes, process onto the risers, followed by their con-
ductor, an elegant gentleman dressed in a tail coat and white tie. It was the most
impressive choir I had ever seen in all my thirteen years. Their singing lived up to the
impressive picture they presented. Their distinguished conductor gave a verbal intro-
duction to each piece they sang, in a vibrant bass voice. To me, he looked and sound-
ed like a giant!
When my family moved to Denton in October of 1940 I registered as a fourteen
year old sophomore in the Demonstration School at NTSTC. Since I had taken vio-
lin lessons and singing lessons, I joined Margie Stafford’s choir, which was superior
to the choir I had sung in at Handley High School in Fort Worth. We got to sing in
the big Bach Festival the NTSTC Music Department presented the following spring.
During that festival I heard the great choral masterpieces, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
and B minor Mass, for the first time. It was the beginning of a life-altering experi-
ence. That Bach festival had been conceived, promoted and accomplished by that
“giant” I had seen and heard in Fort Worth a year or so earlier.
The next big change in my life came when my sister, who was a music student in
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college, insisted that I continue studying singing. The first week of school, she made
an appointment with a new voice teacher on the faculty, Frank McKinley. Following
my audition, he agreed to take me as a voice student. After my first lesson, he invit-
ed me to sing in the college Chapel Choir which he was conducting. I was ecstatic.
Following the Thanksgiving holidays, there came an opening in Dr. Bain’s A Cappella
Choir. I won the audition for that position, and continued studying singing with
Frank McKinley.
Between September 1941 and August of 1944, besides learning the great motets
of Palestrina, Victoria, Bach and Brahms, and other choral music for concert tours,
I learned and performed great masterpieces like Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony, Brahms’ German Requiem, Alto Rhapsody and Schicksalslied,
Rachnaninoff’s The Bells, Verdi’s Manzoni Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Fauré’s
Requiem, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and participated in singing a Bach Church
Cantata over the Texas Quality Radio Network every week for six months. We sang the
first choral/orchestral work the NTSTC Grand Chorus sang with the Dallas
Symphony, a collaboration which lasted for decades. We also sang with the Houston
Symphony. I know of no other place in the country where one could have sung this
volume of choral masterworks in three years. It was an experience which left me giddy
with excitement for singing.
Following two years in the U.S. Army (1944-1945) I returned to Denton and
earned two degrees in music. Because of the flame Wilfred Bain lit within me, I chose
to dedicate my life to the discipline and integrity involved in reproducing magnificent
choral art and continued to sing it’s praises to anyone who would listen.
Wilfred C. Bain
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Respectful and Grateful Memories of Wilfred C. Bainby J. Carter Murphy Prof. of Economics Emeritus
Southern Methodist University • December 5th, 2003
If I have made any mark at all on the history of my time, it has been through my
work as an economist, in academia and in government. Certainly it has not been as a
musician. On the other hand, of all the years of formal education that prepared me
for my career, those that made the greatest mark on me may have been my final two
years as a college undergraduate at North Texas State College where I was a major in
music and a member of Dr. Bain’s A Cappella choir
Throughout my youth I sang. On the small farm to which my family had retreat-
ed in the Great Depression, I sang to myself in the barn and on my horse. In church
I sang. As a freshman and sophomore at Texas Christian University, I sang in the Glee
Club. My education had no direction. When I was a college freshman and was asked
about my degree plans, I answered “business”, since that didn’t seem to be much of a
commitment. In the second year, I could reply more bravely, “premed”. But some
where in the second year I began to think that what I really wanted to do... the only
thing I really wanted to do...was sing. The choir of Trinity University came to Fort
Worth, and I was thrilled. The St. Olaf choir appeared in concert, and I was in elec-
trified. Then the A Cappella Choir of North Texas State came, using a picture of the
robed choir in the shape of a cross on the cover of its printed program, and I was con-
vinced that maybe, just maybe, I could, with proper training, make a career of direct-
ing such a choir in a college setting.
In the fall of 1941, I transferred to North Texas State in Denton and declared
myself a music major. My father was displeased with my decision, but he tolerated it
because the costs of educating a son were so much less at a state than a private school.
The three floor music building had just been completed on the Denton campus, and
the top of floor was in use as a men’s dormitory -- a financing arrangement to fund
the building. I moved into the third floor and joined the company of men as diverse
as the lovable pianist who tried suicide twice but who otherwise consoled himself play-
ing eerily romantic and beautiful midnight piano music in a practice room on the
Wilfred C. Bain
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second floor, to the more stern and ambitious baritone who could not tolerate the
high jinx that frequented the long hallways. It was a good fellowship that had one pow-
erful bonding agent-- music. What was instantly clear to me was my lack of musical
training. A high achiever throughout my high school and early college years, I was
now a babe in the woods, years behind my cohorts in professional skills.
But I wanted to sing. Places in the A Cappella choir were filled, and there were
many voice major seeking to join. Those of us in waiting were assigned to the Chapel
Choir under the direction of Frank McKinley. Mr. McKinley (his easy-going nature
made it easy to call him Frank, although the serious Wilfred Bain was always Dr. Bain)
was a voice teacher to most of us, and presumably made suggestions to Dr. Bain when
he thought a student might be useful for the a cappella choir. It was sometime in the
spring that I was invited to in to join at the top Choir, and I couldn’t have been more
proud and relieved had I won election to a major political office. I could master
music theory, music appreciation and musicology and could stumble through Piano
and amusedly experiment in the requirement courses in strings, but I mostly wanted
to sing, and joining Dr. Bain’s choir was fulfillment.
Wilfred Bain was a distant authority to most of us in the music department. He
was like a military officer who inspired but did not over fraternize with his troops. It
was Mary, his wife, who was his soft glove, taking a caring interest in us all. In daily
choir rehearsals, however, all eyes were riveted on Dr. Bain, and there was a kind of
flow of energy between him and every singer. He was a severe taskmaster, finding
nuances in the polyphony and brooking no sloppy phrasing or careless entrances.
When the choir tuned, we held the chord until the overtones throbbed. A choir
“secret”, like the fraternal handshake, was the dissemination of the opening pitch. I
shall not even now revealed the “secret”, but it was the source of amusement to many
in our audiences who inquired about the techniques of a cappella singing. On sever-
al occasions, when the choir’s work at practice seemed undisciplined, Bain required
everyone to come down from the choir stands to do pushups on the choir room floor.
The two years I was in Denton were exciting ones. The big production in my first
year was the Beethoven 9th which we did with the Houston symphony. In the second
year, the great production was the Brahms Deutsche Requiem, which I believe we per-
Wilfred C. Bain
1144
formed with the Dallas Symphony. On tour we opened with the great Bach Motet
“Sing Ye to the Lord”. On hearing recordings of these massive compositions, I still
find myself humming, or imagining, the tenor lines. I remember, too, the excite-
ment of working on a new Bach cantata every week for many weeks, each for a one time
Sunday broadcast.
While I subsequently sang in the Midshipmen choir at Riverside Church, New
York, was cantor in the choir for Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago, and
joined a small professional group at Chicago's First Unitarian Church, never again
did I enjoy such a richness of musical experience as I did in those Denton years.
Wilfred Bain’s use of his A Cappella Choir and a Great Chorus to attract attention to
his burgeoning program at North Texas, garnered many of us who yearned to be part
of a fine choral instrument and who had a few other choices in those years. Sometime
during World War II, I abandoned the idea of seeking a profession in music in favor
of becoming a student of international affairs and public policy. But I shall ever bear
the imprint of fine fellowships and musical discipline that I found at North Texas.
Bain’s transformation of the North Texas program in only a few years was a feat
of academic entrepreneurship at its best. I believe he helped lift and refined tastes
and expectations of many Texans who previously had accepted glee club renditions of
popular tunes as the norm for university music. His high performance standards, and
his flair for marketing them, probably lifted academic norms and expectations in
other departments at North Texas State College now University and helped propel the
institution along the path to excellence it has since followed.
I am convinced that talented academic leaders make a great difference in quality,
as well as size, of institutions they serve. Wilfred Bain built a great music program
from scratch at North Texas and in doing so, changed his university, the state and the
region. A great many of us are the beneficiaries of his legacy.
Wilfred C. Bain
1155
Close Up of Wilfred Bain1947-1948
by Herbert L. Teat
“ Wilfred Bain ... when I think of Wilfred Bain, I see a highly dignified, hand-
some man of great bearing, walking on the stage in front of the greatest choir sound
I’d ever heard...”
Thus spake Euell Porter, a legend in choral music in the State of Texas. I visited
Mr. Porter in his retirement home in Waco. Friends told me not to expect him to
remember anything when I go to visit. Sure enough, when I said ,”Euell, remem-
ber... " Right away he waved me off and said, “Herb, I never can remember anything."
Not satisfied, the next visit I avoided the word “remember” and said, “I was thinking
of Wilfred Bain the other day, and I ...” Right away, Euell said, “Wilfred Bain... when
I think of Wilfred Bain, I see a highly dignified ...”
It was the same with me, and I dare say many, who got the same impression. In
1941 as a senior in Ysleta High School in far west Texas, I went to a choir concert at
the auditorium one evening. The curtain opened on a robed choir beyond anything
I had seen before. A very suave director in a cut away tuxedo came forward to intro-
duce and conduct the program. His presentation and the choral singing was beyond
all I had experienced, and proved unforgettable.
Being of typical high school mentality, all I remembered factually was a great
choir from a college in Denton, Texas. The name of the college, the name of the
director and the repertoire escaped me with the exception of one composition, Ballad
for Americans.
Like many young American men in 1946 I went back to college to find my place
in the sun. I transferred my prewar credits from Hardin-Simmons University to
North Texas State Teachers College. I abandoned the dreaminess of a composer for
the more accessible employment in the field of instrumental music education.
Biased though it may seem, I could not have attended a school anywhere better
than what we had at North Texas. Dr. Bain had the most progressive ideas of any music
educator ever to come to the State of Texas. After an interview with him as to my sta-
Wilfred C. Bain
1166
tus in light of the two years of music I had studied at Hardin Simmons University
before the war, he classified me as a Junior, and I was off and running, and I do mean
running.
As an undergraduate, I took the required courses in conducting. Dr. Wilfred
Bain, Dean of Music, required everyone to take both choral and instrumental con-
ducting. He taught the choral conducting and had a peculiar way of testing for the
final grade. We students often referred to him as Mr. God, so you can imagine my
level of nervousness.
I presented myself at the appointed time in his office. He instructed me to go to
a music stand across the office from his desk with a piece of choral music on it, closed.
As per his instruction, I opened the piece of music and studied it for a short pre-
scribed time. "If you're ready, Mr. Teat. Please conduct the piece," he said from
across the room.
I took a deep breath and imagined a choral group before me, waiting for me to
lead them through the music. Dr. Bain observed the way I acted out conducting the
piece as a finished product. As if his observation weren't enough, I had to conduct a
piece of music I had not seen before.
What I saw appeared to be written by a starving composer who was still starving.
But Dr. Bain allowed me no time for intimidation.
The music had multi-metered measures that began in four, followed by measures
of twos, or fives, threes, fours, sixes and more mixed meters. All the hours I poured
into building those conducting patterns into my motor memory came to my rescue. I
could not have done it with anything less than complete abandon.
When I finished, I closed the music, stood drained and heard Dr. Bain say, with
a satisfied smile, “You’re a choral man.” "Thank you, Dr. Bain, but I’ve invested
much in the instrumental area of my training.” "That may be, Mr. Teat, but I main-
tain that you're a choral man."
I left his office that day, at first reminding myself of my love of band, of the
instruments and the drama of band music, but I found myself contemplating Dr.
Bain's words. For the first time I began to think of the human voice as an instrument
as well. From Bain's insight and to paraphrase, “our nature will out”. Within four
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1177
years my transition to choral music education ensued.
On another day, I asked Dr. Bain, "How is it that you get everybody to do so
much?" "First, you get them to want to," he said, following a satisfied chortle, "and
balance that with afraid not to." "Beyond that," he continued, "If you have time to
think and realize how much you are doing, you might be afraid you couldn’t do it, and
you’d quit."
At the beginning of my second year, during the registration process I saw how
Dean Bain cared for each individual among his 400 music majors. When I complet-
ed my schedule with a required course in the Education Department, I presented my
registration card to Dr. Bain for his approval. He showed his disapproval of an
Education course when he got up and walked over to have a chat with the Dean of
Education.
His secretary explained that they scheduled me for observation of a teacher in the
Demonstration School. Dr. Bain proposed that music majors take a Psychology course
instead. The upshot of the Deans’ conversation resulted in my taking the course
"Seven Schools of Psychology,” that contributed greatly to my approach to the teach-
ing / learning process.
A neutral time in Music Building activities came every afternoon at 5 o'clock.
You might hear a couple of pianos practicing, but even Dr. Bain appeared at the front
entrance to be picked up by Mrs. Bain. Occasionally I stood waiting there, and once
heard Dr. Bain carry on a conversation with the janitor, Mr. Key. He revealed how he
conducted his personal business when he told Mr. Key he bought his new Chrysler in
Krum. Maybe it's the sound of the word, but I found it incongruous when I imagined
that Mrs. Bain bought her clothes at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, and the elegant Dean
Bain bought his car from a dealer in Krum.
Wilfred C. Bain
1188
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby J.W. (Jubby) Johnson
I was a senior at Denton High in the spring of 1939 and my piano teacher, Miss
Mary Anderson, thought I should consider majoring in music. There was a new
department chairman at NTSTC named Dr. Bain. I got an appointment with him,
and since I had roles in the high school musical, I sang for him. He gave me a work
scholarship for half of my tuition. That was fine with me because I already had a half
grant from the tennis team.
I was in the A Cappella choir as a baritone my freshman year. Frank McKinley
came in the fall of my sophomore year and was my voice teacher. He put me in the
Chapel Choir which he had formed and from then on I was a tenor. Through my
junior and senior years I was in Dr. Bain's choir.
During those years several of us from the choir sang in pop vocal groups. I wrote
(or copied) the charts. By my junior year I was playing piano in “Fessor” Graham's
stage band and we appeared occasionally on the Saturday night stage show.
In the spring of my senior year, 1943, Dr. Bain was booking the choir at various
military bases. He asked me if I would write "something popular" for these perform-
ances. I wrote an a cappella arrangement of "Stardust" and he liked it well enough to
use it. I went on active duty in the Army before he used it and never heard it per-
formed.
After discharge from the Army in January of 1946, I went by the music building
to visit. I was given a packet of music and in a few days was on tour with what was then
called the North Texas State College Choir. After the tour I started work on a mas-
ter's degree which I received in June of '47. With the graduate study I also taught sec-
ondary piano and directed the stage band and the Saturday night stage show in the
summers of '46 and ‘47 I taught at Wharton County Junior College from 1946 to
1953 and Tyler Junior College from 1965 to 1998.
I have said many times how incredibly lucky all of us were at the time we were at
North Texas. We were taught and influenced by such outstanding, talented people as
Wilfred Bain, Frank McKinley, Floyd Graham, Walter Hodgson, Myron Taylor and
Wilfred C. Bain
1199
Walter Robert. And then there was blessed Mary Anderson, who took a skinny little
left handed tennis player and put up with him through junior high, high school, col-
lege and graduated school.
Wilfred C. Bain
2200
The Influence of Dr. Wilfred Bainby Bob Irby
In the early 1940s Plainview High School brought Ms. Herman Vaughn to our
school to teach Choral Music. She had just graduated from North Texas State
Teachers College where she had been a member of Dr. Bain's A Cappella Choir. At
P.H.S. there had been very little student participation in the Choral Music program.
Ms. Vaughn did a masterful job of recruiting, enlisting football players, cheerleaders
and other popular students. Many of us who were not in that category rushed to join
to be with the, “elite”. This was my first time to sing in a group that the director
required musical discipline. To me the music we produced was wonderful and I was,
“hooked”. She selected me to sing in small ensembles and at church I was asked to sing
my first solo. Even the football players and the cheerleaders seemed to take me into
their circles, which gave some much needed strokes to my self image. All this was an
early turning point in my life.
In 1944, my senior year, I was informed by my choir director that the North
Texas State Teachers College Choir was going to present a concert in Plainview. As I
sat and listened to the most beautiful music I had ever heard I decided that I was going
to North Texas and maybe someday get in that choir. I was also greatly impressed when
a young baritone soloist stepped out from the choir and sang, “The Ballad for
Americans”. It “knocked me out”! That soloist was Charles Nelson. I didn’t know it
at the time but Charles was still in high school and traveling with the choir. We were
the same age.
In January of 1945 I graduated from P.H.S. and enrolled immediately in the
Music School at North Texas where Dr. Bain placed me in the baritone section of his
A cappella Choir. It was such a valuable experience to have had the opportunity to
sing under his direction the last full year of his teaching at North Texas and to be in
the choir for his last tour prior to his leaving the school.
Wilfred C. Bain
2211
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby Rowena (Turney) Taliaferro
Dr. Wilfred C. Bain was most certainly the dominant figure in my four years as a
music education major at the North Texas State Teachers College in Denton, Texas.
As a freshman in the fall of 1942 I arrived in time to sing in the Bach Cantatas on the
radio on Sunday mornings and to this day, it is easier for me to sight-read Bach than
any other composer. We were divided into two choirs and thus had two weeks to pre-
pare a cantata, but it still took all our sight-read skills to perform them for radio.
With this beginning activity, my music education progressed, ala Bain, until
graduation with a Bachelor's in the summer of 1946. Whatever Bain advised me to do
or take, I did, never occurring to me to question him in any way, but then no one else
did either. We all respected him as a musician, as a Dean, and as a man of great abil-
ity and energy. That energy transferred to us in A Cappella Choir. The boys had to
do push-ups on the floor, and we females had to push-up against the wall. That gave
us strength and aided in the breathing of long phrases. We even became capable of
standing for 2 hours at a time for rehearsals and performances. From then on I
expected my own choral students to be strong in the diaphragm area as well as open
their mouths.
Our repertoire always was of the highest standard which again remained with me
during my teaching years, even to the point of having my choirs sing such numbers as
Deep River and of course, every concert ended with The Lord Bless You and Keep
You. I will always love it and my students felt the same way, even the junior high choirs
learned it as well as Lamar High School Varangian Choir (I have already requested that
it be sung at my memorial!)
The choral sound that originated with the Westminster Choir College, but
altered somewhat, stayed with me. Naturally, I could not expect very young voices to
completely imitate the more mature sound, but my choirs were encouraged to cover
their tone, especially for some repertoire. This also helped the blending of the voic-
es which Dr. Bain always obtained with his choirs.
Other than the choral experiences, Dr. Bain insisted upon an all-round good
Wilfred C. Bain
2222
music education. With the faculty he hired: Walter Robert (piano and theory) Dr.
Walter Hodgson (theory and composition) Mary McCormic (opera and voice) Myron
Taylor (voice) Dr. Ralph Appelman and Dr. George Morey (symphonic literature who
later became my husband Lloyd's major professor in composition), were all very
instrumental in my education. I will always appreciate these wonderful faculty mem-
bers for their knowledge and helpful friendships.
And those choir trips! Singing for military installations and the civilian concerts
provided each of us experiences that could not be matched anywhere. What a great
idea to work with the U.S. Army so that not only did we do our patriotic duty to per-
form for the "boys in uniform" but we could advertise North Texas all over Texas and
parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Many a young high school student
decided to major in music at North Texas after hearing us sing in concert. That alone
started the movement to further and improve the cause of choral music in Texas.
When Dr. Bain resigned to become Dean of Music at Indiana University, we all
thought the end had come, but he left North Texas in good hands and a formidable
music program established. We gave a party for him and presented him with a new car
and all our well wishes and grateful thanks for a job very well done.
With this background it was natural that all my choirs would benefit from my own
experience and efforts. I know that any success that came my way was partly due to Dr.
Bain's wonderful influence and energy.
Wilfred C. Bain
2233
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby Ira Schantz
Dr. Bain opened to me a new standard of excellence in choral music and its per-
formance that I never dreamed of.
Because of Dr. Bain, I was introduced to great choral masterpieces of which I had
never heard, especially the Bach Passions and the Mass in B minor, etc., which would
later play a big part in my vocal and musical development.
Dr. Bain helped me to build my personal and musical confidence by assigning me
a solo in one of the pieces the North Texas State Teachers College A Cappella Choir
sang on its autumn tour, 1946, a solo which I would not normally have expected to be
given since I was a freshman and it was my first tour with the choir.
I appreciated not only Dr. Bain’s outstanding ability as a choral conductor but
also his equally excellent expertise as an administrator in his capacity as Dean of the
North Texas State Teachers College School of Music. His record at North Texas and
later at Indiana University, speaks for itself.
Wilfred C. Bain
2244
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby Ann Everett Everest
My first and foremost debt to Dr. Bain was the way he took an interest in my per-
formance attitude. I must have been somewhat of a simpering wimp, and he thought,
"Something should be done about that." He taught me how to present myself, with
poise and assurance when I sat down at the piano. His very manner was so dignified.
I shall never forget the first time I saw him. It was on campus on his daily walk to the
music hall. I had never seen a man in a homburg and come to think of it, not one
since. Had it been an alien from outer space I couldn't have been in complete and
total awe!
I am grateful that he took the time to coach me on my mien. He stressed first,
complete control of my material (and I know he gave the same consideration to his
voice students) then develop a calm and assured air. To this day I feel his beautiful
presence when I perform and it has helped me through a lot of nervous moments
before a performance.
In 1943 we sang the Beethoven 9th with the Dallas Symphony and Houston
Symphony. When we went to Houston for our performance, I came down with a ter-
rible case of laryngitis. Not wanting to miss the chance of a lifetime, I swore my
friends to secrecy and did a super lip-sync job. Dr. Bain, I'm sure, was not fooled for
a minute, but, being the kind and gracious person that he was, he let me go on. (An
afterthought: what if we had all had laryngitis!)
Wilfred C. Bain
2255
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby Kay Smith
Any success my various choirs have experienced is due largely to what I learned
from Wilfred C. Bain. Here are some of the things he preached that I tried to prac-
tice.
Every person in a choir is important. The total sound is a blend of individuals
trained to listen and fit themselves into this blend.
Learn to manage breath easily and noiselessly. Relax while inhaling to match
speed of intake to speed of output and to not take more breath than you need.
Over breathing is a common fault.
Good diction insures good tone. Learning to sing a foreign language helps us
recognize and control our colloquial speech habits which can so easily wreck the choral
tone.
Good music encourages good singing. Choose from the best of choral literature
if you want to best from your choir.
Wilfred C. Bain
2266
Wilfred Bain Remembered by Jesse Hensarling
1944-1945
Dr. Wilfred Bain was the reason I attended North Texas State Teachers College in
1944. I had heard the A Cappella Choir and wanted to sing in it.
Encouraged by my high school choir director, Euell Porter, I enrolled as a Music
Education major and did get accepted into the choir. Through the Choir and Grand
Chorus I had opened up to me choral literature and orchestral music that I had never
heard or dreamed of. I learned discipline to stand and sing with my hands at my side
no matter what happened, the importance of physical condition, and many other
valuable lessons. Dr. Bain used me in the bass section but encouraged me to expand
my range to baritone in personal studies.
I did not become a professional musician. My vocation turned to accounting and
ministry. But Dr. Bain prepared me for a lifetime of enjoyment through singing and
gave me an appreciation good choral music. I am grateful and desire to honor him.
Wilfred C. Bain
2277
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby Cecelia (Cunningham) Box
I almost missed the A Cappella Choir. I was a senior music major when Dr. Bain
arrived at NTSTC in 1938 and announced a new choir that required actual auditions.
Scared to death, I went in to audition for the alto section, but he convinced me to sing
soprano. I was ecstatic!
My musical memories began with the sound of my father leading the singing in
church. Growing up, music always just seemed where I was going. Now, I realize more
and more that music tells the story of where I've been. I can't imagine a life without
music. Even the saddest tune soothes the heart and joyful music is irresistible. But
joining voices to make beautiful music puts you right next door to heaven.
My teaching career involved positions at St. Jo and Sherman, Texas. The train-
ing I received at North Texas gave me the confidence to lead my student choirs to the
district championship in 1940.
Following World War II my husband, Joe Box, (SMU '40) and I moved to
Grapevine, Texas where he was in the Banking business for fifty-two years.
TThhrreeee ooff DDrr.. BBaaiinn''ss FFaammoouuss AAddmmoonniittiioonnss
11.. KKeeeepp yyoouurr eeyyeess oonn mmee..
22.. BBeeffoorree yyoouu ffaaiinntt,, ssiitt ddoowwnn..
33.. UUssee mmuumm!!
Wilfred C. Bain
2288
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby Wilma (Thiele) Dorsey
During World War II we could only get transportation to travel courtesy of the
government by singing concerts in Army camps, as well as in schools and churches.
On at least one tour, the bus was a trailer which had long bench seats down either side
of the aisle so we faced each other all day. As Bill Sparks would say, "That was so bor-
ing!" Once we were in Amarillo when they had a heavy snowfall. We all had to get off
the bus and the male choir members had to push it when we got stuck in the snow.
Singing in Dr. Bain's choir enriched my life immeasurably.
I spent four years (1947-1951) teaching at John Tarleton College in Stephenville,
Texas. I married Harold Dorsey in 1948. We moved to Waxahachie when Harold
became the band director there in 1951. I was an independent piano teacher in
Waxahachie for many years. Both our daughter and our son have earned degrees form
NTSU.
Wilfred C. Bain
2299
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby K.C. Newell
Singing choral music with Wilfred Bain gave me an appreciation for music which,
through the years, has not waned. I’m still singing in all male choruses affiliated with
Ben Hur Shrine Temple in Austin, Texas. I spent 30 years with the Texas Department
of highways, an engineering organization, retiring in 1979 at the age of 53.
I began my brief but memorable experience with the College of Music in 1946
right after being discharged from service following World War II. Although my major
began with pre engineering courses, I still found time to take voice lessons under a
very capable Thomas Hardy and piano lessons under Ray Haney, a graduate student
who was then pursuing a master’s degree in music. I also took a course in music
appreciation but can no longer remember who taught the course. It was through this
exposure that I became interested in singing in the Grand Chorus. This interest was
expressed to Dr. Wilfred Bain who was Dean of the School of Music as well as direc-
tor of the Grand Chorus and I believe the A Cappella Choir as well. Dr. Bain sug-
gested (insisted) that I audition for him and a time was set up for this purpose. At the
appointed hour I entered a large practice room in the music building which was void
of all furniture except for one very large concert grand piano and Dr. Bain seated on
the bench. The good doctor then handed me a sheet of music and told me I was to
sight read this as he accompanied me on the piano. I was simply petrified because I
never considered myself to be an accomplished sight-reader. Apparently I did well
enough as I was told to begin attending rehearsals.
The first performance the Grand Chorus made while I was a member, was with
this Houston Symphony Orchestra. We performed Bach’s B minor Mass. We were all
very excited about this opportunity to sing with such a renowned orchestra led by con-
ductor Ernst Hoffman. We became even more excited when we learned that the
famous and wonderful contralto Marian Anderson, diva with the Metropolitan
Opera, was in the audience. We performed well and received rave reviews in the
Houston papers.
Our next performance was with the Dallas Symphony, then conducted by Antal
Wilfred C. Bain
3300
Dorati. We performed my favorite of all choral works, the Brahms Requiem. Just to
be in the chorus singing this exquisite piece of music by such a masterful composer,
was an emotional experience that I will never forget. Following the performance how-
ever it seemed that the entire chorus wanted the autograph of conductor and Antal
Dorati who willingly obliged, using my pen to sign his name. I still have the pen which
serves to bring forth many delightful memories.
Wilfred C. Bain
3311
Wilfred Bain Remembered by James R. Nance
The first time I saw Dr. Bain was the fall of 1943 or spring of 1944, my senior
year in high school. Amarillo Air Force Base was one of several military bases includ-
ed on the itinerary of the North Texas A Cappella Choir tour that year. Fortunately,
Dr. Bain arranged for the choir to perform a short concert for Amarillo High School
during morning assembly time from the usual thirty minutes to a little over an hour.
I had never heard any musical organization perform as professionally as the
North Texas Choir. I had never been so moved. The concert was more than inspir-
ing to me, I was awed and at that time I didn’t dream that one day I would be a mem-
ber of that great choir. I don’t remember everything the choir sang but I do remem-
ber two selections. The “Ballad for Americans”, two years later I learned Charles
Nelson was the soloist, and we became friends. The choir closed the concert with
“The Lord Bless You and Keep You.”
Following high school, like most young men in those World War II days, I spent
two years in military service. I volunteered for the navy. Following my discharge, I
decided a college degree should be my next challenge. The question was, just what
should be my major?
I came from a family who loved music. My parents played the piano and sang.
Both my sisters and I started piano lessons at an early age and we sang in church and
school choirs. My main interest in music however became the trumpet. I began play-
ing trumpet in the fifth grade, played in our Junior High School Band, High School
Band and our local Symphony Orchestra. During my sophomore year in high school
I began playing in dance bands six nights a week. I quit the school band in my senior
year but was a member of Mrs. Dean’s A Cappella Choir. During my last year in the
navy, I sang in a Navy Church Choir. My short-term goals were to enroll in North
Texas as a music major, and if at all possible, qualify for the choir which meant drop-
ping trumpet and concentrating on voice.
The first time I met Dr. Bain was at my audition for the choir in late August
1946. It was immediately apparent that Dr. Bain was a confident, very well organized
Wilfred C. Bain
3322
man who knew where he wanted to go, what he wanted to do and how to do it. Before
saying a word his powerful personality was like an aura surrounding him and filled the
small studio room used for auditions. A young lady was sitting at a table next to him
and another was at a piano.
I did not realize it was customary so I had nothing prepared to sing. Dr Bain, in
his rich, resonate voice. said “Well, let’s test our range.” After being led by the pianist
throughout a series of vocalizations, my sight-reading skills were tested. The next day
I was notified to be at Choir practice that afternoon.
The choir tour that year began in Late September or early October, allowing just
a few weeks for the new members of the choir to memorize all the music. Many of the
choir members were previous members of the choir, and attended summer school and
had some of the music memorized before the new members were selected and invited
to join the choir. Dr. Bain informed the new choir members that memorization
meant knowing the music well enough to be able to write out our parts and that we
would be tested as the final qualification to go on tour. I believed him. Initially I
doubted I would be able to achieve this feat, but after many hours of daily choir prac-
tices, plus additional preparations on my own, I was confident I could meet this
requirement. Whether Dr. Bain was satisfied we knew our music, never really intend-
ed to test us, or just ran out of time, the test never occurred.
There were many things I learned that single year before Dr. Bain left North
Texas to become Dean of Music at Indiana University. I was introduced to music I had
never before heard or performed. In addition to the A Cappella Choir, I participat-
ed in the Grand Chorus which sang “Verdi’s Requiem” with the Dallas Symphony, and
I also sang in the chorus of Gounod’s opera “Faust”, produced by Mary McCormic
and directed by Dr. Bain. I met many of the “old Masters” that first year at North
Texas on a level I had never before experienced.
In addition to music, I received my first lessons in serious planning, organiza-
tion and preparation from Dr. Bain, who was a master of each. These prove to be a
valuable foundation for my later business studies and career.
Wilfred C. Bain
3333
Wilfred Bain Rememberedby Eddie Lou (Haug) Neel
I feel Dr. Bain deserves every honor and recognition and that can be bestowed on
a music educator of his stature. I had the honor of having him as a professor and
director at the then North Texas State Teachers College in Denton, Texas.
I was enrolled at North Texas State Teachers College from 1941 to 1945. I
received both a Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music Education degrees
with a concentration in voice and piano. Almost immediately my love became choral
music. Dr. Bain was the Dean of the Music Department and the choral director of
the top A Cappella choir. I was fortunate to make his top choir my freshman year and
was a member until my graduation with a bachelor and master of music degrees in
1945.
Dr. Bain was a tough and demanding director and highly respected by the staff
and students. He demanded respect and dedication. Choral rehearsals were two
hours long in addition to physical warm-ups which included a hundred push-ups
from the men and 50 modified push-ups from the women. All the music assigned
daily was to be memorized before the next rehearsal. Testing was conducted over the
assigned literature daily in quartets.
One memory of interest I have in the conducting class. I am left-handed. In
conducting class he moved me into another room and changed my conducting habit
from left to right. I thought I might be terminated but the private sessions made me
a very good conductor and the second semester I was able to join my classmates.
Dr. Bain spent very little time in his office. He was very visible and ready to share
your problems, physical as well as academic. If you could not obtain the standards
required by the music department, after several conferences, you were advised to
change your major field.
He had a yearly schedule for major performances and weekly schedule for major
works that were performed with major artists and the Dallas Symphony. We did not
travel out of state due to limited transportation during World War II. We broadcast
Bach’s cantatas weekly on Sunday with a radio hookup in the rehearsal hall.
Wilfred C. Bain
3344
Dr. Bain was constantly upgrading the School of Music, bringing in new profes-
sors in performance and research. The stage band program was phenomenal! Other
universities, both in state and out of state, were seeking to draw him away from North
Texas. I’m sure he had additional goals of achievement for the Music School of North
Texas before he left for Indiana University.
In conferences with him during my college days he only made one impossible
demand of me. At 5’6” and 106 lbs., he insisted that I come back to school in the fall
with an added 15 lbs. In September during registration each year he would only look
at me, shake his head and sigh!!!
In 1985 a special banquet for ex-members was scheduled at the North Texas
homecoming event. There were quite a few of us present and a special recital was
scheduled featuring Charles Nelson. At the banquet I met with Dr. Bain and
remarked, “I finally gained those 15 lbs.” He was quite amused!
I am a retired Music Supervisor from the San Angelo Independent School
District in San Angelo, Texas. My teaching experience spans 52 years at every level. I
retired with 36 of those years as Supervisor of Music. I feel I owe my success as a music
educator and supervisor to the training and self discipline Dr. Bain demanded. What
an educator and model for future performers and directors.
Wilfred C. Bain
EuellPorter
Material prepared by Maurice Alfred
3388
Biographical Sketchof Euell Porter
1910-1998by E. Maurice Alfred, Ph.D.
Edwin Euell Porter was born October 10, 1910 near Franklin, Texas and died
September 23, 1998 in Waco Texas. He was the last of six children born to George W.
and Alma Parker Porter. His parents worked a small farm outside of Franklin in
Robertson County. George W. came from Missouri and was a second generation Irish
immigrant. Euell’s mother was of Cajun descent with hair as “black as coal.” His twin
sisters, Addis Mae and Gladys Faye, and his brothers, Richard Bland, Samuel Lewis,
and George Felton, took care of their little brother almost from his birth.
When Porter was about six, his mother became bedridden with influenza and he
remembered his mother saying “bring that baby here and let him stand by the bed and
sing for me.” Though his mother was ill, the Porter’s sang and made music each night,
with his sister Addis or his brother Sam playing the piano, and the rest of the family
singing. His mother’s illness became progressively worse, and she died when he was
eight. After her death, the family moved to a farm near Pettaway, Texas.
Their new house and farm were much larger, with one room set aside for music.
In the music room there was a pump organ and a five pedal upright piano. The fam-
ily continued its tradition of singing, with his sister Addis Mae playing the organ and
brother Samuel Lewis playing the piano. In the early 1920’s, Porter attended a singing
school in Boone Prairie and it was there he learned to read shaped notes. Porter’s
father remarried and moved back to Franklin with his new wife. At this time Euell
went to live with his oldest brother Richard and wife Irene Porter.
The following year, Porter moved to Calvert where he attended high school, liv-
ing with his sister Addis Mae and her husband, Edward Lockett. His main interests
were basketball and football, but he also took four years of Latin. The Latin teacher
was school superintendent J. I. Moore. Porter said his studying in Moore’s Latin class
was when he first began to enjoy language and poetry. He said he learned more about
English in the four years of Latin than in any English classes in high school or college.
Euell Porter
3399
Superintendent Moore took an interest in the young Porter, and tutored him
throughout high school. Porter also played basketball and football at Calvert. Moore
was the basketball coach. Porter described Moore as a “hump-shouldered, ugly faced
man who later became his best friend.
In 1925, Porter became a Christian at a tent revival and then joined Calvert’s
First Baptist Church. There he met Mrs. Peeler, a Sunday school teacher and new
friend. While listening to him sing hymns, she was impressed by the quality of his
voice. Just as he had sung with his family and in church as a boy, he now was singing
in church as a tenor. Peeler and Moore encouraged him to take voice lessons from a
local teacher and Euell’s brother-in-law, Edward Lockett, arranged for the lessons
with Miss Stella MacIntosh. Porter was quick to point out that his playing sports kept
the other kids from thinking singing was “sissy.” Porter continued to be active in
church and school activities until his graduation from Calvert High School in 1928.
The Lockett family did not have the means to send Porter to college and he began
to work in the local Calvert grocery store. In December of 1928, Superintendent
Moore came to Porter and asked, “If I get you a scholarship to Simmons College, will
you go?” Moore was a graduate of Simmons College and had family in Abilene. In
early January of 1929, Moore returned from a visit to Abilene having arranged for a
full scholarship for Porter to attend Simmons College. The next week, Porter went to
Simmons College to study English and walk on as a basketball player.
As it was too late to make dormitory arrangements Porter boarded at the house of
Mrs. S. O. Reister. He also found a job in a grocery store and began classes at
Simmons. Though it was unknown to Porter, Superintendent Moore contacted
William James Work, chair of Vocal Music and Choirs at Simmons. During the first
few weeks of school, Work came to Porter’s boarding house and said “You, come and
go with me.” They went to the music building and Work convinced Porter to major in
music. Work and his wife took a special interest in Porter, and treated him as their
own child throughout Porter’s years at Hardin-Simmons. Mrs. Work accompanied
the choirs and taught basic theory and music history. Porter believed that Work taught
him to utilize small groups to build a choir. In the 1931-32 school year, Porter sang
first tenor with the Simmons University Male Quartet, along with Bernard Richards,
Euell Porter
4400
second tenor, Mack Carden, baritone, and Tyler Cagle, bass. This was during the
depression and Porter found himself working all night in a filling station, working in
the Post Office in the morning and jerking sodas in the afternoon one summer in
order to be able to attend school the following fall. Porter was a popular student and
was elected president of his junior class. He had also been vice president of his soph-
omore class. In his senior year, 1933, the quartet was Porter, Richards, Guy Shaw and
Cagle. These quartets sang in Baptist churches throughout West and Central Texas,
and at the Texas Baptist Conventions in 1930 and 1932. The 1933 quartet went to the
World’s Fair in Chicago; Shaw said they left Abilene with $10 between them and sang
in churches for food and overnight lodging. Shaw also said they had more money
when they got back than when they left.
Porter thought Work’s method of teaching the basics of vocal production, prima-
rily breath management, was worthy of emulation. Work encouraged Porter to con-
duct choirs.
During his junior and senior years, Porter was the primary soloist for the
University Choir, President of the Debate Squad and active in the Baptist Student
Union. Though he never played basketball for Hardin-Simmons, his intramural bas-
ketball team, (the quartet and two other musicians,) won the intramural champi-
onship in 1932 and 1933. He graduated in 1933 with a major in voice and a minor in
English.
Porter’s older brother Sam lived in Hearne, Texas, which was twelve miles south
of Calvert. Sam made arrangements for Porter to teach five classes of English at
Hearne High School and direct the music at Hearne First Baptist church. Porter con-
vinced the high school principal to approve the formation of a male chorus, girls’
chorus, male trio and girls’ trio, which would be considered extracurricular activities.
His first recruit was the all-conference center on the football team. After that, Porter
always had plenty of boys in the choir. He was allowed to rehearse the choirs before
school and during study hall. There were about 200 students at Hearne High School,
and 150 of them showed up for auditions. Porter chose thirty girls and thirty boys for
the first chorus groups at the school. Using the pattern he had learned from William
James Work at Hardin-Simmons, Porter formed a girls’ trio and a male trio from the
Euell Porter
4411
choruses to sing in the community and at school functions and community churches.
The glee clubs were successful, and they and the trios performed throughout Central
Texas. Their repertoire included cowboy songs (ballads), hymn arrangements and
novelty songs, accompanied by a piano.[21] Porter, in addition to his other duties,
coached basketball and baseball in the afternoons. His baseball team won the state
championship and the basketball team took regional honors.
Porter also created the Hearne Community Chorus. It was comprised of the
town’s Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian Church choirs. The chorus was formed for
a town revival in the spring of 1935, and after the revival, the choirs met annually for
town hymn singing festivals. They would perform at the school auditorium or at First
Baptist Church, singing hymn arrangements exclusively.
When Porter was a senior at Hardin-Simmons, he was invited to lead the singing
for a revival in Muleshoe, Texas. On the first night of the revival, he met Christine
Dennis, a sixteen year-old junior in high school, and a friendship developed. After
graduation from high school, Christine enrolled at Hardin-Simmons University in
the fall of 1934. Porter would visit her while working in Hearne, and at the beginning
of her junior year, Christine and Euell drove to Shreveport, Louisiana, eloping
August 26, 1936. Rev. H. M. Ward, the pastor who introduced them in Muleshoe,
performed the ceremony.
When Hearne High School did not place the choirs in the normal school day for
the 1937 academic year, Porter moved to Bryan, Texas as the new choir director at
Stephen F. Austin High School. Miss Wesa Weddington, high school principal, had
heard Porter’s Hearne glee clubs perform at First Methodist Church of Bryan and she
wanted her school to have a choral program. Porter also became the Music Director at
First Baptist Church.
Porter taught four classes of English while the choral program was being devel-
oped. He began by creating men’s and girls’ glee clubs that met before school one day
a week. On Fridays, a large number of students had study hall, and Porter chose fifty
of those students to be in a mixed choir. The remaining one hundred students had to
sit in the auditorium while the choir rehearsed on stage. Porter said he would not even
call this group a choir; they were just a true mixed chorus. Then, in September,
Euell Porter
4422
Porter and his wife Christine attended a concert by the North Texas State Teachers
College Choir under the direction of Wilfred Bain. Bain had brought the style of the
Westminster Choir and its director, John Finley Williamson, to North Texas. Porter
said that he had sung in glee clubs and mixed choruses before, but he had never heard
a choir like this one. The choir’s diction was clean, the tone was full, dark and reso-
nant, and they rarely used the piano. Porter said to Christine, “I’d like to have one of
those.”
On the following Friday, Porter began rehearsing a sacred song “Blessed Be the
Tie.” He had the tenor, Edward Carson sing a descant with the choir singing on the
vowel [u]. He worked on balance, to keep the female voices from overpowering the
male voices. Then, without a piano, they put the piece together with an opening solo
while the choir sang the four parts of the hymn on a [u] vowel. Then the choir sang
the second verse using the text of the song and closed by singing with a tenor descant
floating above the choir quietly singing. The hundred students in the auditorium
began to applaud, and Porter went to the office and asked the school superintendent,
Topsy Wilkerson, to come and listen.
Mr. Wilkerson had been the football coach when Porter played football at Calvert
High School. Following his years at Calvert, Wilkerson went to Reagan as a school
principal, and then came to Bryan as Superintendent of Schools. He only knew Porter
as a football and basketball player. As he listened to the choir, tears began to come
down his face, and he said, “Do it again.”
Porter identifies this moment as the beginning of his first a cappella choir.
Wilkerson gave Porter the funds necessary to send the choir to a competition at
Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos, Texas. The contest was five
months away and the choir began to practice. They earned the highest score at that
contest, and principal Weddington made plans to make choir a part of the class sched-
ule for the next year.
The new A Cappella Choir began before the 1938-39 school year, rehearsing
between football practices twice daily. This choir is credited with being one of the first
high school a cappella choirs in Texas, and by 1940 Porter had five choirs and 300
students involved in the choral program.
Euell Porter
4433
Richard Euell Porter was born in March of 1940. Prior to the birth, Christine
developed diabetes. With complications from the diabetes and not receiving enough
oxygen during delivery, the baby was born prematurely and severely injured. A blood
clot from the cesarean section caused Christine to have a stroke which resulted in
brain damage and partial paralysis. Christine was now totally dependent on outside
help to do the simplest of tasks and her mental capacity was that of a child. Richard
died one day later. With help from friends, Porter continued to teach and care for
Christine, while filling the next two summers with course work at Texas A & M
University. He completed a Master of Education Degree in Social Studies in 1942.
In 1941, Porter began a choir program at Bryan Junior High School. Here, he
also continued the practice of forming trios and quartets from the chorus. With his
choral music programs gaining regional and state recognition, Archie Jones invited
Porter to study at the University of Texas in Austin.
Porter stated that Archie Jones was the person who most affected his approach in
running a choral program. He attended the University during the summers of 1943,
1944, and 1945, but did not complete the degree. He studied privately with Jones,
and did course work that included choral literature, conducting, choral methods and
Baroque and Renaissance literature.
The Stephen F. Austin A Cappella Choir toured throughout Texas, and Porter
introduced plays and operettas to his high school students and audiences in Bryan. In
1944, the choral department presented Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of
Penzance. The Choir was invited to sing for the opening of the February (1945) ses-
sion of the Texas State Senate and was recognized as one of the most outstanding
choirs in the state (Texas State Senate Resolution No. 14.)
In the spring of 1945, Archie Jones recommended Euell Porter to the President
of Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas. The SFA A Cappella
Choir received top honors at the choir contest in March 1945 at Sam Houston. After
the contest, the president of the college came to Porter, inviting him to be the voice
teacher and choir director at Sam Houston. Porter accepted, and after twelve years of
public school teaching, he and Christine moved to Huntsville. In addition to his
duties at SHSTC, Porter was also appointed Music Director at First Baptist Church.
Euell Porter
4444
The pastor was Rev. H. M. Ward, the same man who introduced Euell and Christine
in Muleshoe and married them in Shreveport.
Porter taught at Sam Houston for three years (1945-1948). He was hired to teach
voice and direct the Sam Houston Mixed Chorus. He changed the name from Mixed
Chorus to the A Cappella Choir of Sam Houston State Teacher’s College. He contin-
ued his practice of forming ensembles from the choir. In the first year (1945-46)
there was a “Girls’ Quartette” and a “Men’s Double Sextet.” The A Cappella Choir
made trips to the Texas Capitol, Houston, and toured the valley in the spring.
In the spring of 1947 (second year at SHSTC) the Choir sang 17 concerts on a
ten day tour of West Texas and New Mexico. Leaving Huntsville on March 6, the choir
sang an afternoon concert at Fairfield High School and an evening program in
Mexia’s First Methodist Church. Other performances included Gatesville,
Brownwood and Coleman on March 7; Abilene Christian College, March 8;
Presbyterian Church and First Baptist Church, Abilene, March 9; Merkel High
School and First Baptist Church in Snyder, March 10; Lamesa High school,
Brownfield High School and Eunice High School, New Mexico, March 11. The
singers took a day off on March 12 to visit Carlsbad Caverns. The return trip includ-
ed programs at Grand Falls High School and First Baptist Church, Big Spring March
13; Winters High School and Lampasas High School March 14.
Euell Porter had an unusual ability to book choir tours that were exceptionally
enjoyable for his students. And he could do it without cost to the singers or the neces-
sity for non ending fund raising drives for the students. The following is a quote from
Charles Downey on his experiences at Stephen F. Austin High School in Porter’s
choirs:
“He was always able to raise money to send his groups on tours without a penny from
the student’s pockets. The community loved Euell Porter and would cheerfully par-
ticipate financially and in any other way to see that his choral programs were well
supported.”
In the spring of 1947, the a cappella choir was also invited to present a concert
for the prestigious Lyceum Concert Series at the University of Texas. This series was
usually reserved for professional performers.
Euell Porter
4455
Dr. Porter always formed smaller ensembles from within the large choir. In his
third year (1947-48) at Sam Houston, he had two male quartets: the Freshmen
Quartet (four freshmen, all from Bryan) and a Sophomore Quartet. Also during this
year, Porter became the first choral director to be elected President of the Texas Music
Educators Association, serving in that position for the school year 1948-49. In pre-
vious years this office was always filled by a band director.
During this third year, Porter accepted the position of Chair of the Voice
Department and Director of Choirs at Hardin-Simmons University. He had been
offered the job of choral director at H-SU in 1945 by President Dr. Rupert N.
Richardson. Porter did not accept because of a philosophical conflict with the
Hardin-Simmons Chair of voice. When the said chair left in 1948, the president
combined the vocal chair and choir positions and again offered the job to Porter. His
words to Porter were, “I remember your quartet from 1933 and I’ve heard your choirs
in Houston and Dallas. I want a great quartet like that, and I want a choral program.”
So Porter accepted the position, and brought fourteen of his Sam Houston students
with him, including what was to be the University Male Quartet. It was made up of the
bass and second tenor from the Sam Houston sophomore quartet and the baritone
and first tenor from the freshman quartet.
During the summer of 1947, Porter began an association with Dr. John Finley
Williamson, attending the 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950 summer sessions at
Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. During the summer of 1948, he
brought Williamson to Hardin-Simmons for the first of a series of summer choir
clinics.
Also during that summer (’48), with the help of H-SU President Richardson,
Porter became the new Minister of Music at First Baptist Church, Abilene. Porter
considered the strong link between H-SU and FBC an important part of his plan.
The H-SU School of Music began a strings program and diverted most of the schol-
arship money to orchestral students. The association with FBC solved the scholarship
problem by giving Porter access to community resources needed to recruit students
for the H-SU choral ensembles. Two of his new choir members at FBC, P. A. Hooker
and Wendell Foreman, developed a strong friendship with Porter. Both were interest-
Euell Porter
4466
ed in strong choir programs at both the church and the university. Porter asked
Hooker to manage the financial elements of the FBC Sanctuary Choir and the soon-
to-be Hardin-Simmons A Cappella Choir. Foreman offered funding, and Porter
thereby created several scholarships for H-SU student singers at FBC.
Following is Porter’s plan to build a Choral Program at Hardin-Simmons as list-
ed in the excellent doctoral dissertation on Euell Porter by John Simons:
1. Create small ensembles: University Quartet for men and University Trio for
women.
2. Use financial support from private sources to offer scholarships to the quartet
and trio members.
3. Have the quartet and trio perform throughout campus, at athletic events, and in
churches.
4. Recruit students and strengthen the men’s and women’s glee clubs.
5. Disband current mixed chorus.
6. Select a new mixed group called the Hardin-Simmons A Cappella Choir and
organize choir officers.
7. Perform music with all the ensembles and choirs that appealed to the students and
the community.
8. Plan recruiting tours to schools and churches.
9. Create events for public school and church musicians.
10. Give lectures and workshops throughout the state for public school and church
musicians.
11. Become involved in the community.[45]
The success of the small ensembles (quartet and trio) gave Porter immediate
credibility with the administration. When he held auditions for the A Cappella Choir,
there was enough student interest to build a balanced forty-six member choir. After
the ensembles sang on campus, the choirs received the funding needed to tour. In the
fall of 1949, Porter created a forty voice Chapel Choir and the A Cappella Choir
became a sixty-voice ensemble.
Euell Porter
4477
Between 1948 and 1950, the Hardin-Simmons A Cappella Choir sang at the
Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, the National Conference of the
National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Annual Meeting of the Baptist
General Convention of Texas, and the Texas Music Educators Annual Convention. In
two years, Euell Porter had moved the Hardin-Simmons choral music program from
obscurity to regional and state prominence.
In addition to being president of TMEA during 1948-49, Porter was also Vice
President and Vocal Division Chairman of TMEA from 1948-1951. As Vocal Division
Chairman, Porter brought John Finley Williamson to direct the Texas All State Choir
at the TMEA 1950 Convention in Mineral Wells. Porter’s H-SU A Cappella Choir
also sang a one hour concert at that convention. In 1951, Porter again brought in
Williamson to direct the All State Choir at the state convention, this time in
Galveston. Porter’s affiliation with TMEA and his H-SU summer choir schools pro-
vided a great connection with public school music. He used Baptist conventions, state
and national, singing schools and church service appearances as a platform for church
music. The Hardin-Simmons A Cappella Choir became the standard performing
group for the Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas from 1951-
1955.
As Porter’s reputation grew, both Howard Payne and Baylor attempted to gain his
services as their director of choral music. After hearing the H-SU choir at the 1950
Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Chicago, Baylor president W. R. White
communicated continually with Porter trying to convince him that he could do more
to promote his ideas of choral music and to improve church music by working at
Baylor. At a meeting following the 1954 Annual Meeting of the Baptist General
Convention of Texas, White persuaded Porter to move to Baylor.
Porter left Hardin-Simmons University in July of 1955, joining the faculty at
Baylor on September 1 as a professor in the Department of Sacred Music and also
becoming the new minister of music at Seventh and James Baptist Church. Porter
asked President White to find a job for P. A. Hooker, his long time friend from
Abilene and White responded by giving Hooker a job as Porter’s business manager.
There were still two major problems to overcome: Porter was placed in an adversarial
Euell Porter
4488
role with some of the music faculty members because he was hired without their
knowledge or consent, and he could not implement any changes to the choral area
because he was neither a department head nor conductor of a School of Music choir.
Richard “Pop” Hopkins directed the A Cappella Choir, Martha Barkema direct-
ed Bards (men’s choir) and Rhapsody in White (women’s choir), and Dean Daniel
Sternberg directed the Oratorio Choir. According to Sternberg, Hopkins and
Barkema did not work in any coordinated way and refused to work with Porter.[51]
During the first quarter, Porter taught choral literature and choral methods, and at
the end of that quarter he asked the university president’s office to fund a new choir.
Permission was granted and he created the Chapel Choir and male and female small
ensembles. The Chapel Choir sang at Baylor’s daily chapel service and in local Baptist
churches. Then Porter arranged for the Chapel Choir to sing at the Annual Meeting
of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. By the third quarter, the Chapel Choir
had over 100 members and was the largest choir on campus.
The next year, Porter persuaded Sternberg to make Chapel Choir an official
ensemble of the School of Music, and he brought his Summer Choir School to Baylor
and Seventh and James Baptist Church. Hopkins died in February of 1957 and
Sternberg chose Porter to reorganize the A Cappella Choir in the fall of 1958. The
officers for the reorganized choir came from transfer students from Hardin-
Simmons, including the new president, Jakie Shirley. With over 150 singers audition-
ing for the new sixty-voice A Cappella Choir, Porter channeled all freshman and less-
experienced upper classmen into the Chapel Choir. The new choirs first year includ-
ed joint Christmas and Spring Concerts with the Chapel Choir and performances at
the annual meetings of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Texas Music
Educators Association and a tour to Florida with appearances on two television pro-
grams and the Annual Meeting of the Baptist World Alliance in Miami.
In 1959, Porter was named Director of Choirs. He established a self-supporting
system of mixed choirs that stayed intact from 1960 to 1974. In 1960, he created the
Freshman A Cappella Choir, changed the membership of the Chapel Choir to
include only sophomores, and changed the A Cappella Choir to a junior, senior and
graduate student choir. All of the choirs toured twice a year and sang at countless
Euell Porter
4499
Baptist meetings and conventions. The combined choirs gave annual concerts at
Christmas and at the end of the spring quarter. During either the Christmas or sum-
mer vacation, Porter combined his Seventh and James and Baylor choir members for
international tours.
Porter’s wife Christine, an invalid since her stroke in 1940, was at his side until
her death in 1976. He arranged his collegiate teaching schedule so that he could go
home to see her numerous times during the day. He brought her to concerts, foot-
ball games, choir schools, lectures, etc., and she even traveled with the choir on con-
tinental and European tours. He was genuinely admired by students, colleagues and
friends for the tender, loving care he provided for his wife.
In 1978 Dr. Porter was given the Texas Choral Directors Association’s first
Distinguished Texas Choirmaster award in appreciation for his service to his profes-
sion and his accomplishments in choral music. He was a past president of the Texas
Music Educators Association and a member of the Choral Conductors Guild of
America, the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association of
Teachers of Singing.
Porter announced his retirement at the beginning of the 1979-80 academic year.
From 1955 to 1980, Porter’s Baylor choirs sang in more than forty states and ten for-
eign countries in such places as Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in New York City,
Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Cobo Hall in Detroit, the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt
Lake City and Jones Hall in Houston. He received applause and recognition during
his last concerts at the Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas,
the Texas Music Educators Association and tour to New York. At his final concert in
the spring of 1980, Porter received proclamations from the Governor of Texas, the
Mayor of Waco and Baylor University. During the summer, he led an alumni tour of
Europe with performances in Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Zurich and Oxford.
After retirement, Porter led Baptist workshops and served as interim minister of
music in area churches. In 1983, with a new Dean of Music (Robert Blocker) and a
new Director of Choral Activities (Hugh Sanders), Porter developed the Baylor
University Senior Adult Choir as a community-based senior adult choir funded by a
university. In cooperation with First Baptist Church and the Baylor University School
Euell Porter
5500
of Music, the choir had free rehearsal space and publicity to announce the choir’s for-
mation. Porter began this choir with three goals: never sing slow songs, produce qual-
ity choral music and never sound old!
Shortly after retiring from the Baylor University Senior Adult Choir post in
1994, Porter suffered a series of strokes that diminished his mental and physical abil-
ities. He was moved to the Ridgecrest Retirement Center of Waco in November of
1995 and he died September 23, 1998.[59] Euell Porter conducted choirs from 1933
until 1994, touching the lives of thousands of students and inspiring many genera-
tions to love the art of choral music.
It seems appropriate to end this discourse with the anonymous poem that Dr.
Porter seems to have quoted to every choir that he directed, sometimes in rehearsals,
sometimes in concerts and sometimes at professional music meetings.
For the common things of every day,
God gave man speech in a common way.
But for higher things men think and feel,
God gave the poet words to reveal.
For height and depth no tongue can reach,
God gave man music, the soul’s own speech
Euell Porter
5511
Biographical SketchSources and Acknowledgments
• Simons, John A. "Euell Porter, Profile of a Choral Musician: An Analysis of His
Musical Philosophies, Techniques and Leadership Style." DMA dissertation, The
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1999.
• A very special gratitude is extended to Monte Ray Porter West (Dr. Porter's niece)
and her husband Farris for the hospitality extended to me at their home. She provid-
ed access to sound recordings of Dr. Porter's choirs, as well as letters, photographs,
marriage licenses, citations and awards.
• Theiss L. Jones, retired Minister of Music at First Baptist Church, Tyler, Texas, pro-
vided concert programs and lists of choir members from Dr. Porter's last years at
Hardin-Simmons and from 1955-1959 at Baylor University.
• Kevin Hays, Director of Alumni Relations at Sam Houston State University and his
staff were very helpful. Leah Winfield spent time locating information about Dr.
Porter during his days at Sam Houston. Barbara Kievit-Mason, University Archivist
at Peabody Memorial Library sent many programs and photographs of Porter's 1945-
48 choirs at Sam Houston State Teachers College.
• Brit Yates Jones Assistant Vice President for Advancement and Director of Alumni
Relations at Hardin-Simmons University, and her staff helped with articles, programs
and other research material from H-SU. Carol Hamner at the Richardson Library
History Center furnished a great number of articles about Porter from the H-SU
News and Views, the Baptist Standard, the H-SU Brand the Bronco yearbook and the
Abilene Reporter News.
• Dr. Randy Lofgren, Vice President for Alumni Affairs at Baylor University
was most helpful in locating alumni that they might participate in the letters
of tribute for Dr. Porter.
• Thanks to the many students, friends, and colleagues who sent letters sharing
their memories to Dr. Porter.
Euell Porter
5522
Euell Porter Rememberedby Charles Nelson
As I recall, Dr. Porter told me that he was a Latin teacher in Bryan High School,
teaching five sections of Latin, when he formed an extra curricular choir. Within my
range of knowledge, this was one of only two high school choirs which established a
reputation outside their own communities. (The other was Amarillo High School
choir directed by Julia Dean Evans). His excellent work brought him to the attention
to the Music Department at Sam Houston and they hired him to be their choir direc-
tor. From Sam Houston he went to Hardin-Simmons and then to Baylor where he
finished his teaching tenure.
When I began my teaching career at Carthage High School, Euell Porter was the
TMEA State Vocal Chairman. I had heard of him and his work, but did not know him
personally until the TMEA State Convention in 1952, when several of the ambitious,
hot blooded young choral directors, in our 20s, decided that TMEA was treating the
choral division like a step child. At the business meeting at that convention, it was
moved that the Choral Division withdraw from TMEA and continue under our own
auspices. Dr. Porter (and cooler heads) prevailed and our “insurrection” gleaned
only three votes. With so many impetuous young men flooding the choral field, it
was a good thing for our profession that there was a seasoned man of good judgment,
like Euell Porter, at the helm.
As I grew to know him, and his students, I became aware of what a tremendous
influence he and they had in the propagation of choral singing in the public schools
of Texas. He was able to convey his passion for choral music to those young men and
women who availed themselves of his pedagogy.
His reputation as a human being was legendary. His gentleness and compassion
was unsurpassed. His life was a model for us all. I consider it an honor to call him a
friend and colleague. All young choral directors could use him as an example of how
to conduct themselves toward their students and colleagues.
Euell Porter
5533
Euell Porter Rememberedby Broadman Ware
It is with great joy that I participate in this remembrance of our friend and men-
tor Dr. Euell Porter.
Dr. Porter enjoyed the thought that he, along with members of the 1955 Chapel
Choir, was a freshman at Baylor University. It was at this time that I, a true freshman,
began my learning experiences with choral music and vocal production. Dr. Porter
was my conducting professor, my voice teacher, and the flame that brought light and
warmth to both.
I would like to highlight two of Dr. Porter’s teachings that have been life chang-
ing for me. First, he taught that you sing with your total self, not just your voice, but
with your heart, your eyes, and your total countenance. Much great solo and choral
music is ruined by poor interpretation and performance by the singer or singers.
Second, he taught that the conductor’s hand should remain in a relaxed position and
that you should confine your motion to a “small box” area. He felt that too much
arms and body movement took away from the over all beauty of the performance.
Most of all, Dr. Euell Porter was a great inspiration to all who knew him. He
loved his Lord and felt blessed to present Him to any and all.
Thank you for your contribution to a great teacher and friend. Thank you for
your continued contributions to music that touches the heart and changes lives.
The following is one of Dr. Porter’s favorite poetic thoughts:
For all the common things of everyday,
God gave man speech in a common way,
For higher things men think and feel,
God gave poets words to reveal;
But for heights and depths no tongue can reach,
God gave man music the . . . the soul’s own speech.
Euell Porter
5544
Euell Porter Rememberedby Francis Bryant Simpson
Baylor Class of ‘69
I could write all day about adventures with Dr. Porter but I'll try to be brief and
tell you some that are dearest to my heart. We were the great freshman class of '65 and
or course one of the largest that had come to BU in a while. My high school days of
choir had been in girls chorus because Clyde Wolford could not fit us into his sched-
ules for choir and I had been terrible disappointed about it so when the same thing
began to happen at Baylor, I almost just walked away. There were 150 of us in fresh-
man choir but he managed to get us all in and keep us in for several years. I was scared
to death of him and never opened my mouth until the first Christmas program in
Waco hall. Everyone had the "jumps" and rounding all of the choirs up was a rodeo
for sure. The alto next to me, one of his favorites, sang over a note because she was-
n't paying attention and I just turned to her and said way to go, Kay or something and
he pointed at me and started yelling, get out, you, get out!! Now I was of course on
the back row and had to wind down all of those steps, walk across the stage, down the
steps, down the aisle and out the swinging doors while he continued to yell at me!!! I
wanted to die of course and was so hurt because I really wasn't the trouble maker to
begin with but I gutted up and went to see him the next morning. Of course, I had
been used as the scape goat to quiet the masses and there wasn't a peep out of anyone
else the entire rehearsal and he proceeded to tell me so and how sorry he was that it
came to that so he and I jelled after that and of course Christmas was always the high-
light of the year for me. My next set of butterflies in the stomach came when I drew
Dr. Porter for my first voice test at the end of the semester but I think he found out
I could sing a lot better than he thought!! My choir director at FBC in Tyler, Joe
Carrell, was not one of his favorites and now I know why he favored all the kids from
Bryan and Abilene!! Anyway, I learned so much from him and the importance that
memorizing poetry and piano pieces in childhood would play in my music career. He
took the freshman choir on tour with two buses and found homes for us to stay in all
the way to St. Louis where we sang on television and Colorado Springs for the nation-
Euell Porter
5555
al music convention and all over Texas and the opening of Jones Hall. What a place
it was for this East Texas gal to see and sing in. I'll never forget how he would pass out
music and about three weeks later he would take it up and call us up by groups of 6 or
8 to sing it by memory. I never got called up but I always knew my music--------even
the whole score of The Peaceable Kingdom!!! I can see it now with all the animals in
green. You had to constantly keep your eyes on him because he directed with his hands
in front of his stomach but we really were an awesome group to be so large. Even after
we left Baylor, we heard he talked about us all the time!!! I loved the old choir room
in Waco Hall and the quaintness of Baylor during 1965-1970. I had to stay an extra
year because I flip flopped my major and minor but those memories are etched into
my heart and soul forever. I did come back to live in Tyler and joined a wonderful
group called Tyler Civic Chorale directed by Richard Herr. I was with him almost 30
years and he has now moved on to Buffalo and Westminster Presbyterian Church and
my heart and soul may never be the same again. Times change for the masses but not
for those of us who know what good music is all about. Even though the group has
changed it's name to Tyler Chamber Chorale, it's young director was mentored at
SMU by Lloyd Pfautsch, as was Richard Herr, so we are in pretty good hands. He is
also the music director at Marvin United Methodist Church and I sing with him for
special events. I've been asked to sing with First Christian Church this spring so I stay
busy inspite of what's happening at my own church!!! I do hope this sheds some light
about choir days and Dr. Porter. Just wish he could have heard me sing as an adult
but maybe he knew what potential I had and that's all that mattered to him. I cannot
hear Lutkin's The Lord Bless You and Seven Fold Amen without tears running down
my face and remembering it all as if it was yesterday. Thank you for this project so we
never forget all of these wonderful people. I have also sent you E-mail addresses for
Richard and Fred in case you want their input about Pfautsch. Oh, I did want to men-
tion that my very FIRST encounter with Dr. Porter was in Jr. High when Joe Carrell
took us to Waco to the state Jr. Choir Festival and we met kids from all over Texas and
most of us ended up in this freshman choir together. Dr. Porter would finally get us
all still and he could tell if you had gum or candy in your mouth and he'd send you
out even then!! I think the big group piece we did was Let All Things Now Living and
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I can still sing the descant part of that to this day!! Oh, and staying in the old Raleigh
Hotel!! Oh my, what memories-----well, one more link in my musical career I'll not
share with you today!! My piano teacher was Nina Overleese if you have a recollection
of her. Oh, the stories there!! Better run on for the day and it's going to be a gor-
geous one
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Euell Porter Rememberedby Ed Nichols
Hardin-Simmons University ‘53’
I am sure that all of us who shared the special experience of singing under Euell
Porter (as I did at H-SU until graduation in 1953) can still feel what it was like. There
was a sense of subtle energy and never-shrill controlled intensity and same wavelength
dynamics that characterized that sublime musical blend Mr. Porter (he wasn’t Dr.
Porter then) was able to elicit from his a cappella singers that almost raised us to our
toes (or brought us to our knees). And, as it has stayed with us, we have tried to con-
vey some of that same sense of energy and controlled, unshrill intensity to those with
whom we have worked musically, a kind of passing along of the Porter torch.
I always appreciated Mr. Porter’s solicitous attitude toward his fragile wife, and I
remember this anecdote: Once at some sort of banquet in Abilene where Mr. and
Mrs. Porter were present, perhaps as honorees, he was invited to sing a love song, and
he began to sing “When I Grow Too Old To Dream.” No sooner had he completed
the first phrase than Mrs. Porter broke down into deep, uncontrollable wails and
sobs. Mr. Porter not only immediately stopped singing; he cradled his wife in his
arms and walked away from the hall with her and never looked back.
The poem Phil Briggs referred to – ‘For the Common Things ….’ Has also stayed
with me for these fifty-plus years, and I’ve used it myself time and again. I also hold
fast in my memory the unusually haunting poem turned choral composition ‘I Am
Music’ by Macon Sumerlin which Mr. Porter had our a cappella choir to sing. I hope
others remember it as well.
Euell Porter was an uncommon man who had a certain genius for choral music.
Like most of us, he was not incapable of bias or favoritism. But he gave us wonderful
music and lasting memories. It is good for us to remember him together.
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Euell Porter Rememberedby Martha Brittain Pausky, Baylor class of ‘59
My memories of Dr. Euell Porter take me to my freshman year and his first year
at Baylor. Before I came to Baylor I received information about the new choir which
would be forming, and how I could audition. I was extremely excited to have an
opportunity to be in a choir at Baylor. I had not heard of Dr. Porter, but learned
quickly what he was like as I auditioned for the Chapel Choir. I was extremely nerv-
ous and excited. I did not make the cut as far as selection for the first 62 who would
be in the choir, but I was named as an alternate. I was told that I could attend
rehearsals if I wanted to. Did I ever! I attended every rehearsal and stood in the wings
ready to step in every time the choir performed at chapel. I guess my faithfulness and
eagerness counted, because it was only a couple of weeks before Dr. Porter put me in
the choir as a permanent member.
What an experience! It is one that will be with me for all of my life. You knew
you were doing something special, and that Dr. Porter was someone special. It was
obvious that many people thought so, because of the students and staff that followed
him from Hardin-Simmons. You did not “fool around.” He knew if your eyes were
not on him during rehearsal. He was serious, but it was fun. Other than the thrill I
always felt when we were performing, there were three things in particular that I
remember. The first one is the feeling I got when Dr. Porter would direct the choir
without using his hands. After starting us out, his hands would drift to his sides and
he would direct you with his eyes and a slight movement of his body. Second, to this
day when I sing “Beautiful Saviour,” I remember the way we sang it at the end of every
concert and the way he directed it. Third, the choir always had fun. At performanc-
es in schools, especially, the trio of Hugh Sanders, Ralph Gibson, and Bill Hardage
would sing “Earth Angel.” I’ll never forget how funny they were.
Much to my regret I had to move to Dallas the next year because I was a nursing
student. I hated to leave the choir. It was the best memory of my freshman year. Dr.
Porter has always had a special place in my heart and memory because of his love for
Christ and the way he expressed it through his work with the choir. I was in the Baylor
Chapel Choir of 1955-56. Thank you for asking for my memories.
Euell Porter
5599
Euell Porter Rememberedby Wyley M. Peebles
Baylor University, 1964-1969
The first time I heard one of Euell Porter’s Choirs, I was there because I loved
choral music, and I knew someone in this choir from Hardin Simmons. The music
was wonderful, and I was impressed. I found myself wishing that I had had the priv-
ilege of being in one of his choirs. I had already graduated from Baylor and was on
my way to a career in church-related vocations.
Fourteen years later I found myself re-entering Baylor as a freshman in church
music. This turned out to be the most important step in my life. I was scared, but I
found Euell Porter not only to be the teacher and choral director I expected, but he
was soon my confidant and friend.
Dr. Porter had an amazing supply of practical experiences that seemed to cover
any situation. I also took voice from him, so I found it easy to ask questions about
many of his techniques. I remember one particular time when we were on tour. He
inspired the choir so much in the warm-up with a certain method that we went into
the church and sang our hearts out. I wanted to know more about it after we
returned to the campus the next day. “You can do that with junior high and high
school choirs about as often as you need to,” he said,” but you have to be careful
about using it with college and adult choirs.” I never knew of his using it again.
There was a time in graduate studies that an undergraduate student asked me to
take over his church choir for the summer, while he toured the revival circuit. I
went one Wednesday to meet with the choir and to rehearse them a bit. On our way
back to the campus he paid me one of the finest compliments I ever received. “You
reminded me of Dr. Porter,” he said. How many former students are out in the
world through whom Dr. Porter still works and inspires?
During twenty-five years as choral director at Cisco Junior College and twenty-
one years as minister of music at First Baptist Church, Eastland, Dr. Porter was
often by my side. For this I am truly grateful.
An unusually fine choral conductor, a teacher, a friend, a Christian gentleman,
that was Dr. Euell Porter.
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6600
Euell Porter Rememberedby Paula Constantine Perron
I was grateful for the opportunity to sing in Dr. Porter’s Chorale at Baylor University
(in 1959 and 1960). I am very glad he is being honored.
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6611
Euell Porter Rememberedby Sam Prestidge
Euell Porter made a tremendous contribution to the growth and effectiveness of
Youth Choirs in Texas Baptist Churches as he directed State Youth Choir Festivals on
the Texas Baptist College Campuses beginning in the late 1950s and continuing on
into the 1970s. These Festivals and Camps were planned and sponsored by the
Church Music Department of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Many of these festivals brought together over 2,000 youth for a two-day event
and it was something else to see the 2,000 youth sitting or standing in rapt attention
and responding to every meaningful motion and suggestion from Euell Porter. These
choirs returned to their home churches rejuvenated and inspired to make a greater
contribution to Worship.
These festivals were not only exciting experiences for the youth but a great labo-
ratory learning experience for the directors. Many Young People made life changing
decisions as a result and many of them determined to attend a Baptist College. I am
told that when Dr. Porter moved from Hardin Simmons to Baylor he had over 400
students audition for his first Chapel Choir. Wonder why!
Dr. Porter was very active in Texas Baptist Music Camps started by J.D. Riddle at
Lueders’ Baptist Encampment (now Big Country) in the late 1940s and continued by
V.F. (Pete) Forderhase as these camps grew from one to eight during the fifties and
sixties. Paisano Music Camp, in the big bend country, became a tradition for many
Baptist Music Groups from all over Texas.
When the Senior Adult Choirs started coming into existence in the early seven-
ties who do you think was at the forefront in influence and leadership? You are right
– it was Porter again leading the way to becoming bigger and better.
Because of Euell Porter’s keen insight and understanding of Choral Music and
because of his wisdom and knowledge of Churches and because of his untiring min-
istry and influence, we have all been blessed. May God continue to bless the memo-
ry and influence of Euell Porter
Euell Porter
6622
Euell Porter Rememberedby Fern Wiese Quebe
Sam Houston Choir, 1945-46 & 1946-47.
Euell Porter was responsible for some of the happiest hours that I had at Sam
Houston.
He instilled in us a love and appreciation for music and harmony in our lives.
We looked forward to daily choir practice, concerts and those wonderful choir trips.
So many friendships were made that still survive today.
When asked to perform for us on one of our outings he sang “Without a Song.”
How true those lyrics are. He certainly put a song in our hearts.
It was a privilege to be in a choir under the direction of Mr. Porter.
Euell Porter
6633
Euell Porter Rememberedby Lora Thomas Robison
BME ’67 Baylor Universtiy
I was a student of Dr. Euell Porter’s at Baylor University from 1963-67. During
that time I can say that his life had a profound influence on me.
Dr. Euell Porter was foremost a dedicated Christian whose busy music career
never interfered with his loving care of his beloved invalid wife. In this care all of his
students learned about a “servant’s heart.” We saw and experienced this in the life of
Euell Porter.
Dr. Porter always upheld the character of “excellence” in whatever musical proj-
ect we were working. He never ceased to be excited about the next concert whether it
was for the students at the Methodist Children’s Home, the local or nearby Baptist
church, or our once-in-a lifetime concert at Carnegie Hall! He inspired all of us
with his wonderful sense of humor as well as his depth of sensitivity in his artistic
approach to understanding the music we were singing.
He was a gifted musician who always had a goal of ministry in his music. How
grateful I am to have had him as choral music director and instructor of conducting!
Euell Porter
6644
Euell Porter Rememberedby Carolyn Pittman Sager, PLS CLA CLSS
In January 1950, I was a sophomore in high school at Lutcher Stark High School
in Orange, Texas. At that time, the high school was privileged to employ Maurice
Alfred who had just graduated from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas.
This was my first introduction to the then Mr. Euell Porter who was head of the
Choral Department at Hardin-Simmons.
During the next two years of my high school days, Mr. Alfred saw that all mem-
bers of the high school choir became acquainted in some manner with the teaching
methods and techniques employed by Mr. Porter in his conduct with his students.
During that time, I was privileged to attend a summer choir camp in Abilene
where I auditioned for a scholarship at Hardin-Simmons. I was accepted for the
scholarship and enrolled in September 1952. These next two years were the best years
of my college life.
Mr. Porter was a strong willed person who set high standards for his students and
achieved amazing results. During his years at Hardin-Simmons, the choir became
nationally known and traveled extensively. The tours were great fun and much hard
work.
Fifty years have passed since I was privileged to work with Mr. Porter but my mem-
ories of him remain strong. I don’t remember all the places we traveled but I do
remember the fun that was had by all choir members who were chosen to travel with
him.
Euell Porter
6655
Euell Porter Rememberedby Rinky Sanders
This time of year we hear “give the gift that lasts,” or “give the gift that keeps on
giving.” What could this “special gift” be? One man in particular comes to mind. He
is one who has given of himself to others throughout his lifetime. He is now 82 years
young and continues to be of service.
This same man helped my husband receive a college education. Whenever time
came for registration, and there wasn’t enough money, my husband would go to him
and he would simply hand him his billfold. This single unselfish act not only affect-
ed my husband, myself and our children, but also affected the lives of hundreds of
students my husband has taught and influenced through the years.
He was best man in our wedding. During the holiday period, and many other
times through the years, there is a place set for him at our table. Our son loves to talk
sports with him. I once accused him of knowing more sports trivia than Howard
Cosell. He is lovingly accepted as a member of our family.When our daughter came
to Baylor as a freshman, he once again said he wanted to help. The gift was to be
anonymous, as always. Who knows how many students he has helped through the
years.
A few years ago, my husband was going to attend a music conference in Vienna,
Austria. This same man came forward and said, “I think you should be able to go to
Vienna with Hugh.” He wrote a check for the amount of my plane ticket.
He goes around daily helping senior adults all over this community. It may be
taking them a meal, driving them to the doctor, or simply taking someone for a drive
so they can get outdoors for a while. He gives new meaning to the word, sharing.
I don’t think I have ever seen a more loving and caring husband. His wife
Christine has been gone many years now. But I think everyone who ever knew them,
knows he did everything humanly possible for her while she was alive. He not only
made her comfortable, he made her happy.
This man’s name is Euell Porter. I know of no one on this earth who has affect-
ed more lives in a positive way. He has been my example for years. He has shown me
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6666
what is really important in life. His Christian charity is an inspiration to us all.
I think I can speak for all the many churches, schools, communities, ex-students, and
a multitude of friends, in saying we love, respect and admire him. This world is truly
a better place because of his example and spirit. I believe it is his intention that no
person, regardless of their station in life, be lonely or uncared for.
If you count currency with the heart, he is a millionaire. God must be very
proud. He gave, and continues to give, the gift that keeps on giving.
Euell Porter
6677
Euell Porter Rememberedby Andrea Hall Savage
Freshman choir, ’64; Chapel choir, ’65;A Cappella Choir, ’66
What I remember most about Dr. Porter is his expression: he had a glint in his
eyes and wanted us to, also. He often said “No dead eyes!”
Another favorite memory is singing a 16-part Heinrich Schutz number, standing
in groups of 4 (I believe I stood close to tenor Bruce Teel, among others). After that,
I could always carry my part no matter who stood next to me.
Euell Porter
6688
Euell Porter Rememberedby Robert (Bob) Segrest,
Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes
Good choral music has been an important part of my life largely due to the pos-
itive influence of Dr. Euell Porter. My initial introduction to his kind
and sensitive Christian spirit came as a young person at 7th and James Baptist Church
in Waco, Texas when he was called as Minister of Music. Dr. Porter was a bivocation-
al minister who shared responsibilities with the church and the Music Department of
Baylor University.
Since I had been involved in choral music at University High School in Waco, Dr.
Porter invited me to join the Sanctuary Choir at 7th and James as a tenor. That was
an extremely “heady” honor for me to become a part of that excellent choir as a
teenager. I felt I was sitting under the leadership of a master, and truly was. Quickly
I learned the disciplines necessary to be a useful part of an excellent choir. Rehearsals
and the weekly presentations of our choir were spiritual experiences for me. Dr.
Porter led the choir with loving dignity. He knew what he wanted from us and knew
how to motivate us to always give of our best to the Master.
Upon graduation from High School, I continued my education at Baylor prepar-
ing for the Gospel ministry. One day Dr. Porter came to me at church and asked if I
would like to be a member of the Chapel Choir at Baylor he directed. I was honored
beyond words and readily accepted his invitation. For two years I sang in that large
choir and served as choir president for a year. We were not just a choir. We were min-
isters of the Lord Jesus Christ as we sang to His glory at school and on various tours.
In my junior year at Baylor, Dr. Porter invited me to audition for the A cappel-
la choir. Somehow I passed the audition and began a new and thrilling adventure of
singing with the master for the Master. In my mind I can still see Dr. Porter stand-
ing before the choir dressed in his black tux. From time to time he would drop his
hands and lead us with his facial expressions. I never hear “Beautiful Savior” sung that
I do not see him leading us to close a concert.
Not only was Dr. Euell Porter a godly choral director, he was a godly man. I
Euell Porter
6699
watched with deep admiration as he lovingly cared for his afflicted wife. His commit-
ment to her helped me understand the depths of love a man is to have for his wife.
His influence as a silent mentor in marriage has helped me in my 40 years of loving
commitment to my wife, Barbara.
Dr. Porter will always be one of the most important Christian men in my life.
Today, some 42 years after graduating from Baylor and spending 30 years in pastoral
ministry, I am once again singing in an excellent church choir in Chattanooga,
Tennessee where I serve as Regional Vice President of the Tennessee Baptist
Children’s Homes, Inc. My ability to make a contribution to the tenor section of my
current choir has much to do with Dr. Euell Porter who taught me to love quality
choral music and to glorify God while singing it.
May our Lord richly bless Dr. Euell Porter. His life has made a lasting contribu-
tion for Jesus Christ in so many lives for so many years, mine included!
Euell Porter
7700
Euell Porter Rememberedby Jakie Shirley
My first association with Dr. Euell Porter was in the summer of 1954 when I trav-
eled to Abilene with my parents and church pianist to audition for a voice scholarship
with Dr. Porter. After the audition, he asked me how much I weighed and said,
“Young man, you need to gain some weight.” Well, I will never hear that again.
After that first year, he announced that he would be taking the position at Baylor
University. There were four present choir members that transferred with him to the
new position. They were: Ralph Gibson, Barbara Ralls, Hugh Sanders and I, Jakie
Shirley. Some who had been with him before and had gone to the military came later.
How well we all remember his unusual but effective techniques – the “duck walks”
around the auditorium, the hot potato in the back of the throat and the strict atten-
tion to keeping our eyes on the director.
At his recommendation, I became the minister of music at First Baptist Church
of Lampasas, where I served all my Baylor days. Mrs. Porter’s parents lived in
Lampasas where we visited on some occasions.
He had a fond affection for every choir member, remembering our names and
our hometowns. He seemed to have a fond affection for our age for we would have
been about the age of the child he lost. We were humbled and blessed by the careful
attention he gave Mrs. Porter on the choir tours when she could go.
Because we knew his heart, we were often brought to tears when he sang “How
Tedious and Tasteless the Hours when Jesus no Longer I See.” I began to totally
understand the meaning of those words when we lost our own daughter two years ago.
I was student conductor of the Chapel Choir in 1957-58. He would often
remind me “not to sing with the choir,” a suggestion that I followed all my forty six
years as a minister of music. After the reorganization of the A Cappella Choir, I was
president in 1959.
We never had discipline problems in rehearsal or on tour. We had such a great
Euell Porter
7711
respect and love for Dr. Porter that no one ever wanted to be “out of fellowship” with
him or each other. He had control. He had our attention. He often directed the
choir with his eyes. We did not realize it then, but those were indeed some of our
finest years. The world needs the influence of great men like Dr. Euell Porter.
Euell Porter
7722
Euell Porter Rememberedby DeAnna Venable
I am proud to be one of the many young people taught by Dr. Euell Porter. He
was a grand man and a marvelous teacher.
I graduated from Baylor University in May of 1960 with a degree in music edu-
cation. I have now retired from 32 years of teaching in the field of public school
music education, and I am currently the Children’s Choir Coordinator at First
Baptist Church in Garland, TX, a position I’ve held for the past four years.
During the years since I left Baylor, I have drawn heavily from the wealth of expe-
riences I received from having been in Dr. Porter’s first A Cappella choir the last two
years I was at Baylor. Trying to describe and enumerate all he taught me is very diffi-
cult. There were so many things I observed and admired about him, I feel quite inad-
equate to recall them all. I am sure his life affected mine in ways I don’t even realize.
I loved him as a remarkable man…. The love he had for Mrs. Porter was so
impressive. He was a kind and thoughtful man, a godly man. I’ll always remember
the twinkle in his eyes and his little smile. We loved and respected Dr. Porter unre-
servedly. I remember the fun and excitement of the choir tours. I have many, many
happy memories of my time with Dr. Porter.
Dr. Porter was without a doubt the most memorable teacher I had during my four
years at Baylor. He was more responsible than anyone else for developing in me the
skills I have used as I have worked with my own choirs over the years. I can still see him
in my mind’s eye…. so controlled and intense as he stood before us. He taught us
what excellence was. He showed us how to give our very best to perfect the gift we pre-
sented to those who would hear us sing. I owe a lot to Dr. Porter.
I am pleased to be a part of this project to honor Dr. Porter as a truly outstand-
ing teacher and an honorable Christian man.
Euell Porter
7733
Euell Porter Rememberedby Sharon Vickrey
When I think of Dr. Porter and I always called him Dr. Porter, I think of - his
students – What a legacy! Our family was blessed by Maurice and Glenna Alfred who
came to our church as part-time minister of music when I was in the 4th grade. Only
there a year I got to sing in Mrs. Alfred’s children’s choir. Her blessing of my voice
is one of the pivotal points of my childhood. Dr. Alfred was choral director at Odessa
High and Mrs. Alfred taught elementary music. In high school and junior college I
sang in Dr. Alfred’s choirs and many times Mrs. Alfred helped me with singing. Our
family considers them a rich treasure.
A place for everyone- I never sang in Dr. Porter’s Baylor choir even though I am
a vocal performance graduate of Baylor. That did not matter. Dr. Porter got me a
music scholarship and a job accompanying in the music school. Anyone who wanted
to sing, could find a place in one of his choirs. I was amazed at how many ‘‘barely
able to sing” people filled his choirs and how he made lovely music with them.
Encourage your gift – I sang in Dr. Porter’s 7th and James Baptist Church choir.
They were so many gifted composers and singers. Dr. Porter used everyone all the
time. He seemed to attract talent, encouraged and grew it. When I started teaching
voice privately he sent me students. The next year two of these students decided to
become music majors. When they auditioned for voice scholarships, Dr. Young, head
of the department, looked at me and said “Where did you get these students?”
Pageantry - Christmas concerts and special events. I remember my first
Christmas concert at Baylor the stage was covered with greenery and poinsettias. The
choirs sang beautifully then processed out and caroled us as we left. The Dr. Porter
touch!
Processing- The 7th choir always processed in. The last time I sang in Dr.
Porter’s choir I was 9 months pregnant with our first son. We ran up the stairs to the
balcony to sing the call to worship and then back down during the introduction to the
first hymn. How many times did we all do that?
What a blessing! We will never forget!
Euell Porter
7744
Euell Porter Rememberedby Marilyn J. Walker, Ph.D. 1953 Graduate H-SU
My first awareness of Euell Porter was when as a freshman, I attracted his atten-
tion by singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” at some kind of talent show, and
subsequently was invited to join the A Cappella choir. What a thrill for me. I have
many happy memories of touring with that group, sometimes as a soloist. I enjoyed
his sense of humor. Once during a concert, I surprised him by clucking like a chick-
en. Thou surprised, he smiled and walked over to pet my head like it was planned.
From then on, that was part of the show when singing that particular song. What a
fine man. I especially admired his loyalty to his handicapped wife. Thank you, Euell
Porter. One of these days we will all sing with you again.
Euell Porter
7755
Euell Porter Rememberedby Bobby Watkins
Dr. Porter was my mentor at Baylor University from 1969-1974. I was student
conductor of a cappella choir for two years under his leadership.
Dr. Porter taught me much about the art of music and conducting, but more
importantly he showed me how a Christian man should live. He made Baylor for me.
Euell Porter
7766
Euell Porter Rememberedby Andrew White
Dear Euell:
As you already know, one of the first things that came to my mind when I was con-
sidering the option of joining the faculty of the College-Conservatory of Music of the
University of Cincinnati was “Where can I ever find a friend like Euell to go with to
the ball games”.
Ever since first meeting you a number of years ago at Glorieta, New Mexico, dur-
ing Music Emphasis Week, it has been a privilege to know you as friend and colleague.
The numerous oratorios that I have sung with you were always an inspiration to me,
and the versatility that you displayed at Paisano made me appreciate you even more.
You allowed LaRue and me into the inner sanctum of your friendship and into
the wonderful fellowship of your home life.
I know that you recognize the depth of feeling that we and our three daughters
have had for you and for Christine. The beauty of yours and Christine’s love has been
reflected countless times in the lives of those you touched.
God bless you in your new work, and let me close with a thought by Beecher,
“Tears are often the telescope through which men see far into heaven”.
LaRue joins me in wishing for you the best, and always know that our home is
your home.
Cordially,
Andrew B. White, Dieterle Professor Emeritus of Music
Professor Emeritus of Voice
Euell Porter
7777
Euell Porter Rememberedby Kay Norsworthy Szenasi
I graduated from the music department of Baylor University in 1959. I had a
conducting class under Dr. Porter my sophomore year. It was a very large class of
about 50 or more students. He always wanted us to stand up, first as an entire class,
and conduct with him, and then in groups of 3 or 4, and finally as solo. I remember
that I was petrified to stand up in front of the whole group and conduct and I felt very
inadequate in comparison with others. However, Dr. Porter always tried to help me
feel at ease. He was so great I always wished I could take that same class again.
Whenever I saw Dr. Porter anywhere in the music building he always knew my
name and chatted with me. He knew my uncle and some of my family from Wichita
Falls, where my cousin was a long-time Baptist pastor at Lamar Baptist Church and his
father was a music conductor there and in Oklahoma City. So we first had a conver-
sation about them, because Dr. Porter recognized my name.
My memories of Dr. Porter are very pleasant and happy ones, and I will always
remember him as a great teacher, conductor, Christian, and friend.
Euell Porter
7788
Euell Porter Rememberedby C. Bruce Teel, Class of ’67, Baylor University
Dr. Porter taught his classes with strength and serene joy. Once he quoted some-
one to us, and I’ve never found the source, “Music is the language of the soul.” He
gave us a brief explanation of this, and immediately I had a newer, deeper and truer
appreciation of music in all its forms than ever before. Now I could see how impor-
tant my small part in that choir would be. I would be speaking mysteriously to the
innermost depths of those who would hear me sing! What imprint would I leave?
How would I touch their souls? How important for me to do my best!
Your best. Dr. Porter could bring that out in you, if only you would let him. He
was not sternly demanding or forced. He had that compelling persuasion which only
comes from a gentle, kind spirit but one who strives for the best in himself and his
pupils. Many have prayed, “God grant me serenity.” God had granted him serenity
long before I crossed his path. Even so, he taught me that music is manly, as least for
men, and that every man should develop his musical sense to be fully a man. He always
conducted himself and his choirs with gentlemanly calm, keeping his hands near his
face, close to his mouth and at times beside his face so that you looked into his eyes.
There, in his hands and his eyes you read the directives: the soul of the music you
were singing. You were swept up into joy, power and beauty of the music with him
and your fellow choir members. Yes, you felt, you knew you had done your best, and
it was wonderful.
How wonderful, too, the music Dr. Porter led us into Heinrich Schutz,
Palestrina, Bach, Handel and modern giants of Choral splendor such as Ralph
Vaughn Williams. We even sang a musical version of some of Robert Frost’s poems.
That gave me a much greater love for and insight into Frost’s poetry. Indeed, singing
for Dr. Porter was always a learning experience. And in his lessons… we learned about
the best life has to offer.
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7799
Euell Porter Rememberedby Charles Downey, Stephen F. Austin High School
Euell Porter came to the Bryan Public School System in the late thirties or early
forties. His background before coming to Bryan was in Athletics as a coach and as a
Latin Teacher and as Choral Director. In Bryan, he taught Latin and Choral music.
His wife Christine had suffered catastrophic complications in childbirth, in
which she lost the child. This event left her totally disabled and dependent. In addi-
tion to his duties as a school teacher and also as choral director for the local First
Baptist Church, he always faithfully cared for his wife with great affection.
Dr. Porter was not only interested in Choral Music. He was a regular at all the
athletic events and was always a favorite on the sidelines. He loved sports almost as
much as he loved music.
He developed choral organizations in the junior high and the high school as well.
He was a pioneer in a cappella singing and most of his choirs were unaccompanied.
Since he was interested in sports, he was always able to attract the athletes to his music
programs which was a miracle in itself. The "back row" of his choirs always included
burly football players, basketball players and athletes from every sport.
He had a well-rounded program. He had groups for the talented and groups for
the less talented. No one was left out. In addition to choral concerts, his program also
always included choir trips and the presentation of operettas as well.
He had an uncanny ability to communicate the subtle nuances of choral singing
to his students. They knew about intonation, blend, phrasing, breathing and all the
rest. The result was that he produced some of the finest a cappella choirs which were
always top rate winners in regional and state adjudications.
The quality of his main choir at the high school brought an invitation for them
to sing at the Lion's Club International Convention to be held in San Francisco in
1947. He trained them and prepared them for that great trip, but because of his move
to Hardin Simmons University, he was unable to accompany them on the trip, which
was made (through his planning) by charter train!
He always was able to raise money to send his groups on tours without a penny
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from the student's pockets. The community loved Euell Porter and would cheerfully
participate financially and in any other way to see that his choral programs were well-
supported.
These were truly his formative years. He moved from being a sometime coach,
sometime Latin teacher and part time choral director to being one of the leading
choral directors in the state as well as in the nation producing high school choirs that
were models for other choral directors and the envy of all. That he was a man of great
stature in his field was obvious to even the casual observer.
Euell Porter
8811
Euell Porter Rememberedby C. William (Bill) Thomas
Participating in Dr. Porter’s choir program at Baylor University from 1965 (my
freshman year) through 1967 (my junior year) represented the closest thing to formal
vocal training I ever received, although I have been singing constantly since age 10. I
grew up in Granger, Texas (a small town about 70 miles south of Waco on the Central
Texas Prairie). I attended the First Baptist Church, and our organist, a Baylor grad-
uate, worked with me as a youth to help develop my talent and skill. My older sister,
Lora Anne Thomas, now Lora Robison was a music major at Baylor, and had been a
member of Dr. Porter’s choirs since she went there as a freshman. My mom and I
used to drive to Waco for Dr. Porter’s traditional candle-lit Christmas concerts, a
spectacle that we had never seen before. We were awestruck at their beauty. Partly for
that reason, I decided to attend Baylor, rather than North Texas State University. My
sister arranged an audition for me for Dr. Porter. After hearing me sing, he asked
me to join Freshman A Cappella Choir. I was thrilled.
Although I was an accounting major, singing was then, and still is, my passion.
Some have said I have a “gift”. Dr Porter was not as profuse in his praise as others.
He didn’t single me out for solos, always being careful to ask the music majors to do
that work. Nevertheless, choir was one of my favorite times of the week. I loved
watching Dr. Porter direct. He could do more with his eyes than most men could do
with their arms. Although he didn’t much like horseplay when we had work to do, he
had a great sense of humor. I can still see that wry grin whenever someone cracked a
joke that he just couldn’t ignore. One time during the spring semester of 1966, I had
the flu and went to choir sick. I passed out about halfway through the rehearsal. I can
still remember waking up, flat on the floor, with Dr. Porter hovered over me. He
could be gruff at times, but it was at times like this when I saw beneath that exterior to
one of the most warm hearted and generous men I ever knew. I still remember his
kindness with his wife, who was an invalid. He adored her, and his countenance total-
ly changed whenever he was around her. I worked hard for his approval because I had
so much respect for him.
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8822
I could tell that Dr. Porter liked my voice when, during the fall of my sophomore
year, an opening occurred in the Junior/Senior A Cappella Choir (a select group)
and Dr. Porter asked me to join them. They were planning a trip (Baylor’s first) to
Carnegie Hall in New York City, in the spring of 1967. My sister, a member of the A
Cappella Choir, was ecstatic that I had been asked to join the group. She had been
selected as one of the pianists to accompany the choir, as well as a member of the sec-
ond soprano section. I was a second tenor. We worked hard that whole fall and win-
ter season, honing our intonation and pitches, practicing difficult pieces, and taking
short tours to what seemed an endless stream of Baptist churches, raising “love offer-
ings” to help defray airfare and hotel costs. Our mother attended several of our con-
certs, anxious to see her kids do well. Our family didn’t have much money. Our
father had retired from the Navy about 8 years before I entered Baylor. Both of my
parents sacrificed greatly, borrowing on dad’s life insurance, skimping on personal
things for themselves, so that we could attend Baylor without incurring debt ourselves.
Our father had to take a job out of state to help make ends meet. In the summer of
1966, at age 63, he had a heart attack, which prevented him returning to his job.
Things were tight at home, but our parents were determined to scrape the money
together so we could have our big chance on the big stage at Carnegie Hall. We had a
generous aunt and uncle who lived in Washington, D.C. who were better off than we
were financially. Secretly, without my sister and I knowing, they sent our mom the
money for airfare to Washington. Then they drove her to New York. Just after we
arrived at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, we turned around and saw mom as she emerged
from behind a marble column to surprise us. Dr. Porter was standing beside us, and
I’ll never forget his face as he saw her come up to us. I still remember the love and
affection in his eyes as he saw us tearfully embracing our mom.
This trip, getting to sing in Carnegie Hall, knowing that our mom and family
members were in the audience watching us, was one of the most memorable occasions
of my life. Our final song of the concert was “Choose Something Like a Star;” a
hauntingly beautiful piece. I felt that was just what I had done. I will never forget that
song.
Through my adult years, I have been a member of many churches in many cities,
Euell Porter
8833
and I have never failed to join the choir in any one of them. I am still singing, and I
believe, singing pretty well for a 57 year old man, still using the vocal techniques that
Dr. Porter taught me. Although I have had many directors, Dr. Porter has stood out
in m mind as the best of them all. His life and dedication have helped shape my own
in ways I never imagined. I thank God that my path crossed with his almost 40 years
ago. I have now been a member of the faculty of Baylor University for 28 years, not
in music but accounting. Euell Porter and professors like him were role models for
me. They inspired me to become a professor myself, and to continue the tradition of
influencing young people from humble backgrounds to “choose something like a
star.” I believe that Dr. Porter embodies the spirit of Baylor University that we still
strive to keep alive today? “To light the ways of time.”
Euell Porter
8844
Euell Porter Rememberedby Frances B. Thornton
When I entered Sam Houston, I had had nine years of piano lessons, but very lit-
tle experience singing in a choir. Dr. Porter expressed his confidence in me which
made me feel comfortable and welcome.
I was impressed with his hard work and dedication. His attitude has stayed with
me in all things I have done. It was an honor to have been a part of his choir and to
have known him
Euell Porter
8855
Euell Porter Rememberedby Elena Ann Donald
“FOR THE COMMON THINGS OF EVERYDAY,
GOD GAVE MAN SPEECH IN THE COMMON WAY,
“FOR HIGHER THINGS MEN THINK AND FEEL,
GOD GAVE THE POET WORDS TO REVEAL,
“FOR HEIGHT AND DEPTH NO TONGUE CAN REACH
GOD GAVE MAN MUSIC, THE SOUL’S OWN SPEECH.”
Those six lines came to mean so much to me because in many ways, they explain
the depth Mr. Porter gave his students, not only in music, but in life. Of course, many
of you remember that when he finished quoting this poem, the touching strains of
Beautiful Savior followed and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Why did I come to be so moved by all of this? In the course of less than four years,
Mr. Porter came to be one of the most influential people in my professional life.
When I enteredHardin-SimmonsUniversityin the fall of 1951, I had never even heard
of Euell Porter. It takes quite a while for news to get from Abilene to Goodnight. If
you ever saw the bus that went from Abilene to Childress – where my mother would
pick me up – you would understand the slow communication and news’ delivery. I was
a music major but I didn’t really know exactly what my concentration of study was
going to be – I had to be in an ensemble, so he let me be in Chapel Choir. At that
point, I would not have dared to even think about auditioning for the A Cappella
Choir.
I muddled along for a couple of years and my knowledge of Mr. Porter was pret-
ty well limited to Chapel Choir rehearsals and that short tour each spring. I did make
points with him on those tours when he found out I was a pretty good “42” player –
what else was there to do in Goodnight,Texas.
By my junior year, I had mad THE choir and what a joy that was. I had gotten to
the point I was taking some courses from Mr. Porter and was studying voice with him.
I was beginning to see just how special he was and what a positive and inspiring expe-
Euell Porter
8866
rience it was to be around him. The more I was around him, the more I appreciated
him and all that he was.
My senior year was the one that really brought me to the realization of just how
much I was benefiting from the opportunity to learn from him in so many ways. I did-
n’t have to carry a very heavy course load and as a result, I was asked to accompany quite
a bit for his voice lessons. I was able to observe him while sitting on the piano bench.
I felt like I was in a Seminar all the time. He had accepted me as more than a student
and I was deeply honored and grateful. I vividly remember him giving me his car keys
one day and asking me to go to the beauty shop and pick up his wife Christine and take
her home. I was so glad he trusted me enough to ask me to do that errand, but I was
also quite nervous about it. Everything went well, thankfully, and I was so pleased that
he felt comfortable enough to ask me to do such a personal errand. His love and devo-
tion for that dear lady was beautiful to behold and it showed what a tender and caring
man he was.
During the summer of 1955 – after I had graduated – he called me at my parents’
home and invited me to join him at Perryton and participate in a workshop he was
directing at the First Baptist Church there. What fun that was. Of course, my ego got
fed quite well with his invitation to participate.
I’ve sprinkled several special memories into this piece and there is no way I can
really explain just what he meant to me professionally. He showed me in so many ways
how music can reach people and how important it is to believe in your craft. He also
taught me that you couldn’t succeed in teaching music to young people and how
important it is to believe in your craft. He also taught me that you couldn’t succeed in
teaching music to young people if you can’t get yourself out of the way and let music
be the important thing. I’ve proudly told people for years that Euell Porter is one of
the most influential people in my life and I would never have gone into teaching
choral music had it not been for him and the influence he had on me while I was a
student at Hardin-Simmons. I truly thank God I had the privilege and pleasure of
being one of his students.
Euell Porter
8877
Euell Porter Rememberedby Dorothy and John Bates
During each of the years from Baylor Summer Music Camp, 1963,through
Baylor University Graduation, 1977' you had one or more of our four daughters with
you in both Baylor Summer Music Camp and Baylor University.
John and I appreciate so very much all you did to provide thebest of musical
training and experiences for each of our daughters. We appreciate too, your person-
al dedication, your standards of excellence and. all your personal interest in the life
of each student. Your Christian witness (and. that of Mrs. Porter during her lifetime)
in both words both in words and by example, continue to serve as an inspiration to
all.
Thank you for many wonderful memories, and be assured, that our prayers and
best wishes are with you always.
Euell Porter
8888
Euell Porter Rememberedby Charles Fuller
After my roles as husband and father, the highest and most undeserved privilege
of my life has been to be mentored and befriended by both Euell Porter and Hugh
Sanders. My wife, Cindy, and I first met singing in one of Dr. Porter's choirs. He
became friend and family to us and a shining example of both faith and excellence.
I sang for Dr. Porter from 1976 through 1980. I served as his last graduate assis-
tant during his retirement year of 1979-80. He showed me how to deal with loss. He
lost his dear wife, Christine, during my first year of singing for him. He showed me
how to prepare for change as he finished his career and transitioned to an active
retirement. He showed me how to challenge people without alienating them. He chal-
lenged us toward excellence in our music and in our lives, sometimes with great inten-
sity, but always with the intention that it was our best interest he had in heart, not his
own glory or reputation.
Dr. Porter's life was a model of excellence, both in challenging us to do our best
and to use the very best musical materials. He challenged church choirs to do the
same. He understood the importance of meeting church people at their musical taste,
but always took them toward better music. He loved people with a genuine love and
challenged us to be better as people as well as musicians. He never hesitated to tell you
what he was thinking. If he thought you were headed in a direction that wasn't in your
best interests, he would certainly tell you, but even when we were talking about "see
the blazing Euell before you," we knew that that special grin with the twinkle in his eye
was just under the surface and would return soon.
Dr. Porter was a man of genuine faith whose faith empowered him to face the
challenges of life: the challenges of tragedy and the challenges of "raising" countless
young people who sang in his choirs. It's almost silly for me to talk about how I try to
emulate him because his influence on me was like a father, it's so much a part of who
I am that, after almost thirty years, I can no longer separate what I was before from
what I've become since knowing him.
He was quite simply, the finest man I've ever known.
Euell Porter
8899
Euell Porter Rememberedby Jack Yates '51
Hardin-Simmons Range Rider, Winter, 1998-1999
The Abilene Reporter-News for September 25, 1998, carried the news of the
passing of Euell Porter, former Director of Choirs at Hardin-Simmons University
and First Baptist Church of Abilene, choir director extraordinaire. The obituary
referred to him as Dr. Porter, an honor accorded to him by two universities, but the
title with him somehow seemed superfluous. Euell Porter needed no "Doctor" in
front of his name to command respect. You merely had to listen to one of his choirs
to know his stature.
Mr. Porter and I came to Hardin-Simmons at about the same time, in the late
1940s, he as Director of Choirs, and I as a student. He was a graduate of Hardin-
Simmons and had met his beloved wife there, and he had greatly desired to return to
HSU as choir director.
When he came from his position at Sam Houston State College, he was held in
such high esteem by the members of the choir there that a large number of them
transferred with him. He never had to build or rebuild a choir program at Hardin-
Simmons. The choir arrived virtually full-blown with him.
As a young man (and also as today) I loved good choir music. The late
1940s were something of a golden age for collegiate choirs. There were many
of excellence. A national radio network had a weekly series of programs featuring col-
lege choirs from around the country. First and last I heard in person, by radio, and
by record many great and noted choirs. With that background, the first time I heard
a Euell Porter-directed a cappella choir, I was simply enthralled, and although I later
heard scores, perhaps hundreds, of performances by his choirs, that feeling never left
me. They sang as with one voice, and the tones and cadences that his choirs produced
were magnificent.
Mr. Porter was at that time in his thirties. He was handsome and had
the build of an athlete. When he directed a choir, it was like poetry just to watch his
rhythmical and fluid directing. He never liked the style of conducting used by some
Euell Porter
9900
very good directors who used large, dramatic flourishes. With him, that was unneces-
sary. It was not so much discipline (although his choirs were disciplined), as it was that
his choirs were devoted to him, and gave him their undivided attention and best
efforts.
Part of this devotion arose from Mr. Porter's care for his wife. Not long after
their marriage she had suffered an illness that left her unable to have children and dis-
abled for the rest of her life. He was always extremely sensitive to her needs and feel-
ings.
Part of this devotion arose from his being a dedicated Christian. His choir pro-
grams revealed that. There was such an aura of devotion to Jesus Christ in his concerts
that, even though the sounds of the choir were wonderful, you always were aware it was
first of all a Christian choir that you were hearing. He loved the classic anthems of the
Christian faith by the great choral composers. Such songs never grew old with his
choirs singing them. Every concert ended with the song "Beautiful Savior," also
known as "Fairest Lord Jesus."
The Hardin-Simmons choir sometimes rehearsed in Behrens Chapel.
Occasionally, as an audience of one, I would sit in during rehearsals just to hear them
sing. He also directed the choirs at Abilene's First Baptist Church. I was not a mem-
ber there, but I always enjoyed going there, for I knew I would hear an outstanding
choral selection. Since he also directed the congregational singing, I also would have
the privilege of singing under his direction.
In 1955, Mr. Porter moved to Baylor University. I do not think he ever wanted to
leave Hardin-Simmons. Circumstances had come about, however, that made the
move a good one for him. Hardin-Simmons' loss was truly Baylor's gain and that of
Texas Baptists, since the Baylor position gave him a much wider influence. Thus it was
in churches all across Texas and the Southwest that the Porter "sound" became known.
I think he left a big piece of his heart at Hardin-Simmons, however. When he was
interviewed by the Baptist Standard, shortly after his retirement from Baylor, and
asked which one of all of his choirs was his best and favorite, he remembered his 1950-
51 choir at Hardin-Simmons as his finest choir.
It has now been 50 years since I first heard a Euell Porter choir. Many of the
Euell Porter
9911
singers from those choirs, such as the ebullient Charles Downey '51, the tall basses,
Jimmy Loden '50 and Maurice Alfred '50, Cooper High School's Jack Glover 51'/'66
and Bobbie Noles Summerlin '51/71 themselves went on to be outstanding choir
directors, and they are now reaching or have reached retirement age. But in my mem-
ory I can still hear the inspiring sounds of those first choirs at Hardin-Simmons. Of
all the good and great choirs I have heard throughout my life, and there have been
many, in my judgment few if any have surpassed those at Hardin-Simmons, beginning
in 1948 and I will agree with Mr. Porter that they were my favorites.
Euell Porter has now passed from the earth at the age of 87. He is now reunited
with the beloved bride of his youth, who has been released from that disabling illness
from which she (and he) suffered during most of their marriage. Most significantly,
he is now in the presence of the one who was always the focus of his choirs' concerts,
his "Fairest Lord Jesus," and somehow I feel that the music of heaven has just become
a little sweeter.
Euell Porter
9922
Euell Porter Rememberedby O.D. Hall Jr. BM Baylor 1957
Dr. Porter came to Baylor when I was a sophomore music major. He changed every-
thing. Euell Porter was the greatest single influence in shaping my standards of choral
performance, my conducting style, and my convictions related to the Ministry of
music. In the spring of my senior year I enjoyed the great honor of serving as a co-
student conductor with Hugh Sanders. What a thrill to stand before the choir and
conducting and singing “Rejoice" in the final concert! Twenty years later it was an
even greater thrill to send my daughter Debbie (BM '77) to sing in the Baylor A
Cappella Choir under Dr. Euell Porter.
Euell Porter
9933
Euell Porter Rememberedby Rence Fast Heathclott, Baylor 1968
I had one year of Choir under the direction of Dr. Euell Porter. That has been
40 years ago. Every time I sing, even today, I refer in my mind to the principles and
techniques of singing I learned under Dr. Porter. It was a wonderful year. I respect-
ed him greatly for his unending devotion to his wife never, but never complaining.
There could not be a better caregiver. He loved her to the end.
Euell Porter
9944
Euell Porter Remembered by Alton and Patricia Berryhill Hassell, Baylor 1969
I was in a Porter choir for five years ('64 to 69) at Baylor University while I got
my chemistry and physics BS degree. My wife, Patricia Berryhill Hassell, sang with him
for two years. We were also in the choir at Central Baptist Church at Bryan when he
was interim director in the '70s.
How do you describe a man who was such an inspiration? He demanded that you
did each thing to the best of your ability. If you sang with him long, you learned how
to push yourself, how to work with others, how to be responsible for yourself and your
actions and you learned to sing and appreciate music, good music. You also learned
how to treat others with respect, how to behave in public and how to have pride in
doing things well. He had a major part in taking the rough edges off of a lot of us
country kids. He took us on tours so we could see new places and grow.
He came to Roscoe and sang for our wedding. Patricia lost her voice. He doc-
tored her so she could sing with me at the wedding. I know he never understood how
special that was to two young kids. Not a week goes by that I don't think of him, or
something that I learned from him.
I have my Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry and teach chemistry and archeology at
Baylor. My wife teaches in the Family Consumer Science Department also at Baylor.
Euell Porter
9955
Euell Porter Rememberedby Dorothy Bernson H-SU 1953-1956
I had the privilege of singing under Dr. Porter for two years. I was in the chapel
choir at H S U during '53 - '54. I was in the A Cappella Choir '54 - '55. Mr. Beachy
directed the choir the next year. I also sang in the choir at the First Baptist Church,
Abilene and Dr. Porter directed that. It was an inspiration to sing under him even if
it was a lot of work. I remember one amusing thing. I have a twin sister named Norma
and we never have looked alike. When I was trying out for the A Cappella Choir, Dr.
Porter looked at me and said: "Now I know what is alike about you and Norma the
expression between your eyebrows". I remember how Dr. Porter was so considerate of
his wife in poor health.
Euell Porter
9966
Euell Porter Rememberedby John Magee
Euell Porter was my teacher, mentor, role model, friend and was like family. I
first met him when I enrolled in Sam Houston State teachers College September
1945. It was his first year to teach there and he had been promised that band music
majors would be allowed to audition for the choir if their schedules allowed the time.
I did audition, made his choir and my life took an entirely different path. Next to
family, choral music became most important as my life's vocation.
I think that these were "golden years" of choral music in Texas public schools and
Euell Porter, Archie Jones, Frank McKinley, and a few other great men, should be
given credit for the advanced training that they gave their students at that time, as
school and church choir directors.
Mr. Porter placed scores of his students from Sam Houston, Hardin--Simmons
and Baylor in schools and churches of Texas and other states as well.
He didn't just graduate us, give us a degree and send us on our way but stayed in
touch, wrote letters, telephoned, gave clinics for us and our neighboring schools. He
brought his university choirs on tours of our school and churches helping us instill
the love of beautiful choral music in people and choirs.
World War II ended August 14th 1945. My wife, Agnes and I, entered Sam
Houston that fall and our lives changed after meeting Euell Porter. He helped in
finding us housing and gave me a job the next summer painting his house. He came
walking up to our front door one day with a stack of dress shirts of his (it was just after
the war and you could not buy a dress shirts anywhere) which he gave Agnes to give to
me.
At the beginning of Christmas recess the following year, he asked us to call him
collect when our first child was born. Well, our daughter was born December 22nd
and first person I called was Mr. Porter (collect). She grew up and entered Baylor in
the fall of 1965 where she sang in his A Cappella Choir and served as one of his
accompanists.
I recall that just after the great storm "Carla" had raked the Brazos port area,
Euell Porter
9977
where we were teaching at the time, Dr. Porter (as well as I knew him, I never called
in anything other than Mr. Porter or Dr. Porter and never shall) came home to find
his wife Christine packing a box of his and her clothes to send to John and Agnes. She
was thinking that the storm had wiped us out.
He invited my Brazos port high-school choir to take a singing tour of Greece with
his university group. We were to join them in performance of Handel's Messiah.
He instilled the importance of selecting good literature that would be worth our
efforts in teaching and that would make us and our students better persons.
Dr. Porter was professional and worked in all of our professional organizations.
He thought most highly of TMEA, TCDA, national music organizations and the
University Interscholastic League. He served as an officer in many of these organiza-
tions.
He also served as an adjudicator for many years for the U I L. He encouraged
scores of directors and thousands of students with his most positive written and spo-
ken comments and criticisms.
Yes, he is gone but will not be forgotten. Thank you for the chance to write some-
thing about this great teacher.
Euell Porter
9988
Euell Porter Rememberedby Marion E. Luper Jr.
Sam Houston State Class of 1946
While attending Lamar Jr. High School and Stephen F. Austin High School in
Bryan, Texas I sang in choirs directed by Euell Porter along with my sister Duretta
Luper Gilchrist.
After this, we were both elated when Dr. Porter came to San Houston State in
Huntsville, Texas to organize and direct the A Cappella Choir as well as other vocal
groups. One of these groups was the men's double sextet of which I enjoyed being a
part.
Many lasting friends were made through the associations made in these organiza-
tions. Among them are Virginia Irvin, John Warren Smith, Robert A. (Bobby)
Moore, Doug and Bess McDermott Osborne, Louis Gentry, Espy Watts, Fern Wiese,
Velma Hand, and Sundell Harris as well as many others.
Euell Porter was an inspiration to all of those who had privilege of knowing him
and being a part of one of his choirs.
I later had the privilege of singing in various church choirs, one of which was the
First Baptist Church Choir in Austin, Texas where I had the privilege of
singing with Maurice and Glenna Alfred who had been in Dr. Porter's -
choirs at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene.
In addition to the church choir in Austin, I have also have sung with the Austin
Symphony Chorale, First Baptist Church Choir and River Oaks Baptist Church
Choirs of Houston, the Houston Symphony Chorus of and the First Baptist Church
Choir in Odessa.
Euell Porter left a lasting impression on all who had the privilege of knowing
him.
Euell Porter
9999
Euell Porter Rememberedby Maurice Alfred SHSTC 1946-1948 H-SU 1948-1950
Euell Porter came to Sam Houston State Teachers College in the fall of 1945 and
I first met him when, as a freshman, I auditioned for the Sam Houston A Cappella
Choir in the fall of 1946. Dr. Porter had an amazing ability to inspire his students and
to give them a love of choral music that would last a lifetime. He could discipline in a
manner that instead of making you mad or unhappy, made you want to try again and
do better." There was no wasted time in rehearsals. The instant he finished one por-
tion of the music he was telling you the page and the measure where we would start
anew. His rehearsals were very fast paced, but also very enjoyable. Whether he was
directing a church choir or a college or high school, there was no talking and if you
did interrupt you probably got a stern look from those eyes, or you might be invited
to leave the rehearsal. But he also had a wonderful sense of humor and a great smile!
In his choral methods class, Dr. Porter did a great job of giving to his students
the "nuts and bolts" of putting together a choral music program. You were well-
equipped with a single copy of many pieces of the great choral music, the knowledge
of how to recruit students, prepare a budget, order music, book tours, prepare pro-
grams, etc. He made great use of the officers elected by his choirs. They worked, but
it was great training for them as he gave them many responsibilities.
I remember the first time I heard him sing "When I Grow Too Old to Dream".
It was at a choir party at S H S T C when he sang, his wife Christine began to hum
along with him. He always took great care of his invalid wife. He was a fine Christian
gentleman whose life was a wonderful example for all his students.
In the summer of 1948 Dr. Porter left S H S T C and went to Hardin--Simmons
University in Abilene. Fourteen of his S H S T C students went with him.
It was certainly because of Euell Porter that I directed choirs in high school, col-
lege and churches for 51 years before my retirement in 2001. He was my inspiration,
mentor and teacher.
Euell Porter
110000
Euell Porter Rememberedby Jess Hensarling
Stephen F. Austin High School Bryan, 1944
Euell Porter, handsome, lyric tenor, native Texan from Muleshoe, graduate of
Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, was teaching school in Bryan, Texas,
when he heard an a cappella choir. It may have been the one from North Texas State
Teachers College in Denton. He said to himself that he wanted one of those. He went
to W. D. Wilkerson, Superintendent of Schools, and made arrangements to organize
an A Cappella Choir at Stephen F. Austin High School. His students understood that
it was the first such choir in Texas. He also directed at Lamar Jr. High and recruited
and began training singers who fed into the high school choir. This was in the late
1930.
He worked diligently to upgrade the taste and exposure of both his students and
the community. Favorites of the choir included Adoramus Te by Palestrina sung in
Latin, Beautiful Savior and Lost in the Night arranged by F. Melius Christiansen,
hymn arrangements and spirituals. The closing of every concert was Blest Be the Tie
That Binds. Everything was sung without accompaniment. Choir became so popular
that some students stayed for postgraduate high school study, just to sing in the choir.
The choir was robed similarly to the choir at North Texas in velveteen floor
length robes; the girls wore satin vestments which covered their hands, and everyone
sang in black socks with no shoes.
Because the choir was a rarity among high schools, it got to travel throughout the
state singing in high school assemblies where the football player singers were pointed
out. Lodging was usually in homes, but hotels were an occasional treat. World War II
gasoline rationing restricted travel, but enterprising parents provided transportation
by car to nearby towns. After the war, the choir traveled, by invitation, to the
Northwest Pacific coast to sing for the International Lions Club Convention.
Mr. Porter, as he was known then, took the choir to Houston to hear the St. Olaf
choir, arranged for them to hear the North Texas State Teachers College A Cappella
choir, under Dr. Wilfred Bain, and encourage them to hear Bidu Sayao in recital at
Euell Porter
110011
Texas A&M College. Choral clinic shared with Marlin high school singers were held
frequently. He offered free voice lessons to several.
Euell Porter endeared himself to the entire Bryan community when in spring of
1940 (or 1941) he had to hurry back to Bryan, from a musical contest in Huntsville,
for the birth of his only child. Mrs. Porter's pregnancy and delivery were difficult
because of her diabetes: the infant was born with water on its brain and did not live;
she suffered the loss of the ability to form words. He lovingly cared for her all her life.
Some years later, he was pleasantly surprised to return from a trip to find that friends
had taught her to say "oui" to greet him.
From Bryan, Euell Porter went to Sam Houston State Teachers College, Hardin-
Simmons College and later to Baylor University where he achieved wide spread admi-
ration.
Euell Porter
110022
Euell Porter Rememberedby Ken Armstrong
Dr. Porter arrived at Baylor in the fall of 1955. After auditions, he formed the
Baylor Chapel choir. He brought with him several outstanding singers from Hardin-
Simmons Hugh Sanders and Ralph Gibson came to mind. At the same time, he had
competition on the campus. An old Welchman, Pop Hopkins, was a longtime conduc-
tor of the A Cappella Choir and Martha Barkeman directed a fine group which per-
formed light choral music.
The Chapel Choir met in the 7th and James Baptist Church choir room each
afternoon for rehearsal. This represented quite an investment of time for me since I
was a religion and English major and we received no semester hours
for choir. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed singing with Dr. Porter during my
sophomore and junior years: indeed, it was one of the highlights of my days in Waco.
After being elected president of the Baylor Ministerial Alliance, I felt that I had to give
up choir during my senior year and this I did with great reluctance.
My memory of Euell Porter is very clear. On one hand he was a kind, even sweet
person. As a friend recently said, he was something of a father figure for many of us.
Yet, he could be firm and something of a taskmaster. I
thought of him as a perfectionist. He was quite demanding of us in terms of learning
the music and producing the tone he wanted. He called names and
identified miscreants'. Yet, he was never unreasonable: as a professional in the choral
music field, he wanted the Baylor Chapel Choir to be good, and we were. In concert
and on tour, I was immensely proud to be a member of the choir.
It was my good fortune to take Dr. Porter's conducting class. In it, he largely
worked with students who planed to be music directors in Baptist churches through-
out Texas and beyond. Dr. Porter also serves as the music director at 7th and James
(across the street from BU and the largest Protestant Church in America). Sunday
after Sunday he teamed with our pastor, Dr. Charles Wellborn to produce memorable
worship services and he was much loved in this capacity. Sometimes, I think . . . this
is the real Euell Porter . . . providing musical leadership to Baptist churches. It is true
Euell Porter
110033
that he traveled all over the state conducting choral clinics for churches. So don't omit
this important ministry, for it reflected his Christian faith.
One day in the conducting class, an older fellow asked what he should do in his
present assignment. The church where he served loved Stamps music and sang from
shape notes. Dr. Porter spent time with that question, and conferred with the man
throughout the quarter. His idea was to take the church and choir where it was, and
over a period of time, seek to elevate their musical taste and expression to God.
Several years later, I used Dr. Porter's go-easy approach in a church where the pastor
considered the doxology as high, fancy music. I often thought of Dr. Porter the year
I serve that church.
As I think of Euell Porter, I recall a man who worked with college students and
churches to produce beautiful music. By all measures, he succeeded handsomely.
Euell Porter
110044
Euell Porter Rememberedby Lena Sue (Pinky) Chilton Murry
Sam Houston State Teachers College 1947-1948 Hardin-Simmons University 1948
I met Euell Porter in the fall of 1947 when his choir from Sam Houston State
Teachers College was touring and played a concert stop at Lamesa High School. Since
I attended school half a day, I missed the presentation but was called at my part-time
job by the principal of the high school, to come to be interviewed by Mr. Porter. I was
a poor girl with hardly any hope of attending college, although it was my dream to do
so. Mr. Porter asked me to sing for him and from there the story of his influence is
indelible in my life's book of treasured memories.
I was invited by him to come to Sam Houston on a scholarship. When he accept-
ed a position in the music department at Hardin-Simmons University, he invited me
to go with him, also with a much-needed scholarship. That was the beginning of his
influence in my life.
His personal interest in me and his gracious consideration of my needs was the
door through which his life caused me to see more than a professor/teacher but a man
who loved the Lord Jesus. That was demonstrated in his daily walk and relationship
with his students. I saw, for the first time in my young life, a spiritual giant. His
humility and gentleness, with meekness that pronounced itself in a demeanor as he
conducted the choir in rehearsals and concerts with a strong hand of quiet authority,
showed me what God meant when he said Moses was the meekest a man on earth. That
strong hand of authority was framed by love for the music and for the singer and he
lead us to be aware of the matchless ONE we were singing about. Dr. Porter's God-
given ability with music brought into the lives that were under him, and seen with eyes
of a learning student, lessons that have had their far-reaching influence on many oth-
ers. His faith was evident as he lovingly took care of Christine who, he said, gave her
life to bear him a son so he would give his life in meeting all her needs that he possi-
bly could. He did that magnificently!
There are no words adequate to express what my association with him has meant
Euell Porter
110055
during the intervening years and no way that I could have ever repaid him.
He taught me more than music, and for that I am eternally grateful. His one
favorite song, "How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours When Jesus No Longer I See",
is only a memory of him as he now stands at the throne and sees Him face-to-face. I
look forward to that grand reunion when we get together and lift our voices of true
praise to HIM face-to-face who graciously planned and directed it all. To God be the
glory!
Euell Porter
110066
Euell Porter Rememberedby Pat Agnew Kincaid
It is a privilege to have a part in this tribute. Ted Nichols wrote so eloquently of
Euell Porter and the feelings the choir members shared. Dr. Porter came to lead the
music in a revival at the First Baptist in Cisco when I was in high school. I was
impressed with him not only as a musician but as a dedicated Christian. After gradu-
ation from Cisco Junior College, I transferred to H S U and became a member of the
A Cappella and First Baptist choirs in 1952-1953. I married in June of 1953 and we
committe three days a week to complete our senior year. Even though I was in choir
only one year there are many memories. It was at a party in the Porter's home that I
first heard him sing "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" to Mrs. Porter. I was going to
sing it to Don at our 50th anniversary celebration but there were just too many emo-
tions remembering the Porters. What a special love he showed for God, Mrs. Porter's
and his music!
Euell Porter
110077
Euell Porter Rememberedby Edward Barnes
Hardin-Simmons University 1955
My family moved Abilene in the summer of 1948 when I was going into my jun-
ior year in high school. I had been used to singing in an adult choir in church and so
ask Dr. Porter if I could sing in his choir. Since it was summer and most of the
Hardin-Simmons students were gone, he let me do so, but in the fall when the col-
lege kids all came back and filled up the choir, he shuffled me back to the youth choir.
That was an interesting experience. He lined up all the boys on the back row and came
behind us feeling our throats for and "Adam's apple" I suppose. When he got to me
he got real excited and rushed me up to the piano and ran me through some scales to
see what my range was. That was the first time I really knew that I was a bass.
I stayed in the youth choir through the first nine weeks of school and then my
folks moved to Orange were I finished high school. As soon as possible I went back
Abilene to attend Hardin-Simmons. Since I was, by that time, an adult, Dr. Porter
allowed me to sing in the "big choir". I wanted to sing in the A Cappella Choir at
HSU, but I was a chemistry major and my labs fell at the same time the choir
rehearsed, so I was unable to sing with it. I did tryout to sing in the male quartet how-
ever and therein lies a tale.
I sang in a male quartet in high school in Orange, under Maurice Alfred and
really wanted to continue that at HSU. My best friend Eddie Hebert had also sung in
the quartet, and he went with me to Abilene. We wanted to sing together so badly that
we made a pact: if both of us were selected, we would sing together in the quartet. If
either of us didn't make it, the other would not sing in it either. When Dr. Porter
called us all together for the first audition, and Eddie and I both tried out and felt like
we had a good chance. When the second audition came around however, I was called
back but Eddie wasn't. So I lived up to the pact and didn't go back the second time.
Now at the time, I lived off campus in the home of one of the professors, and Dr.
Porter lived a few blocks down the same street. As I was walking home from the cam-
pus the next day, a car came up behind me and stopped. Dr. Porter told me to get in.
Euell Porter
110088
He was not pleased. It was the only time I can remember ever seeing him upset - and
it was with me - not good. He had planned, he said, to give me the bass spot in the
quartet, but since I didn't show up, he gave it to someone else. Well at least we know
he was capable of being upset, but I never saw that again.
I continued to sing in his church choir until I had to start working at night and
was unable to go to rehearsal. Even so, he often gave me rides home from the campus
and he became a good friend. After graduation from Hardin- Simmons, I went into
the Army and he moved to Baylor. I was stationed at Fort Bliss in EI Paso for most of
two years and then stayed there working for another 10 years after I got out. During
that time I sang in the church choir at First Baptist, EI Paso. Twice during that time,
we had Dr. Porter come out for a week-long choir clinic; once by himself and once
when he brought his wife. I treasure the time he spent with my wife and me in our
home as well as the association I had with him in the choir. Since then, until his death
we would exchange Christmas cards and write occasionally, and at least once, I talked
with him at length on the phone when he was in the retirement center. My wife and I
attended every Baylor A Cappella Choir concert that happened in the Houston area
while he was directing. We enjoyed the choral mastery that he and his choirs exhibit-
ed.
I counted Dr. Porter not only a good friend, but the finest choral director I've
ever sung under, and I've sung under several who were and are really
great. His death was a personal loss to me as it was a professional loss to all choral
musicians who knew him and have sung under him.
Euell Porter
110099
Remembering Euell PorterRandy Adams H-SU '55 BM
In the fall of 1953 I was destined for a University other than Hardin--Simmons.
For some reason I stopped by to talk with Dr. Euell Porter before leaving my hone in
Abilene. The outcome of that meeting was a scholarship and an opportunity to work
with one of the three Professors at H-SU who were instrumental in the development
of my future.
Dr. Porter was a caring and loving person exemplified by his complete devotion
and concern for his life partner. He was an exemplary choral conductor who was able
to unify an extremely diverse group of people into a rich choral sound that expressed
life qualities no other musical art can claim.
This writer has always felt our lives are truly orchestrated by God, and we are His
instruments. Compassion, devotion, and commitment to his faith through choral
music and teaching: the instrument on which Euell Porter so masterfully performed.
Truly an instrument orchestrated by God.
Euell Porter
111100
Remembering Dr. Euell Porterby Dewayne Beaty
Upon entering HSU in the fall of '54, I had hopes of becoming a member of the
A Cappella Choir but 1 had no formal vocal training. I asked and received an oppor-
tunity to "tryout" for Dr. Porter. At the end of the "tryout" I remember him saying
to me, Beaty, I want to put you in our Chapel Choir and help get that fine voice God
has given you trained and then we will be ready for you in the A Cappella Choir. I was
greatly disappointed, but he was right (as usual). So I had one year to sing under his
direction and what a year it was! Lyndal Bingham, J.E. Boggs, Vernon (my room-
mate), Ralph Gibson, Pat Kirita, Barbara Ralls, Carol Scott, Sarah Willis, Becky
Kelmer, Sue McCown, Peggy McKibben, Lynn Meeks, Patsy Tidwell, Richard
Fancher, Veril Price, Jackie Shirley, Bill Moore, Lawrence Webb, Jackson Williams,
Don Scargall, Nanallene Miller, and Betty Baty are some that I remember in the
Chapel Choir that year. The Four Flushers Quartet: Lyndal Bingham, Ralph Gibson,
David McPherson and Hugh Sanders were a part of our touring program. We sang all
over West Texas. It was during that tour I, along with all the other members of the
choir, learned some very valuable lessons from Dr. Porter. Before our last concert in
a church worship service on that tour, the choir was eating a meal and enjoying a
relaxing time before the service when someone went to a piano and began to play some
"jazzed up" versions of several hymns. Soon most of the choir joined in. Then Dr.
Porter come rushing into the room and addressed the entire choir for about 15 min-
utes or more. During that lecture I learned three very important theological truths:
1) The fear of God! 2) Reverence for God and God's House and 3) A deep respect for
the privilege, honor and responsibility of singing praises to the Lord and leading con-
gregations in worship. During our presentation that evening, we sang many of our
songs without Dr. Porter having to use his hands, only his eyes. It was a very moving
experience. I can assure you that many times, in many types of worship experiences,
in many countries 1 have remembered that lesson learned from Dr. Porter in a fel-
lowship hall in a small West Texas Town on a spring Sunday evening. Thank you Dr.
Porter, I will be forever grateful!
Euell Porter
111111
EUELL PORTER Thoughts of Lyndal Bingham
First thought: One of God's choice men in choral church music.
A friend - From the first time I saw him direct his Chapel Choir from Hardin-
Simmons at 1st Baptist in Spur, TX, I knew he was so much more than just a very
polished choral director. He was so warm to invite two really country boys, Ralph
Gibson and myself to come to Hardin-Simmons and musically fulfill our God call-
ing to church music ministry.
Second thought: The more involved I became at Hardin-Simmons, the more I
realized, by observation, what a great choral interpreter he was. He always knew
exactly the sound he wanted from each piece of music. All of this came from his
facial expression, his eyes, and even the exact way he held his fingers on his right
hand. Intonation and wording. "Always make sure the people on the back row can
understand the words and appreciate the exact intonation of each note."
Last thought: I always wanted to stand, to interpret, to understand the musical
message and try my best to emulate the exact presence of Dr. Euell Porter. My
church music calling was always on a little higher plane because of him.
Euell Porter
111122
Remembering Dr. Euell Porterby Jack Bottoms
My first knowledge of Mr. Euell Porter (as he was known back then) came when I
enrolled at Sam Houston State Teachers College in the fall of 1948. Soon after I
arrived on campus I learned that Mr. Porter had accepted the position of
Choral Music Director at Hardin-Simmons University. So, he had departed Sam
Houston at the end of the spring semester of 1948 and I had just missed him.
However, as I began attending church at the First Baptist Church of Huntsville 1
became acquainted with a host of people who spoke very highly of Mr. Porter and of
their sorrow at losing their Choir Director, at First Baptist and at the college. The
Pastor of First Baptist tried his best to get me to leave Sam Houston and follow Mr.
Porter to Hardin-Simmons. However, I could not afford the expense of attending a
private college and gave up the idea of moving to Abilene.
I completed two years of work toward a degree in chemistry before withdrawing
from college to enlist in the United States Air Force. 1 returned to Sam Houston on
a TDY assignment from the Air Force and received my degree in the summer of 1953.
1 returned to the Air Force and in the summer of 1954 married a wonderful young
lady 1 had met during my final semester at Sam Houston. We moved off base in San
Antonio and lived there until I was discharged from the Air Force in December of
1954.
Throughout the six years following my initial enrollment at Sam Houston 1 was
constantly coming in contact with someone encouraging me to "go study with Mr.
Porter" and, as a result of a life-changing decision in the fall of 1954,1 contacted Mr.
Porter (now Dr. Porter) about attending Hardin-Simmons in the fall of 1955. 1 will
never forget his response. He wrote, "I am sure Hardin--Simmons would love to have
you attend there and 1 will help you in anyway 1 can to contact the right people.
However, I need to tell you that I will the teaching at Baylor University, beginning with
the fall semester of 1955." I was overjoyed at hearing this news because Waco is only
60 miles from my hometown of Jewett.
So, June and 1 moved to Waco and I enrolled at Baylor in the summer of 1955.
Euell Porter
111133
Beginning in September of that year Dr. Porter became my Choir Director at Seventh
and James Baptist Church in Waco and at Baylor University. What a joy it was to final-
ly work under the direction of the man 1 had heard so many wonderful things about.
We had some great times during the two short years 1 was at Baylor and I will never for-
get the help Dr. Porter gave me as a wonderful friend and teacher. 1 loved him dear-
ly and admired him so much for the Christian example he lived. This was very evident
in his relationships with his students and in his devotion to his wife, Christine. I real-
ized very early in our relationship at Baylor that all the wonderful things 1 had heard
about this man over a span of almost ten years were true. No wonder so many students
down through the years have continued to speak of Dr. Porter with love and admira-
tion. He was loved by many, many people as was evidenced by the number of former
students who attended and participated in his memorial service.
I have mentioned what a great teacher Dr. Porter was but have yet to give credit to
his wonderful talent as a Choral Director. I know that every director has his own way
of directing and there are those whose techniques were very different from those used
by Dr. Porter. I have sung under the direction of several men since my years at Baylor
and have yet to find one who comes even close to the stature of this man where choral
conducting is concerned. I guess this was due, in large measure, to the wonderful tal-
ent he had in leading young people in the realm of choral music, especially sacred
choral music. He was a dedicated Christian and this was always evident in the way he
conducted. It was a day-by-day learning experience to sing in one of his choirs. I owe
what talent I possess as a choral director to the leadership of Euell Porter.
Dr. Porter was always anxious to help his students even after they had graduated
and moved on to their life's work. Upon completion of my degree at Baylor I taught
chemistry in high school for two years while I waited for a job to open up in choral
music. In the summer of 1959 Dr. Porter recommended me for the choral position
at Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas. After teaching eight years at
Thomas Jefferson our family moved to Boulder, Colorado where I began work on a
doctorate degree. I didn't get a chance to visit Dr. Porter very much during these years
but I never forgot him and his influence on my life and the lives of my Wife and five
children. When I wrote my dissertation he was one of the three people listed at the
Euell Porter
111144
beginning of the paper as having been a special inspiration to me. We moved to St.
Louis, Missouri in 1972 to accept a teaching position at Missouri Baptist University.
At the completion of eight years at Missouri Baptist I was asked to become Dean of the
School of Music at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, having been rec-
ommended for that position by Dr. Euell Porter.
I retired from Howard Payne in 1993 and moved back to my boyhood home in
Jewett, Texas. I was able to visit with Dr. Porter from time to time and each time we
spent precious minutes remembering those great days at Baylor. I was saddened when
I received the call that he had passed away and was glad, as I have mentioned previous-
ly, that I was able to sing in the choir at his memorial service. My sadness that day was
made more bearable by the knowledge that Dr. Porter had joined his beloved
Christine in that celestial home in Heaven. I will always cherish the memory of this
wonderful man.
Euell Porter
111155
Remembering Dr. Euell Porterby Phil and Jennette [Crouch] Briggs H-SU
Maurice, thank you for including me in the Euell Porter tribute. Dr Porter was
probably the most influential person in my life after high school. I entered H-SU in
the fall of 1951 and sang in the a cappella choir all four years, serving as president in
54-55, Porter's last choir in Abilene. He was my voice teacher and several courses in
music, conducting etc. (also sang under his direction at FBC, Abilene for one year.
He recommended me to my first church, FBC, Munday, TX following Bill Hardage!
(later taught voice, hymnology and founded the Men of Midwestern choir from 65-
71. Porter's guidance even after his move to Baylor remained a main resource for me.
The guidance he gave those of us who were soloists or in vocal groups was without peer.
My strongest memory includes many of the names listed in this email, Bill Denton,
Bill and Delana O'Brien, P. J. Newsome [Baylor & Midwestern Seminary], John
Bullock, Britton Wood, Ed Wiggins, Ed Nichols, Dick Waters, Peggy Muston, The
Hardy Twins, Norman Ward, Tommy Adams, Ron Bates, Loretta Guillette, etc.
I will be retiring from SWBTS, 8/04 after teaching for 40 years. Hardly a day
goes by that Euell Porter does not cross my heart/mind. Beautiful Savior will linger
forever in my mind and on my tongue since I still sing and enjoy music. Jennette can
still smell the fumes of the bus rounding the corner from a concert or tour. Dr.
Porter visited us in the 60's Little Rock and while turning through our scrapbook, he
remarked that his 51-52 was probably his best one. Now all the rest of you can argue
about that, especially you Baylor folk. Do you remember the poem, "For the common
things of every day, God gave man speech in the common way, And for higher things
men think and feel, God gave the poet words to reveal, But for heights and depth no
tongue can reach, God gave man music, the soul's own speech.
Blessings and Prayers thanking God for the gift of memories.
Euell Porter
111166
REMEMBERING EUELL PORTERby Bill Davis,
Retired Director of the sanctuary choir at Lake Rayburn United Methodist Church
I was privileged to be in Euell Porter's choir at Baylor University for the one year
I attended. I found a great number of talented musicians in that choir due to Euell's
recruiting ability.
Dr. Porter was quite gifted in his selections of music. The choir always sounded
chorally proficient and the music pleasing.
It was my privilege to hear his final performance for T. M.E.A. I was amazed at
the excellent quality of the vocal production, and his choice of music was the best I
had ever heard from his choirs.
Yes, Euell was a great Christian influence on many young people who worked
under him, myself included.
Euell Porter
111177
Remembering Euell Porterby Mary F. Fitzgerald (Day) H-SU 1950-54
The highlight of my college days was having the privilege of singing in Chapel
Choir the first year and the A Cappella Choir the other three years.
The music truly came alive for me, thanks to Mr. Porter. The verse he quoted some-
time during every concert truly became the way I felt about music:
"For the common things of everyday,
God gave man speech in the common way.
For higher things men think and feel,
God gave the poet words to reveal.
For height and depth no tongue can reach,
God gave man music, the soul's own speech."
Euell Porter
111188
Remembering Euell Porterby Priscilla Lawhorne Hyson
Hardin-Simmons University 1953-1957
Dr. Euell Porter was a gigantic Christian mentor to many young men and women
who sang in the choirs he conducted over the years of his teaching and beyond his for-
mal teaching career. Those who sang in the choirs he conducted shall always remem-
ber "Fairest Lord Jesus," and the ethereal feeling that came over their spirit as they
sang with his direction.
You would hear and feel the Holy Spirit within and see Him shining in the eyes
of those who expressed the depth of their salvation while singing together this beauti-
ful hymn of Faith. We knew we were all united forever in our love for Christ. Yes, we
learned "music is the soul's own speech."
Our respect and love for Dr. Euell Porter lives on today through his many stu-
dent friends. His influence shall survive for years to come. His gentle kind personal-
ity exemplified Christ's in the eyes and minds of those who knew him. He probably
was not a perfect man, but to us at that time in our lives, he seemed the perfect man.
He was a father figure to many students.
We learned people should be gentle and kind to all they meet when at all possi-
ble.
Euell Porter
111199
Remembering Euell Porterby Melvin D. Jasek, BA 1956Hardin-Simmons University
Thank you for letting me be a part of Dr. Porter's recognition celebration. As for
so many others, he was such an inspiration to me, a mentor and a person for which I
am truly so thankful to have known. The time that I spent with him at Hardin-
Simmons and at First Baptist Church in Abilene set my standard for choral music and
appreciation of the wonderful world of choral music he exposed me to. Even now after
fifty years, I hear the sounds of his choirs and I search continuously for those sounds
in music today.
I was a student in high school in 1950 or 1951 and Dr. Porter was the clinician at
choir contest. In a few spare minutes he listened to a male quartet and as a result
offered the four of us scholarships to Hardin-Simmons. Two of us accepted the
scholarship and sang in the A Cappella Choir under Dr. Porter's direction from
September 1952 through May 1955 when he left for Baylor University. We also sang in
a men's quartet and in the choir at First Baptist Church.
While Dr. Porter was a strong disciplinarian in his rehearsals, he also enjoyed a
good laugh. During a dress rehearsal of the anthem "The Creation" by Wiley Richter,
a choir member, Bill Hardage who was the soloist pulled a stunt during his solo, which
totally wrecked the rehearsal. Dr. Porter dismissed the choir with tears of laughter. In
the three years with Dr. Porter, I don't remember any other rehearsal being inter-
rupted by a choir member.
I remember the choir tours and the annual concerts in Behrens Chapel at
Hardin-Simmons, but most of all I remember the thrill and joy of the music and the
spiritual experience of just being a part of a choir directed by Dr. Porter. I can still
see his face and eyes, the small movement of hands in conducting and the love of God
he shared with his students.
I have enclosed some articles, pictures, and programs, which I hope you can use.
The article from the Range Rider, "A Personal Tribute to Euell Porter" by Jack Yates,
really sums it all up. How fortunate we are to have known Dr. Porter.
Euell Porter
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Remembering Dr. Euell Porterby Virginia Lee Allen Lewis
Thank you for making this tribute to Dr. Euell Porter.
I was only in his Chapel Choir for one year in 1957-58, but found that it was one
of the best years in my singing career. He was an excellent director and one of the
finest gentlemen that I have ever known. He was responsible for making some of the
best memories of my Baylor days. My years at Baylor were from 1957 to graduation in
1959.
Euell Porter
112211
Euell Porter: My Great Mentor in Choral Musicby James T. Loden
Euell Porter's Christian character, his dedication to choral music, and his per-
sonal concern for others were the defining attributes of his life.
My first encounter with Euell Porter was at an Interscholastic League Contest
where I won a First Division in Solo, and he was quick to persuade me to come to Sam
Houston State. His genuine interest and invitation met with my Methodist preacher
father's approval and thus began four years, not only under his baton, but under the
influence of one of the most dedicated Christians I have ever known. He expected and
demanded much of his students in choirs as well as elsewhere. Respect and concern
were two lessons taught and learned well.
Porter's music in those early years was driven by a desire to create a choral tone
that could be described as lush, dark, and organ like. He selected voices that he could
train to produce that quality and thus he chose mostly sacred music that lent itself to
this quality. His interpretations were very personal and always suited to the texts.
Students were expected to memorize the music by the second rehearsal of a piece
which required a great deal of discipline. Rapt attention was given to his directing and
interpretation. Music was never held in performance. His choirs had a great appeal to
audiences and getting 50 or so singers to sound like one was an interesting mystery to
many listeners. Porter's dedication to his ideal was unwavering.
Dr. Porter was very involved in choral activities at the state level, and throughout
the years probably recruited more students to attend Sam Houston State University,
Hardin-Simmons University, and Baylor University than any other single person. He
sought help for many students who could not afford the cost of a higher education.
Shaping lives and building character seemed to be as important to him as producing
a perfect choral tone. He had many followers and admirers, and through his motivat-
ing leadership he influenced many to follow choral music careers in colleges, church-
es, or public schools.
I owe great thanks to Euell Porter for my career in church music and the influ-
ence he had in my life. He was my great mentor!
Euell Porter
112222
Dr. Euell Porter, Gone But Not Forgotten Donna Magee Lunsford, Baylor University 1965-1968
My earliest memories include Dr. Euell Porter. I had a unique family relation-
ship with him, as my father had studied music under Dr. Porter in the 1940s at Sam
Houston. In fact I was born while my dad, John Magee, was a student there and was
president of the choir. He and Mrs. Porter were friends with my parents through the
years. My dad settled in the Brazosport area, where he taught choral music for 36
years. I remember once during one of our infamous Gulf Coast hurricanes, Dr.
Porter called to check to see if we were okay-the phone call was by orders of Mrs.
Porter!
When Dr. Porter taught at Baylor, his choir camps in the summer became quite
popular. I went to these camps every summer beginning in junior high, and looked
forward to them all year long. I loved music, and I loved singing under Dr. Porter's
direction. We who were students from the Brazosport area (Lake Jackson, Freeport,
and Clute) enjoyed getting to know other students from different areas in Texas who
also came year after year. My love of Baylor grew through the years and I just never
considered going anywhere else but there.
It was as a freshman at Baylor in 1965 that I first got to sing in the choir under
the direction of Dr. Porter just as my dad had done when he was a college student! My
sophomore year, I started out in the Chapel Choir and got promoted to the A
Cappella Choir, the choir that got to go to New York and sing at Carnegie Hall in
1967. I remember how hard I had to work to learn all the music because I was put into
A Cappella Choir later than everybody else. At one point I got so stressed out and
tired that I sat in his office and cried. He was so kind and just listened to me, which
is all I really wanted him to do. Then I went back to a practice room to learn more
music!
I got over my stress and had the time of my life in New York City on that tour!
We sang a wonderful concert and got to experience an opera and a Broadway show and
eat in nice restaurants. Some of us even went to coffee house in Greenwich Village,
where we sang some of our music from "Man of La Mancha." It was the first time in
Euell Porter
112233
my life that I felt like an adult- no curfews- Dr. Porter just expected his students to
behave as he knew we would and be where we were supposed to be at all times! He
trusted us. That was part of his special personality.
Years later, in 1975, after I was married and living in Denver, Colorado, Dr.
Porter brought his choir there on tour. My husband and I kept a couple of boys from
our hometown who were in the Baylor choir. We also had Dr. Porter over for dinner.
I have a picture of him holding my daughter who was just a few months old at the time.
He was just like family to me. That daughter of mine, Julie, also went to Baylor in
1992, but Dr. Porter had retired by then.
He was such a great man, who left a legacy to many of us. Dr. Porter was tough-
but kind. He was strict-but he trusted us to live up to what he expected. All of us who
sang under him knew he got a very special choral sound that was exceptional. I'm sure
many of his students (like my father) went on to honor him by becoming excellent
choral directors as well. And many others of us have continued to. honor him by let-
ting choral music be a part of our lives in one way or another through the years. I will
never forget him or the fabulous music that I learned while I was in his choir. God
bless his memory.
Euell Porter
112244
Euell Porter Rememberedby Anita Mobley Gilchrest
I was in Dr. Porter's freshman choir 1965-1966 and the A Cappella choir 1966-
1967 at Baylor University. He was a tremendous teacher and got the
best from all of us. He was tough and expected us to give him our best. We were expect-
ed to work on music on our own and to memorize what we performed. His musical
programs always attracted full houses. The A Cappella Choir received a standing ova-
tion at the Music Educators National Conference in April of 1967. I would have con-
tinued to tryout for places in his choir's after my sophomore year, but I was in the
School of Nursing and spent my junior year and senior year at the Medical Center in
Dallas. I truly missed singing in the university choirs after going to Dallas. Dr. Porter
encouraged us to participate in other special musical groups opportunities such as the
B R H choir, the opera chorus, etc. He was genuinely loved and respected by his stu-
dents. In the year since graduation from Baylor, I have sung in many church choirs.
The things that I learned from Dr. Porter are still part of what I bring to the choir.
Choral music is still one of my loves.
Euell Porter
112255
Dear Dr. Porter,
Echoing the thoughts of countless others, I want you to know that you are the rea-
son I chose Baylor for my source of higher education. Even during those short years
when you would suggest your retirement, we would plead with you to wait until we
graduated and then it would be okay! I’ve wondered how last year’s underclassmen felt
knowing you wouldn’t be there next year. I’m thankful you did stay until I left.
You’ve made such an impact on every area of my life and in turn, I hope I am
passing these values to my children. It is impossible for me to participate in my musi-
cal activity, whether performing or listening, without doing it with “Porter scrutiny.”
(Remember the time our choral conducting class was adjucating high school choirs for
practice, and you and I suggested that a soprano in one of the choirs be sent to PE
class instead of singing? Ha!) I thank you for your influence. It has become a means
of facilitating enjoyment and accomplishment.
My only regret from having been under your leadership is that every choir direc-
tor and church musician have not nor will have the opportunity to learn from you. It
is difficult not to judge others by the standards you’ve set for yourself, as well as those
instilled in us who have worked with you. Your ways are our ways in as many ways as
possible to imitate you. Thus, my life is much fuller and satisfying because of you.
Thank you.
With much love and respect,
Eloin Bradley Bates
Euell Porter
JuliaDeanEvans
Material prepared by James R. Nance
112288
Biograhpical SketchJulia Dean Evans
Amarillo High School • 1939-1950
The fall of 1939, Julia Dean arrived in Amarillo, Texas, to accept the position of
A Cappella Choir Director at Amarillo High School. Amarillo was the hub city in the
Texas Panhandle, a town of approximately 40,000. Amarillo High was the only high
school where sophomores juniors and seniors came from all over the city and several
nearby smaller towns. At the time it was considered a large high school and was best
known for its football team, the Amarillo Golden Sandies, several times state cham-
pions. Amarillo High was soon known for something else. Its outstanding A
Cappella Choir program.
Julia Dean was a young, attractive, petite, enthusiastic lady with big ambitions
and the determination and dedication to fulfill her ambitions. Her magnetic person-
ality quickly attracted the students of the high school and by the end of her first year
she had 44 students in her choir. During her 12 year tenure as the Amarillo High
School Choir Director the choir program grew to eight large choirs with over 430
members.
In 1943, during the World War II years, the male band director was drafted into
the service and Julia Dean directed the state renowned 80 member Golden Sandy
Band, in addition to her choir work. After the war, when a full time band director
was hired, Julia returned full-time to developing her choir program.
Julia Dean was born in Oklahoma, attended Clarendon College, West Texas
State,The University of Southern California, Juilliard School of Music and North
Texas State University. Her quest for improvement in excellence as a choral director
demanded continuous advanced education.
Beginning in 1945 a selected choir would tour throughout the state of Texas per-
forming before school, church and civic organizations. Julia Dean found the annual
tour stimulated great interest in her group and also found that their appearance
encouraged other schools to either organize choirs or improve and upgrade their own
choir programs. In addition the choir was selected several times to serve as the
Julia Dean Evans
112299
demonstration choir for the Texas Music Educators Association.
The highlight for the A Cappella Choir under Julia Dean’s direction, was a trip
to New York City in a July 1948. Chosen by the Lions Club of Texas, a 50 voice choir
represented the state of Texas at the Lion’s International Convention. Performances
in New York City included a concert at Madison Square Garden, a Sunday morning
and national radio broadcast over N.B.C. and an appearance on the Maxwell House
coffee television show.
While in New York City, the choir was invited to a rehearsal of Fred Waring’s
famous choir “The Pennsylvanians” at his estate at Shawnee, Pennsylvania. After the
rehearsal of Mr. Waring’s choir, he asked if the Amarillo high school choir would per-
form for them. Mr. Waring kept them singing for 37 minutes after which he stated,
“This is the finest high school choir I have ever heard”.
Julia Dean resigned from Amarillo high school in 1950. During her 12 years in
Amarillo she had over 1500 boys and girls in her choirs. Several members of her
choirs, some whose first introduction to music was as a choir member, became choir
directors.
After Amarillo, she taught at Marshall High School in Lubbock, and South Oak
Cliff High School in Dallas, before retiring.
Julia Dean married Bill Evans in 1945. Following his death she married O’Dell
Simmons. Julia Dean Evans Simmons died in Dallas in 1976.
Julia Dean Evans influenced the lives of many young men and women who
attended Amarillo high school, sang in her choir, played in the band under her direc-
tion and just had the privilege of hearing her musical organizations perform. Below
are comments from several of the many who responded when asked to share the influ-
ence Julia Dean Evans had on their life and their appreciation of music.
Julia Dean Evans
113300
Julia Dean Evans Rememberedby Lynn Whitten
Class of 1948
I was in the AHS A Cappella Choir from 1946 to 1948. During the second year,
the city of Amarillo and Texas Lions Club underwrote a train trip for the choir to
perform for the Lions Club International Convention in New York City. My fond-
est memories are from that trip. I had been no further away from home than Canyon.
The trip included New York of course, Toronto, Niagara, and the highlight for me,
Fred Waring’s estate/workshop at Shawnee on the Delaware. There we sang with and
for the Fred Waring singers and attended a taping of one of their radio shows.
Singing with Julia Dean Evans had a tremendous impact on my future as a choir
director at Dumas, Texas Junior High and High Schools for six years, and as choir-
master/organist at First Presbyterian Church in Amarillo, for three years, and most
recently, 30 years as director of Choral Studies at the University of Colorado.
Julia Dean Evans impeccable ear and love of music making are always goals for
me. And her putting Amarillo on the musical map gave endless thousands the pleas-
ures and the feeling that music can bring.
(Lynn Whitten married Evelyn Dean, a niece of Julia Dean Evans.)
Julia Dean Evans
113311
Julia Dean Evans Rememberedby Charles Nelson
I’m not sure what a fifteen year old boy, who has spent his whole life in just two
North Texas counties, should know about the world of choral music, but I had played
in a school orchestra and sung in school choirs and had listened to world class music
played by world class musicians over airwaves broadcast from NBC and CBS.
In March of 1942 I heard the Amarillo High School Choir directed by Julia Dean
Evans and could hardly believe my ears. I was acquainted with a college choir, whose
men’s section had been decimated by losing men to the armed services. The men’s
section in this high school choir sounded as good (or better) than the college choir.
That choir sang so far above the level of my own high school choir that they could not
be considered in the same class. It was a real eye opener (or ear opener) to this young
lad who had an interest in singing, but as yet, had no aspirations to direct a choir. I
had seen the musical possibilities of a group of 15-17 year old children who had expe-
rienced good vocal and choral instruction.
As years passed, a stream of students from Amarillo High School found their way
to the Music School in Denton. All these music students were influenced by Julia
Dean Evans and her choir.
I was glad, that in later years, I got to know this dynamic, talented person. Her
work introduced me to possibilities I didn’t know existed.
Julia Dean Evans
113322
Julia Dean Remembered by Alice Lee Gist Federer
Class of 1944
Singing at the Easter Sunrise Services, held at Palo Duro State Park, is what I
remember most as a choir member. Two songs I remember singing were, Fairest Lord
Jesus and an original composition written and arranged by one of Julia Dean’s rela-
tives. I think it was her brother. Singing in that wonderful choir as the sun rose over
the canyon was one of the most inspirational experiences of my life.
Julia Dean Evans
113333
Julia Dean Rememberedby Jim CliftonClass of 1949
I was a member of Julia Dean’s A Cappella Choir in 1948 and 1949. I was woe-
fully short on musical talent, but long on appreciation for those who possess it. Julia
Dean assuredly possessed it, and sought and nurtured it in every one of her students.
I recall with fondness singing Peter J. Wilhousky’s arrangement of “In Solemn
Silence”, Fred Waring Dry Bones, and of course, The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
I also recall with great sadness the choir singing Fairest Lord Jesus at the funeral
of Carolyn Kelley. She, Bob Lacey and a journalism teacher Dorinda Bond were
killed in a car wreck as they returned from Canyon, Texas after working on our school
paper “Sandstorm”.
The choir’s Christmas concert was a personal favorite of mine. One of my joys
is being associated with the publishing of A H S class of 49 newsletter. I include here
an excerpt from the 2003 editor’s corner relating to the choir Christmas concert.
“I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night, but I can remember when I
first heard “Oh Holy Night”. It was a holiday season, perhaps 1947. We had gathered
for the choir’s Christmas program, in a festive mood and noisy, until the music
began. Sue Johnson, spotlighted on a darkened stage, that tiny figure standing in
front of the choir, with that sweet soaring soprano voice filling every corner of the
auditorium held us absolutely spellbound for a magic moment. I’ve thought of that
moment many times since, and have regretted the passing of so many years without
having told her how special it was. Now I get to say thank you Sue.”
In “To Kill a Mockingbird” Miss Maudie says, “Mockingbird’s don’t do one
thing but make music for us to enjoy but sing their hearts out for us.”
(Jim Clifton graciously furnished a CD taken from a 78 rpm recording made of
Julia Dean’s 1948 choir. Included on that CD is Jim’s favorite song the choir sang
“Madam Jeanette”.
Julia Dean Evans
113344
Julia Dean Evans Rememberedby Texas De Sautell Pasetti
As many, many more were, I was in Mrs. Evans choir all my high-school years.
What a wonderful choir and what a great choir director!! We all loved her. Believe
me that was big time for Amarillo in the early ‘40’s.
Julia Dean Evans
113355
Julia Dean Evans Rememberedby Charles Jeffress
Class of 1944
I didn’t sing in the choir directed by Julia Dean Evans, but I was in the AHS
Band she directed. I remember her as a very talented lady, a good leader, a good
musician and a lot of fun. I’m reminded of an anecdote that happened one time dur-
ing band rehearsal. She stopped the band in mid-tune to review some sections of the
music which had lettered reference point A, B, C, etc. She called out “Go to H . . .
No! On second thought Go to L”. Of course all this brought loud laughter from the
band members who immediately thought their days were numbered. Ah, fond mem-
ories!!
Julia Dean Evans
113366
Julia Dean Evans Rememberedby Jim NanceClass of 1944
I remembered Julia Dean fondly. My first year at AHS I played cornet in the
band. Julia Dean was the director. My second and last year I sang in her A Cappella
Choir. She also began a small vocal group called the “Four Hits and a Miss”. I was
fortunate enough to sing bass in the group, which, if I’m not mistaken, was the year
Julia Dean formed the group. The other members of the group were, Hoyt Mulkey,
tenor, Bob Andrews, second tenor, Clarence Kincaid, baritone and our star was Jane
Whicker, our ‘Miss’. Donna Autrey was our pianist.
In 1944, Julia Dean arranged for the University of North Texas A Cappella
Choir to sing a concert at the high school. I later attended the University majoring
in voice and choral conducting.
While I ended up in business, I thank Julia Dean, as well as others, for inspiring
me to attend North Texas to study music and participate in some most inspirational
music presentations. My real appreciation of music began under Julia Dean. She
challenged the choir members with difficult music but made it fun to feel that sense
of accomplishment when we finally neared that point of excellence to which she so
strived.
Everyone who had the privilege of participating in and or hearing her choirs,
over the dozen or more years she was director of the Amarillo High School, was for-
tunate. She brought a new medium of entertainment, art and music to the entire
area.
Julia Dean Evans
113377
Julia Dean Evans Rememberedby Cloys WebbClass of 1946
As a student in an Amarillo High School, I was privileged to sing in Julia Dean’s
A Cappella Choir for three years. I did not realize, until many years later, after I
became a choir director myself, what really outstanding choirs Amarillo had in those
very early years of music education in Texas.
In addition to being a member of Julia Dean’s choir, I can also claim her as a
mentor. She was a person who got things done! My parents were loving and support-
ive, but they had neither the vision of a college education for me, nor the finances to
make one possible. Knowing these things and feeling that I had some musical talent
to offer, Julia Dean stepped up to the plate. She called me into her office in 1946 and
announced that I was the recipient of a music scholarship at the University of North
Texas in Denton. She also told me that she had found a dormitory room for me and
a job which would provide enough money to pay my room and board. Though I had
to drop out and work for a semester to help pay expenses, I eventually earned a B.S.
in music and a Master of Music Education from North Texas.
I’ve often wondered if I would have attended college were it not for Julia Dean
Evans. Of course, I’ll never know the answer to that, but I do know that because of
her I did and because of her I became a choir director and was able to teach all levels
of choral music education for 33 wonderful years. I wish she were here for me to give
her my personal thanks.
(Cloys was A Cappella choir director at Perryton High-School, McAllen High
School and Texas Christian University.)
Julia Dean Evans
113388
Julia Dean Evans Remembered by Nancy Fields McClintock
Class of 1948
I was one of the lucky choir members that got to go on the New York trip spon-
sored by the Lions Club of Texas, the summer of 1948. One highlight of the trip was
our audition for Fred Waring at his beautiful estate on the Shawnee in Pennsylvania.
I made a scrapbook of our trip and have all the articles that appeared in the
Amarillo Globe News about our trip. I will be happy to contribute copies of all I have
about that trip and the choir, including pictures and a program of our 1948 a cappel-
la choir spring concert, because Julia Dean was an exceptional talent and contributed
enormously to the lives of every student she taught.
(Sincere thank you to Nancy fields McClintock for making available so much
material about the choir, the New York trip and Julia Dean Evans.)
Julia Dean Evans
113399
Julia Dean Evans Rememberedby Ken Kohler Class of 1948
As a junior at Amarillo High School in 1946, I first came in contact with Julia
Dean Evans. I was playing in her band, but was attracted by the wonderful sounds
Julie got from her choirs, so I tried out and made the choir. From that time on, Julie
became my best teacher-friend and most revered teacher. We went all over the Texas
Panhandle singing in schools, in churches, wherever she had a request.
Once, when we were singing at the old Municipal Auditorium, we were a warm-
up group before an appearance of beloved comedian, Bob Hope. I was standing in
the wings with Julie and we happen to be next to Bob Hope as he waited to go on. I
was wearing a black and gold “Sandy” jacket. He hurriedly asked me to give it to him
as he shed his own coat. Hope strode out on the stage in the black and gold AHS jack-
et to the delight of the audience. He made a few jokes and ask me to come out on the
stage. We traded coats and I exited to a very excited Julia Dean Evans. She was so
glad for me to get to participate in such a manner.
After AHS, five years of college and two years in the Army, I returned to
Amarillo and joined a small Bible church. There was talk that we should have a choir,
but we had no choir director. I thought, well, I’ve watched the best in action, why
couldn’t I at least do what I saw Julie do? There started a life long joy for me, lead-
ing choirs. Since that time, I’ve lead choirs in many churches in many locations.
In 1947 I went to Costa Rica to learn Spanish. In the eight months I was there,
we had a choir made up of students of Spanish who sang in Spanish-speaking church-
es throughout San Jose. After that, I went to Mexico City. In two years there, I had
choirs from the Wycliffe Bible translators staff, from the Mexican workers at the cen-
ter and at a Spanish-speaking church I attended.
Julia was such an inspiration to all of us who sang in her choirs. She was tough,
fair, fun, but always correct. She was a magnet in our school, attracting a good part
of the football team, cheerleaders and other “noteworthys”. I look forward to meet-
ing her again sometime and only hope she’ll let me sing in her choir once more.
Julia Dean Evans
114400
History of Amarillo’s A Cappella Choirby Betty Burkhalter • 1948
When Amarillo’s first A Cappella Choir was organized in 1939 by Mrs. Julia
Dean Evans, it was impossible to predict the rapid growth of such singing groups.
With 44 students in the first AHS choir, the organization grew steadily until a
second group, the Choristers, was organized with a grand total of 125 singers. After
another two years, the increasing number of singing aspirants made it necessary for
a third choir to be organized. Thus the harmony singers took their place in AHS in
1944.
Today, nine years later, 420 boys and girls spend one hour daily in singing the
songs they loved. Mrs. Evans conducts three choirs each day, and Miss Tennie
Thompson conducts five.
Each year for the past three, a state tour has been made by 50 members of the A
Cappella. Mrs. Evans and group travel by bus to various cities and towns of Texas,
presenting their programs before schools, church and civic organizations. For two
years the local delegation has served as the demonstration choir for the annual con-
vention of the Texas Music Educators Association.
Highlights of musical activities for the A Cappellians this year, is their selection
to sing in New York City’s Madison Square Garden in July before the Lions
International Convention.
Through the years the best in music has been consistently presented to the stu-
dent body until today, Amarillo High School students appreciate religious and clas-
sical numbers equally as much as the lighter popular tunes.
The public always received graciously the wide variety of singing of the choir which
includes classical, religious, Negro spirituals, novelty and popular music and has
shown its appreciation of the choir by inviting it to appear before many different civic
groups many times throughout the year.
During the past nine years more than 1300 boys and girls have worn the robes
belonging to the A Cappella; and each, in a spirit of love and loyalty to the choir, its
conductor, and Amarillo High School, has done his share to maintain the reputation
of the A Cappella in the hearts of Amarillo citizens.
Julia Dean Evans
114411
From the Journal of Nancy Fields McClintockTrip to New York City • 1948
TThhuurrssddaayy,, JJuullyy 2222nndd,, 11994488,, 55::3300 aa..mm..
We traveled by train which was chartered by the Texas Lions Club and the choir
was assigned two Pullman cars to use for both day and night. The first day took us
from Amarillo, through Oklahoma and most of Kansas.
FFrriiddaayy,, JJuullyy 2233rrdd
We traveled through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and into West Virginia.
SSaattuurrddaayy,, JJuullyy 2244tthh
We arrived at Washington D.C. and around 10:00 a.m. Eugene Worley, Texas
Congressman, had arranged a tour for the choir.
1. The White House, including the East Ballroom, the Green Room, Blue
Room, State Dining Rooms, even the Oval Office, the China Room and
the Theater Room.
2. The Washington Monument, yes up to the top!
3. Tour of the Pentagon.
4. To Arlington National Cemetery.
A. Tomb of the unknown soldier
B. Robert E. Lee’s mansion
5. The Jefferson Memorial
6. The Lincoln Memorial
7. The Capitol building
A. sang in the rotunda
B. climbed to the top of the dome
C. visited the House of Representatives
8. Visited Mount Vernon
Back on the train to get to New York City by nightfall. Thirty minutes after our
Julia Dean Evans
114422
arrival we were walking down the famous Broadway!
SSuunnddaayy,, JJuullyy 2255tthh,, 11994488
11:00 a.m. Our choir was invited to sing live at the NBC studio in New York
City. It was a 15 minute concert in the time slot used for Fred Waring. This was
radio of course. (TV hadn’t reached Texas yet.)
We attended the Bobby Houston show in Rockefeller Center. After lunch we
got to attend the Robert Merrill show called “Music America Loves Best” (the RCA
Victor show).
Sunday evening the choir appeared on a Maxwell House Coffee TV show which
featured musical organizations brought to New York for the Lions Convention.
MMoonnddaayy,, JJuullyy 2266tthh
Our choir officially opened the annual International Lions Club convention at
10:00 a.m. on stage in Madison Square Garden. We sang again to fill in for Gov.
Thomas E. Dewey, who was unable to attend and speak. A first: that a musical
organization was used twice in one convention. Monday afternoon we went to see
the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Monday evening some of us attended the
Firestone Hour, then all went shopping.
TTuueessddaayy,, JJuullyy 2277tthh
After breakfast the choir was treated to a tour of New York City which included
going through the Cathedral of Saint John, the Divine, which is the largest gothic
structure in the world, and the third largest church in the world. We went to Ellis
Island and went up to the Statue of Liberty. A few of us even climbed up her arm
and went out on the base of the torch. We went by boat around New York Harbor
to see the skyline of New York City.
Our choir sang today and at the dinner for the International Lions Club
Governors at the Commodore Hotel. Then we went to a huge ice show called
“Howdy Mr. Ice”. (At that time the only ice theater in the world was located in
Rockefeller Center.)
Julia Dean Evans
114433
WWeeddnneessddaayy,,JJuullyy 2288tthh
This afternoon a bunch of us went to Ebbets Field to see Brooklyn Dodgers
play the St. Louis Cardinals while others went to see a Broadway show.
Tonight I (along with three other girls from our choir) were chosen to escort
the delegates representing all the countries at the convention. I was to represent
Ecuador and wore the costume of that country, which was a formal dress with a
large hoop skirts of all colors and a straw hat covered with flowers. Our four, along
with 18 other girls from across the country, appeared on stage before 20,000 dele-
gates amid a setting of international flags.
TThhuurrssddaayy,, JJuullyy 2299tthh
We were up early today to sing at the Texas delegation state breakfast in the
Hotel New Yorker. Then we were invited to sing for an unprecedented third time
before the Lions Club convention. The invitation was issued from Melvin Jones,
“Father of Lyonism”.
We ate dinner and boarded charter buses headed for Shawnee, Pa. where Fred
Waring had requested our choir to audition for him. We auditioned in his studio
singing Cherubim, Madam Jeanette, In Solemn Silence. Then Fred Waring himself
directed us in singing Dry Bones. On our last song Battle Hymn of the Republic,
the Pennsylvanian joined in, with Mrs. Evans directing.
The whole choir was invited to a five course state dinner on the Green Terrace
of the Waring estate. After dinner we boarded buses for the ride back to our hotel,
where we packed and prepared for our departure.
FFrriiddaayy,, JJuullyy 3300tthh
The day we began our trip home, first by way of the Hudson River Day Liner, a
river boat with Albany as her destination. Albany was our only venture out of the
U.S.. From there we went to Toronto, Niagara Falls, back to Buffalo, New York
then to Chicago.
Most of the day was spent on the river boat and it was warm and sunny on the
deck and we took advantage of the wicker furniture and slept like babies. After a
Julia Dean Evans
114444
short shopping spree in Albany we made connection with our train and boarded for
the long trip home.
SSaattuurrddaayy,, JJuullyy 3311sstt
We arrived in Toronto early this morning and after breakfast were treated to a
two-hour bus tour of the city. Then, after a short shopping spree, we left for
Niagara Falls. Once there, we swarmed a curio shop, then went to see the falls. We
were too late to take the boat ride, but enjoyed our view of the falls both before and
after dark. Of course we sang while at the Falls and were heard by the director of the
Buffalo Symphony Orchestra who wanted our choir to appear as guests artists at his
concert the following Wednesday night. What a compliment! Too bad we couldn’t
stay.
SSuunnddaayy,, AAuugguusstt 11sstt
Chicago was the stop for the day and the choir missed singing a concert at the
railroad fair because the train arrived three hours late. There was time for a tour of
the windy city, however, and a quick song at Dearborn station which was The Eyes of
Texas.
MMoonnddaayy,, AAuugguusstt 22nndd
We arrived at home.
Julia Dean Evans
FrankMcKinley
Material prepared by Charles Nelson
114488
Biographical SketchFrank A. McKinley, Director of Choral Activities
University of North Texas • 1947 - 1980
Upon the birth of their second child, on June 13, 1915, in Winnipeg, Ontario,
Lillian Belle (Arnold) and David Francis McKinley could not have foreseen the out-
standing musical future of their new born son, Frank.
Four years later, the parents made the decision to move their family to the area
where Belle had grown up in New Concord, Ohio, a pleasant town with a population
of about 1,500. Beside family ties, New Concord was the home of Muskingum
College, which was affiliated with the United Presbyterian Church. It was a good place
to live and to educate their children.
Both parents were musical. D.F. even had a touch of fame when, during his sum-
mer vacations from Maryville College, he served as song leader for the great evangel-
ist, Billy Sunday.
When he was five years old, Frank, and his sister, two years his senior, began for-
mal piano lessons. It wasn’t long until everyone in the house realized that young
Frank had quite an ear for music, when, upon hearing his older sister practicing,
would yell downstairs, “You missed the C sharp!”
Frank was diligent with his piano studies all the way through high school. Being
a precocious student, he entered Muskingum College a year ahead of his age group
with the intention of becoming a chemist. During his sophomore year, while work-
ing in the chemistry lab, amid clouds of smoke and acrid odors, he came to himself
and said, “What am I doing here! I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in a chem-
istry lab!” Since he had already had a dozen or so years of piano study and was singing
tenor in the college quartet, he decided to turn all his efforts to music.
Upon graduation, he had been offered a job teaching music in a high school in
Western Ohio. He knew he wanted to teach music, but he wasn’t sure he was yet qual-
ified. One of his mentors had a music degree from the Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia PA. She was a friend of Dr. John Finley Williamson, Founder and
President of the Westminster Choir School in Princeton NJ. Dr. Williamson was
Frank McKinley
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holding a choral clinic in North Carolina. Frank’s mentor made arrangements for
Frank to audition for Dr. Williamson during that clinic. With $3.00 in his pocket,
21 year old Frank McKinley “hit the road” and hitchhiked from New Concord, Ohio
to North Carolina to sing and play for Dr. Williamson. A part of Dr. Williamson’s
audition procedure included pitch memory and pitch recognition. After Frank played
and sang, Dr. Williamson discovered Frank’s remarkable ear, and offered him a
“room and board” scholarship to Westminster Choir College. Frank’s parents were
able to provide money for the tuition.
In addition to the regular musical and singing training he received at Westminster
Choir College, in the next two years, he had the opportunity to sing in the chorus of
major choral/orchestral works with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of
the great conductors, Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini. At no time did Frank long
for the chemistry laboratory.
After earning his Master’s Degree from Westminster Choir College in the spring
of 1940, he was hired by Wilfred Bain at North Texas State Teachers College, Denton,
Texas, to teach singing, direct the Chapel Choir and to serve as his choral assistant.
December 7, 1941 was a day that changed the lives of every citizen of the United
States. Frank McKinley was no exception. As a healthy male, in his middle twenties,
he was of prime age to become a soldier. Duty to his country pulled him away from
his chosen profession. Following his basic training at Camp Walters in Mineral Wells,
he was shipped to Providence Rhode Island, where he joined the Headquarters of the
13th Corps as a Warrant Officer, assistant to the Chaplain. With his training and
experience, Frank was placed in charge of music. After forming in Rhode Island, the
13th Corps paused in England for a month before traveling to France to join the “real
war”.
After his separation from the Army in 1946, he joined the music faculty at
Kentucky Wesylian College. After one year in Kentucky, Frank McKinley was hired
as the director of choral activities at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, a
position he held for the next thirty three years.
During his tenure, the A Cappella Choir gained a notable reputation for its ded-
ication to the cause of advancing contemporary choral music as they sang Southwest
premieres of over 40 compositions, including important works by American com-
Frank McKinley
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posers Samuel Adler, Leonard Bernstein, Roy Harris, William Latham and Martin
Mailmen.
During his entire tenure, the UNT Grand Chorus served as the choral instru-
ment for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, boasting 60 performances with such con-
ductors as Antal Dorati, George Solti, Paul Kletski, Anshel
Brusilow, Walter Hendl and Donald Johanos. His choirs have appeared with
L’Orchstre National de Belgique, the Royal London Philharmonic, the National
Symphony, Houston Symphony, Ft. Worth Symphony, Corpus Christi Symphony,
Wichita Falls Symphony and the San Angelo Symphony.
Under his leadership the UNT A Cappella Choir presented concerts throughout
the United States. In 1964 the choir was selected by the U.S. State Department’s
Cultural Presentations Program to represent the United States with concert perform-
ances in Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Luxembourg,
Belgium and Switzerland. On returning to the United States, the choir performed
at the Texas Pavilion of the World’s Fair in New York City. In 1972 McKinley served
as a participating conductor for the Third International Choral Festival at the Lincoln
Center for the Performing Arts, and in 1974 and 1976 prepared choruses for per-
formances at the Kennedy Center for the performing Arts with the National
Symphony Orchestra. In 1978 the A Cappella Choir became the first collegiate choir
to record with the Royal London Philharmonic.
In 1978 Frank received the Alumni Merit Award from Westminster Choir
College. In 1980 he was presented the Texas Distinguished Choirmaster Award by
the Texas Choral Directors Association. Because of his outstanding contribution to
music education and international cultural relations, the Muskingam College Alumni
Association gave him its highest honor in 1984, the Alumni Distinguished Service
Award. UNT has established an endowed scholarship in his honor. Following his
retirement, Frank McKinley filled interim positions a director of Choral Activities at
the University of Colorado and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
A teacher does not compile this list of accomplishments without having an enor-
mous impact upon those students he leads in those activities. Through it all, the stu-
dents and the music they served, always came first. Frank McKinley’s influence, on
the thousands of students who have come under his influence, is incalculable.
Frank McKinley
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Frank McKinley Rememberedby Marvin Pollard
(from 2002 UNT Choral Reunion Book)
Frank McKinley is a remarkable person as well as an outstanding role model as
a choral director. I was a student in his voice studio, a member of choirs under his
direction and worked as his choral librarian and part-time secretary. The most
impressive personality trait is that he was never motivated by his own ego. The out-
standing programs and experiences he planned and carried out for the choirs he
directed were done for the good of the choral program and not his own identity.
He finds time to take an interest in his students and, even after they leave the cam-
pus, follows their careers.
It was a surprisingly frigid Sunday afternoon for Denton, Texas. The old
administration building auditorium was the location for a presentation of Bach's St.
Matthew Passion by the Grand Chorus with students and faculty soloists and the
Symphony Orchestra, bolstered by faculty instrumentalists. Dr. Walter Hodgson,
Dean, conducted. Audience and performers were uncomfortably cold and the
instrumentalists struggled with tuning. Almost immediately after the opening
downbeat, the lights went out plunging the orchestra and chorus into a darkness
which was relieved slightly by outside daylight seeping through the curtained win-
dows. Dr. Hodgson continued to conduct and the orchestra began the opening
measures of the introduction. Gradually, instrumental parts dropped out until the
Basso Continuo was alone - and Dr. Hodgson carried on in the best tradition, "the
show must go on." Suddenly, the skill of the backstage technician brought the lights
back on. A few members of chorus recognized their entry cue and began singing.
Within moments the full ensemble was together and completed a most unique and
memorable rendition of this great Bach masterpiece.
Being in a North Texas choir has impacted my life in wondrous ways; not the
least of which is my 40 plus-year career as a choral director and teacher of voice. I
have traveled nationwide as a member of the music-education/church music profes-
sion and without exception, when my alma mater has become the subject of conver-
Frank McKinley
115522
sation, the respect for UNT is evident. And let's not forget the lasting friendships
that have resulted in being colleagues in rehearsing and performing with the North
Texas choirs.
Frank McKinley
115533
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Charles Ray Holbrook
(from 2002 UNT Choral Reunion Book)
Being selected as a member of the A Cappella Choir was one of the highlights of
my life. To this day, I still deem it an honor and a privilege to have been chosen as a
member. The choir was an outstanding musical group and was composed of many
fine people, several of whom have remained my friends over the years.
Frank McKinley was loved and respected by each and every member of the choir.
Not only did he know how to evoke the choir's very best effort, he always retained a
winsome and engaging approach to the task at hand. I'm grateful for his inspired
leadership as well as for the lasting friendship of the other choir members.
It was a privilege to serve as a member of the A Cappella Choir for two years
(1948-1949). During that time the choir had several amusing and memorable
moments. One day, while on tour, our bus driver crossed over a railroad track and
deposited the bus differential gear on the ground. Needless to say, Frank McKinley
had to call for another bus.
Another evening, during a concert, we were preparing to sing our next number
and waiting for Earl Tom Keel to give us our pitch. Just about that time, someone's
stomach growled and the choir assumed that that was our cue to begin singing. Frank
McKinley, being the astute director that he was, stopped the choir after a brief and
hectic moment.
During another performance, one of the female members standing in front of
me, fainted in the middle of a number. We proceeded to ease her down gently onto
the riser and continued singing.
After leaving NTSU in the summer of 1949, I began a thirty-eight year career in
the United Methodist Church, first as a Choir and Educational director, and then as
a Director of Christian Education and Pastor's Assistant. In 1961 I moved to Tyler,
Texas where I served on the staff of the Marvin Methodist Church until I retired in
February of 1990. (From February 1950 until December of 1952, I served in the
Chaplain's Corps of the U.S. Army.)
Frank McKinley
115544
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Ava Nell Donoho Chambers
(from 2002 UNT Choral Reunion Book)
Appreciating the beauty of music and the joy of sharing that feeling with others;
the emphasis on discipline and practice; developing a commitment to excellence;
continuously striving for "ensemble" and the enduring friendships of fellow choir
members are a few of the ways the choir experience impacted my life. These experi-
ences gave me a foundation on which to build as I worked thirty-five years from a
classroom music teacher to administrator in the Fort Worth Independent School
District, and as an adjunct teacher at TCU and UTA.
I treasure singing with symphony orchestras in Dallas and Houston and with great
conductors (especially Antal Dorati). Learning to sing German, Italian, Latin and
Hungarian without a Texas accent was quite a challenge!
Frank McKinley
115555
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Barbara (Lewis) Austin
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
In the early 50s, when Walter Hendl was conductor of the Dallas Symphony, our
Grand Chorus, under the direction of Frank McKinley, was paired with the orches-
tra to perform some of the great choral/orchestral masterpieces. It was a wonderful
musical experience.
I have always felt greatly indebted to Charlie Nelson, who was my instructor in
wonderful choral conducting classes during summer sessions. Thanks Charlie, you
were “with me” at every level of my teaching and directing. (1954-1994)
Toward the end of A Cappella Choir tour in 1953, we unloaded the bus at a large
church in Oklahoma City where we were to sing a concert in the sanctuary that
evening. Mr. McKinley left Eldon Black with instructions to get all of us in the sanc-
tuary to check sound and rehearse. We were exhausted. Everyone picked a pew and
stretched out. When Mr. Mac came in the back of the church, he couldn’t see us. We
heard his voice, loud and clear, “Eldon, where’s the choir”? That was our cue. We
all arose at the same time. It must have seemed that we just materialized and looked
very funny. We were too tired to laugh, but Mr. Mac did.
Frank McKinley
115566
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Paul Harrison
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Choral singing and directing seemed to be the single most important factor in my
life. I have done one and/or the other of these activities for about 50 years. I have
always been interested in directing or singing in choirs. My time in the choirs at
UNT gave me a chance to meet and keep many great friends. One of the dearest
friends, at the top of my list, is Frank McKinley. Mr. McKinley built in me a real love
for choral singing. My entire life and work has been based upon the foundation of
musical training started at UNT.
Many happy memories come to mind when I think about my days in the North
Texas Choir. One of these is still vivid in my mind. It was the spring of 1953 and the
choir was on tour in the Valley. All choir members were kept in private homes. I was
lucky enough to be sent to the home of a farmer that had an orange orchard. The
home was in the middle of the orchard and the trees were in full bloom. We slept with
the windows open. I have never experienced an aroma that was better. What a won-
derful night’s sleep.
Frank McKinley
115577
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Sandra (Fulmer) Davidson
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
After one semester at UNT, I discovered that I could take accompanying instead
of choir as a lab. I was assigned to Mr. Mac’s studio and loved it. This was the most
relaxed, fun, part of college.
The students I remember accompanying were Eldon Black, Vernon Moody, Bill
Blankenship, George McKinley, Walter Foster and my husband, Neil Davidson.
I remember that in some students’ lessons, Mr. Mac would ask me to transpose
certain songs at sight. He would sit in a chair off to one side --just the right distance
to nudge me with his foot anytime I faltered.
He is one of the dearest people we have ever known and our sons know they
missed something special by not getting to know him.
Frank McKinley
115588
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Jean (Rapp) Garrett
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being in Frank McKinley’s A Cappella Choir taught me the meaning of true
excellence in performing choral music: a standard that I have always tried to achieve
in my teaching.
I am retired from the Garland Independent School District with a total of 31
years of teaching in public schools. I now am adjunct faculty with Stephen F. Austin
University in Nacogdoches, working with Dallas area student teacher.
Frank McKinley
115599
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Janette Kavanaugh
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
I have been so grateful to Mr. Mac for broadening our knowledge of 20th
Century music with performances of such works as Honegger’s “King David”,
Coplands “The Creation”, and others. I have continued to use 20th Century works
in my own recitals as well as those of my students.
Mr. Mac and Marilyn married shortly before one of our choir tours. Marilyn
went with us on tour. We enjoyed observing them -- more importantly, Mr. Mac was
always in a good mood on that trip!!
Frank McKinley
116600
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Rebecca (Breining) Nunez
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
I always loved to sing. Being a part of a group that works together to make beau-
tiful music is very important to me. I have sung in church choir all my life, and now
sing with the Denton Bach Society Chorus.
My most memorable choir experiences were when The Grand Chorus, directed
by Frank McKinley, sang with the Dallas Symphony. Having grown up in Lefors, a
small town in the Texas Pandhandle, I had heard few professional groups. I could not
believe I was singing with a major symphony.
Frank McKinley
116611
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Donald Pugh
(From 2002 UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being in the North Texas choir was a great help to prepare me for the first part
of my professional life as a High School Choir Director. Frank McKinley was the best
mentor one could have had for that career.
Some of the most outstanding memories from that time were the splendid musi-
cians I had the opportunity of knowing and performing with and the great
choral/orchestral works we performed.
Frank McKinley
116622
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Frank Roberts
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being a member of the choirs at North Texas reinforced my love of music and
broadened my musical horizons by introducing me to a greater and greater variety of
music literature. Even after leaving the profession 30 years ago, I still consider myself
a serious consumer, and sometimes performer, of music.
It was the spring of 1957, during our final A Cappella Choir tour concert at
Lawton, Oklahoma that my most memorable event occurred. All who know Frank
McKinley recognize his professional bearing during performances, and his reputa-
tion for this is what makes the story so humorous.
The final selection of the concert was Tom Scott’s “Prodigal Son” for choir and
narrator. Our narrator, Deuce (Lewis) Woodward, who did a very convincing job of
imitation the speaking style of a southern preacher, decided to switch his admonish-
ments on Christian living from the audience to none other than Frank McKinley.
Deuce suddenly turned, eyes glaring, finger pointing directly at Mr. Mac and
declared: “OH SINNER”! and continued with the climax of his sermon while Frank
almost dissolved into his white tie and tails. Shocked and surprised as we all were, we
were able to quickly regain our composure (including Frank) and finish the piece to
the delight of all in the house.
Frank McKinley
116633
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Mel Ivey
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being in the A Cappella Choir and Grand Chorus under Frank McKinley had a
great impact on me. That is why I became the choral conductor. I taught junior and
senior high school in Big Spring, Texas. Taught at Loyola University in New Orleans
and at Western Michigan University. Was hired as director of choral studies at UNT
from 1990 to 2000.
Memorable experiences include performances with the Dallas Symphony
Orchestra and Grand Chorus major works with great conductors such as Antal Dorati,
Paul Kletzki, George Solti, Walter Hendl and others.
Frank McKinley
116644
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Cody Garner
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
During my many years of advanced schooling,(bachelors to doctorate) two peri-
ods standout as the most outstanding musical experiences of my life. The first was
being a member of the A Cappella Choir at North Texas from 1961-1962 while I was
pursuing a Master of Music degree. This was a period when the A Cappella choir, the
core of the Grand Chorus, performed numerous times with the Dallas Symphony
orchestra. The thrill of performing the great choral/orchestral works left a very pos-
itive, indelible impression upon me. I still recall after all these years, the joy and
excitement that these performances brought in me.
The second period was in 1963 when you called me, the high school choral direc-
tor in Conroe and asked me to come back to North Texas, and be a member of a select
40 voice choir. The UNT choir had been selected by the United States State
Department to represent the United States on a 16 country, three month cultural
exchange tour.
The selection of the UNT choir stands as a testament to your talent and skill as a
conductor. Officials of the State Department were asked to secure the services of the
best college choir in the nation to represent the United States. These officials con-
tacted many of the leading orchestra conductors of the day including Solti, Kletzki
and Donald Johonos and asked them their opinion concerning college choirs which
could best represent our country. They overwhelmingly recommended professor
Frank McKinley and the North Texas A Cappella Choir!
This reputation did not just come about. I remember the many hours of
rehearsal and your insistence on memorization. Another of your talents was your
ability to work with other faculty members, especially the voice department. Your
respect for these people, you’re constant cooperation with them, resulted in a unan-
imous support for the choral program. Your habit of involving the voice faculty in
decisions which affected student was greatly appreciated and gave you access to the
most talented students in the college, both graduates and undergraduates.
Frank McKinley
116655
I am also indebted to you for instilling in me a love for the choral art and for giv-
ing me the opportunity to immerse myself in so much of this great music. The lega-
cy that you have left at North Texas and the many lives that you have touched will never
be matched. Thank you Frank.
Frank McKinley
116666
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Ruth J. Holmes
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
The experiences I had at UNT studying voice with Frank McKinley and singing
in his choirs, added greatly to the other experience I had, studying piano (I was a
piano concentration) and playing cornet in the concert and marching band. The
choral music I learned was invaluable to my music education.
Frank McKinley
116677
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Lucia (Woodbury) Smith
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being in the A Cappella and Grand Chorus were the highlights of my music
education at in N.T.S.U. and reinforced my desire to be a music teacher, teaching
choir. I also remained in touch with my good friend, Connie Frederick Townsend
whom I met while in the choir. I still have the records of our choir and love the
music, always.
My favorite memory has to be the bus trip we took to New Mexico and West Texas;
staying in homes most of the tour; eating pizza in New Mexico and overwhelming
Mr. McKinley with our first chord ( pizza breath) at the concert; losing my dress and
having to borrow one; learning Japanese phrases from Don Morton; and eating fried
chicken on most of the tour.
Frank McKinley
116688
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Carroll W. Barnes
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
I was and still am proud of having been in the choral department at UNT. While
there, I met people who became lifelong friends. Choral music became my career
and my life.
The A Cappella choir was on tour in Gary, Indiana and one of the selections we
were performing was the Mass in G minor by Ralph Vaughan-Williams. The sopra-
nos had been pushing the pitch sharp and in the middle of the mass. Mr. McKinley
had to give the choir a new pitch, otherwise it would have been too high to sing. This
night, in Gary, Indiana, Mr. Mac had had enough!!! So, at midpoint in mass he
decided to teach the sopranos as a lesson. He didn’t stop and give the new correct
pitch. By the end of the mass only 3 soprano’s could sing that high note. The bases
were singing falsetto and the tenors were hemorrhaging! Needless to say, the sopra-
nos were never sharp again under fear of death by the tenors and basses.
I won’t tell the story of one choir member who walked on the outside ledge of a
hotel 23 floors up, in the snow. But it sure was funny.
Frank McKinley
116699
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Terry Killingsworth
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being in choir gave my life purpose and direction and established relationships
which lasted a lifetime.
The death of President Kennedy impacted the choir tour to Europe and
Scandinavia greatly. Preparation for the tour as well as the tour itself were affected.
The high point of my UNT experience was that tour. The lasting memories come
from knowing my classmates and their relationships. Mr. Mckinley is an example of
greatness and a personal friend.
Frank McKinley
117700
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Dwight Whitsett
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being a choir member gave a deep appreciation of fine music and the discipline
and hard work required to perform it well. That discipline not only served me well in
my career and other pursuits, but also as I have sung with other choirs and vocal
groups through the years. It impressed upon me the value of working with a team.
The members of the choir once agreed to substitute the words Mr. McKinley for
some similar sounding Latin words in a Carl Orff piece and to do it in a perform-
ance! I shall never forget the surprised look on the face of our, normally unflappable
director as we sang Mi - ster Mc - Kin - ley!
Frank McKinley
117711
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Dave Clark
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Frank McKinley continues to be very special to all of us, and I am very proud to
have been under his “care and feeding” for those years I spent at UNT. I am thrilled
to be able to participate in this reunion and look forward to many more.
My memories of Mr. Mac are numerous and specific examples need some culti-
vating. However, I remember our 20th reunion when I served as M.C.
I was introducing all the attendees, leaving Mr. Mac until the end, of course. I
made a point of noting just how good he looked. He seemed timeless in my eye. I
remember thinking, while we were in Europe, what an old man he was, and how
impressed I was that he had the stamina to be able to keep up with all of us “young
guys”.
Now, when introducing him, I noted that I was about the same age that he was
when we were in Europe. I had gained a much better perspective on the “old age”
issue over the last 20 years, and now saw clearly just how special he was at that time.
Frank McKinley
117722
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Morris Martin
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
I learned so much from Frank McKinley that I have been his minister of music
for 30 years at St. Andrews Presbyterian in Denton. Think of the pressure, guys!
Every Sunday he is out there listening!
I shall never forget singing in Beethoven’s Missa Solmnis with George Solti in
Dallas, the Southwestern Premier of Bernstein’s Khaddish with Maurice Peress in
Corpus Christi, and singing three different concerts at the MTNA convention in one
day in 1964. Who else would of had the courage to will us into doing that but the great
Frank McKinley?
Frank McKinley
117733
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Brenda Whitsett
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being in A Cappella was an incredible experience for me. The discipline and
work ethic required to be in a choir, and to make the touring group, affected my
approach to my job for the rest of my life.
My most meaningful memory was the day that I tried out for the choir. My lack
of self confidence and fear almost reduced me mute. Frank McKinley’s patience and
kindness calmed my spirit and I could sound a note, then another note, making a
dream come true. I was in the UNT A Cappella!
Frank McKinley
117744
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Sampy Wall
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Singing in choirs from Junior High School until now, led me to my main
careers. Career No. 1 was teaching choir for 21 years. I taught Junior High School in
Big Spring, McAllen, Edinburg, Lufkin and High School at Klein in Houston from
1982-1987. Two of my junior high choirs sang for TMEA and one performed at
MENC in Colorado Springs. After working through some personal crises in 1987
and going to treatment in Arizona, I found my way into a 12 step recovery which had
saved my life and my marriage. This led me to career No. 2 where I taught electron-
ic and computer technicians how to market themselves for five years. It was one of
those “What am I doing here”? kind of jobs. In the process I also learned to write
resumes and in 1992 started my own company, A Better Resume, which continues to
be a slow but steady source of income.
I don’t remember the year, but I do remember getting the flu on choir tour in
Des Moines, Iowa. Fortunately I was spending the night with a super nice family. My
host was a doctor! How convenient! I felt really bad about being sick, but also that I
would be left behind when the choir moved to the next city. It just happens that the
concert for that night involved retracing our route and that they would be coming
back through Des Moines the next day. That night I was running some fever but did-
n’t feel really bad, so I went with my host's son to a basketball game, Bradley and
Cincinnati, I think. Young and foolish was I! By the time the game was over I was very
dizzy and had a fever of over 100. The night was long and dark, but by the next after-
noon I rejoined the choir. I did get to enjoy the rest of the tour, and Chicago was
great! I know a higher power must have been looking after me, then, and for all my
life.
Frank McKinley
117755
Frank McKinley Rememberedby James Franklin
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being in choir is just like being on any other kind of team. It prepares you for
life in regard to relationships, working together with people with different back-
grounds and philosophies and being responsible for pulling your own weight.
My most memorable experience was the European tour in 1964. The places we
went and the people we met will always be remembered. I have a vivid memory of vis-
iting a secret underground fraternity house in Gothenburg, Sweden where the Coke
machine dispensed beer. Taking the midnight train to Paris, landing and taxiing off
narrow strip of beach in Iceland are experiences I’ll never forget.
Frank McKinley
117766
Frank McKinley Remembered by Nelda (Reid) Foley
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being the first black to travel with the A Cappella Choir and Mr. Mac, was a fun
adventure with great people that engendered confidence and the broader perspective.
Singing under Frank McKinley brought about an opera audition in North
Louisiana; and singing soprano solos in the Brahms “Requiem”, Bach’s “Sleepers
Awake”, Brahms “Alto Rhapsody”, Respighi’s “Laud to the Nativity”, Haydn’s “Lord
Nelson Mass”, etc.. Singing in the A Cappella Choir causes one to dig deep and
come up with all you can muster.
Frank McKinley
117777
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Pamela (Cooper) Thomas
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
I was a freshman in the fall of 1963. On that tragic Friday afternoon in
November, we gathered around the radio in the student lounge to hear the news of
President Kennedy’s death. We were, of course, stunned. A Grand Chorus rehears-
al was scheduled for 4:00 p.m., but we thought it would be canceled. Mr. Mac sent
word that we must rehearse, because we had a concert with the Dallas Symphony in a
very short time and couldn’t afford to lose the rehearsal time.
As we gathered, Mr. Mac explain the necessity of the rehearsal and thanked us for
our presence. We were performing at the Bach Christmas Oratorio, and the first cho-
rus was one of the most joyous. As we began singing, our hearts weren’t into making
joyful music, but as we continued to sing, the healing power of the music lent a calm-
ness and serenity to us all. At the end of the rehearsal, Mr. Mac thanked us again for
our presence, and I think most of us felt the benefit of the time spent with his great
music on such a trial traumatic day
I thought about that day as I experienced the power of musical scene on 9-11-01.
I thank Mr. Mac for what he taught us that day: first of all that hard discipline and
commitment to outstanding musical performance was necessary in our lives, and sec-
ondly, that music is one of the most powerful forces in our lives, in times of joy and
tragedy. I tried to share these musical things with my students on that tragic day last
year. Thank you, Mr. Mac, for all the lessons you taught, especially the one on that
November day in 1963.
Frank McKinley
117788
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Edgar (Eddie) Moore
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Mr. Mac was a great champion of contemporary choral music of avant-garde,
atonal etc. Having a fairly steady diet of these styles made one a world-class sight read-
er. I shall forever be grateful. It has been of great value to me in my 25 years as a
professional singer and musician.
Some of my outstanding memories in singing in the choir were playing bridge on
the bus. The couple fold out seats or briefcases in the aisle for chairs and a briefcase
across seat and you have a game. We had a traveling game all week! I remember the ‘67
tour including Dorati’s Missa Brevis with percussion parts. We had to improvise by
using rear brake drums of a Ford or Chevy for one of the percussion parts. Seemed
that when they were struck they sounded at the correct pitch!
Frank McKinley
117799
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Linda (Catt) Poetschke
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Choir has always been a big part of my musical experience, but to stand and to be
surrounded by the voices in A Cappella Choir at UNT, created an incredible energy
that I’ll never forget.
We had wonderful fun times in choir. I always looked forward to rehearsals. Mr.
Mac always brought out the best in us. He let us sing out; none of that straight tone
singing! I still remember tours when we would only stop at Howard Johnson’s to eat!
Frank McKinley
118800
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Robert E. (Bob) Seibold
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Mr. McKinley taught us the importance of discipline, precision, and attention
to detail, in music and almost every aspect of life. These competencies have contin-
ued to serve me well in everything from flying fighter airplanes, to programming
computers, to financial planning and analysis, two leading large teams of people.
Thank you, Mr. McKinley!
My most memorable musical experience with the A Cappella Choir was perform-
ing Dorati’s Madrigal Suite and Brahms Schicksalslied with the Dallas Symphony
Orchestra, conducted by Antal Dorati. Mr. McKinley had the choir extremely well-
prepared, and the performances thrilling to be a part of.
Frank McKinley
118811
Frank McKinley Rememberedby C. Michael Rogers
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
To say the least, being a member of the A Cappella Choir had a profound effect
upon my personal life. Being a member of the University of North Texas A Cappella
Choir was a life changing experience in more ways than one. I remember the first day
that I came in an audition for Mr. Mac after warming up to a high “A” he said,
“You’re a tenor”. I replied, “No, I’m a baritone”. He said, “You’re at tenor” and I
said, “Mr. McKinley I made the All State Choir as a baritone and I sing baritone”.
He said, “Well you’ve got a scholarship and we need tenors and you have the range of
a tenor and you’re going to sing tenor in the A Cappella”. So I left the audition
determine that I was going to keep my scholarship and that I would just have to learn
how to sing tenor. It definitely broadened my horizons and forced me to learn much
more about the vocal production of a male voice. Thanks to Vera Nielsen I held my
own in the tenor section. However, it was not without its trepidations. Can you
imagine what it was like to sing beside Barry Craft? When we sang on choir tour in
New Orleans, Louisiana, our accommodations were at the dorms on the campus of
Loyola University. I’ll never forget waking up one morning to hear Barry singing
octave high Cs in the common shower down the hallway. He was awesome, awful, and
intimidating!
My senior year there was a good-looking chick who made the choir and sang sec-
ond soprano. She was petite and had a magnificent voice. I was lucky enough to sit
on the next row over from her in French Diction class. She had great legs! The best
part took place one day when we were gathering for an A Cappella Choir rehearsal. I
was sitting in the front of the auditorium and she came up and spoke to me and noted
that I look tired. I told her my shoulder was killing me so she gave me a little shoul-
der rub and I thought to myself, “I think I’m in love”. I spent the rest of a semester
and a half chasing her around and trying to capture her. Finally, Cheryl and I were
engaged in March of her junior year. Fourteen months later we were married. Next
May we will celebrate 32 years of marriage.
Frank McKinley
118822
One of the best remembrances of singing in the North Texas State University A
Cappella choir was the choir’s obsession in showing Mr. Mac up at the spring concert.
The concert always took place after choir tour. That year we sang a piece called the
“The Pleiades”. The piece ended quietly with a very distinct rhythm pattern sung by
all four parts. Mr. Mac had worked with us incessantly all semester to make sure that
it was correctly done. So, when we got back from the choir tour, as we prepared for
the spring concert, all of us got together and quite purposely conjured up our plan,
which was, of course, to sing the rhythm completely wrong at the end of the piece. Of
course we all had to agree do it. and so on the night of the performance, sure enough,
at the very end of the Pleiades as Mr. Mac gave the down beat of the final phrase, no
one came in and on the next beat we made up a new rhythmic ending. Mr. Mac’s first
reaction was to try to change his beat pattern the middle of the measure, but that did-
n’t work so he resorted to raise eyebrows and darting eyes as he witnessed us in our
perpetration. Then a slight smile came across his face and he realized what we had
done. Another of those avant garde pieces had bit the dust, but he showed great
composure and as the music died away he cut us off and turn to receive the apprecia-
tive ovation. Naturally, no one in the audience had a clue that anything was awry. He
wasn’t too hard on us. But, we did hear him later muttering something to the effect,
“Well at least you got most of it right”!
Frank McKinley
118833
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Cheryl Rogers
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Being in A Cappella Choir changed my life completely, not from a musical
standpoint, but from a personal one. Thanks to the A Cappella Choir, I met, fell in
love, and married a man of my dreams. Almost 32 years later we are still happily mar-
ried and making beautiful music together.
I think the idea of changing something on the final concert was handed down
from choir to choir. I remember when Mr. McKinley had us premier a work by a
Latin American composer. In addition to the musical notes, there were many
instructions in singing or voicing various sounds as well as singing in Spanish. The
last part of the piece was a whisper sound for the duration of five to ten seconds. As
usual, we choir members put our heads together and decided to change the ending.
Mr. Mac cut us off, but we kept going and going and going. After repeated cutoffs
and one minute later, we finally ended the piece.
Frank McKinley
118844
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Beryle Eileen Ponce
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
I learned team work and responsibility from Mr. McKinley. He taught me
that no matter what one’s individual challenge may be, one can succeed with determi-
nation and support from others who care. He taught me that those with learning dis-
abilities can succeed.
At the time I was in A Cappella Choir, ADD and dyslexia were unknown.
However, he accepted that while I did not process and learn music in the same man-
ner as others, I could learn and memorize. He allowed me to be a part of the choir
and trusted me to learn my music, even though he knew my learning disabilities pre-
vented me from being able to sight read. Much of my career has been dedicated to
helping students and teachers understand that learning disabilities and challenges do
not need to result in failure. Instead they can open the door to a world of opportu-
nity. Without Frank McKinley my life would have been very different.
I do faculty In Service presentations and provide mentoring and training for
teachers in the area of teaching strategies, multi- sensory instruction, curriculum
etc., for students with attention deficit disorders, dyslexia, and learning disabilities.
I supervise a variety of programs at Brandon Hall. Again, because of the respect and
support I received from Frank McKinley, I was inspired to help students with learn-
ing challenges.
Frank McKinley
118855
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Judith (Judy) Gans
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Frank McKinley was responsible (with some help from Grant Williams) for
changing the course of my life.
In the middle of my senior year at North Texas, I decided to leave the music field
altogether and return to English, which I plan to major in while in high school. Prior
to the Christmas break that semester, I contacted a professor of mine in the English
department to make arrangements for the change.
Christmas was less than happy time for me; I had invested the lot of time in my
music courses, and I knew that the next year and a half would be particularly intense,
with all the new course requirements.
Shortly after Christmas Day, the phone rang at my parents’ home and Frank
McKinley asked to speak to me. It seemed he had lost a couple of altos for the
upcoming choir tour and Grant Williams had suggested he call me to see if I was inter-
ested in substituting. I clearly remember his voice: “Well nowwwww, Judy, do you have
a couple of long dresses and can you be here {date} to begin rehearsals?”
To say that the prospect of learning all the tour music in only three days was
daunting is to understate the obvious! I replied that yes, I thought I could make
arrangements, and hung up the phone, terrified at the idea of even getting the notes
learned.
Those three days were intense beyond belief, but I managed to get everything
learned, the appropriate pieces memorized, and was bolstered by the wonderful sup-
port I received from my many old and some new friends. The tour was exciting and
challenging, but I did my best, in order to live up to the trust Mr. Mac had placed in
me.
As we drew closer and closer to Denton on the return trip, my mind, not to men-
tion my stomach, was in a dither. Class’s were starting, and I still needed to be
advised in the English department. But I also needed to thank Mr. Mac for his won-
derful opportunity he had given me for that 10 days. As we drove up Avenue C, I
Frank McKinley
118866
slipped into the seat next to him and thanked him for believing that I was up to the
task of filling in for the two weeks, and that I would never forget the experience.
Well now, here I am, 30 years later. I finished a degree in music, not English. I
went on to get a master’s in vocal performance, and have had a significant amount of
doctoral work in performance back at North Texas. I spent 13 years on the voice fac-
ulty at TCU, and have sung throughout the United States Canada and in Europe.
There is a follow-up to the story that I treasure. One day, when I was working
on my doctorate, I was visiting with a senior between classes. Mr. Mac walked up to us
and addressed the young lady, recounting to her the entire story above, and about how
I became a member of the A Cappella Choir. Nearly two decades had passed at that
point, and yet, Mr. Mac still loved telling the story.
I love telling the story. I love Mr. Mac and I can never thank him enough for
keeping me where I needed to be. Mr. Mac, we are grateful throughout our lives for
the musical discipline and expectations you required of us, for the rich and varied
repertoire you introduced to us, for the fellowships you promoted among us, and for
the love you shared with us.
Frank McKinley
118877
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Lynn Christi
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Mr. McKinley gave me the greatest musical experience of my life by choosing me
to sing in a N T S U quartet which was part of a 40 voice America choir which sang
in an International Choral Festival in New York City conducted by Robert Shaw, in
the spring semester of 1972. Rehearsing with the American Choir, singing in the
Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., rehearsing with 15 international choirs, and
singing with Robert Shaw in Lincoln Center were highlights of my musical education
at in NTSU. Thank you, Mr. McKinley!
Frank McKinley
118888
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Sharon W. Grahnquest
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Mr. McKinley made me feel like I could accomplish anything! The tour in the
1978, (England, Holland, Poland) was great! Driving across Poland on what seemed
like a school bus, Mr. McKinley always appeared to be so neat and proper in his dress.
I remember Burr Phillips and myself awakening from long drive looking as we had
been rolled up in a suitcase, while Mr. Mac always looked rested and ready to go! How
did he do that? Mr.McKinley instilled in me tremendous self confidence in dealing
with life’s many journeys. I shall always love and appreciate him as a friend and men-
tor.
Frank McKinley
118899
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Bob (Robert) Austin
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Irreplaceable memories and irreplaceable friends. So many concerts, so
much fun and work. A good discipline and model for achieving goals in life,
working together, sharing the magic of great music.
I remember touring Washington D.C. and St. Louis one year, then a series of
“Dust Bowls” in West Texas the next. I remember singing both the Beethoven 9th and
the Verdi Requiem with the Dallas Symphony my
freshman year, what a way to begin!
I remember that Frank McKinley could hear any note in any chord no
matter how chromatic. He even corrected our tone clusters. I remember Frank
McKinley waving his tie at the tenor section and instructing us to get that note “in our
method” and ring it! I love Frank McKinley.
Frank McKinley chose me to sing and a quartet of singers from UNT to join with
nine other university quartets from around the United States. These quartets formed
the United States Choir and performed with Robert Shaw at an International Choral
Festival in both Washington D.C. and New York City. (About 14 choirs from every
continent.) Singing a solo to a packed house in Lincoln Center Philharmonic Hall
in New York New York with Robert Shaw conducting, is one of my fondest, greatest
memories of my life!
I remember a lot, of really strange but fascinating modern music. We premiered
a lot of new music and often sang from manuscript. The Penderecki St. Luke Passion
with the Dallas Symphony . . . Wow! Half the audience were Hippies in jeans who
stood and cheered, the other half were dressed in tuxedos and furs. They stayed in
their seats.
I remember the leadership and integrity of the man, Frank McKinley. Frank
McKinley himself is my greatest memory.
Frank McKinley
119900
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Martha (Pampell) Smith
(from UNT Choral Reunion book)
Well, when you have to audition to go on choir tour by singing the Schonberg
“Friede auf Erden” in quartets, by memory, a cappella, you feel like you can do just
about anything! Thank you Frank McKinley!
In the mid-70’s, the choir went to Washington D.C. to sing at the Kennedy
Center with the National Symphony. The day we were to return home, I woke up with
something lodged in my ear. When I realized I had to pay cash at the hospital emer-
gency room, I was upset. I didn’t have that much cash left. Without hesitation Mr.
McKinley pulled out his wallet and handed me a hundred dollar bill. What a gener-
ous man. Yes, I paid him back!
Frank McKinley
119911
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Wesley Coffman
(from 2002 UNT Choral Reunion book)
I particularly cherish the friendships I developed while a student at North Texas.
Directing choirs is my major performance area, along with the administration of
College/University Music Departments. I served ACDA as editor of "The Choral
Journal" for five years.
I have numerous memorable experiences but I remember particularly our first
performance of the Grand Chorus directed by Frank McKinley with the Dallas
Symphony. Frank was getting us placed on the risers for rehearsal. He looked toward
the second tenor section and said "Hey, you, Blondie, move over there". At first I
thought he was talking to and alto. Then he said "I'm talking to you in the red
sweater". I was embarrassed but moved quickly. He, of course, had not been there
long enough to learn our names.
Frank McKinley
119922
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Hugh Ellison
(from 2002 UNT Choral Reunion book)
The several performances of the grand chorus and Dallas Symphony Orchestra
under Antal Dorati, prepared by Frank McKinley, were lifetime high points for me
and for hundreds of other students. I became a choir director and enjoyed a reward-
ing career of teaching and conducting in junior high schools, high school and col-
lege choirs , as well as a regular part-time work with church choirs of several denom-
inations. Frank McKinley was very helpful throughout.
I changed majors and took a degree in business administration in 1950. I came
back to 1955 to finish my music education degree, and married Marilyn Glass who
graduated with me in August 1955. We taught inLittlefield, Texas for seven years,
Midland, Texas for another seven years. I became Fine Arts Coordinator there. Then
to Cal State Fullerton for me, while Marilyn taught Placentia I S D, and got her mas-
ter's in elementary curriculum from Cal State. Then to San Benito Texas I SD. for
six years and El Paso Ysleta until retirement in 1984.
Frank McKinley
119933
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Charles Nelson
(From 2002 UNT Choral Reunion book)
Frank McKinley was an obvious influence in my early musical life. We met when
I was 15 and he was about 26, young, energetic, ambitious and ready to take on the
world. He taught me singing and invited me, a 15 year-old junior in high school, to
join his college Chapel Choir. He encouraged me in every possible way.
Five years later, after World War II, he returned to Denton and resumed the task
of mentor. He exposed me to a formidable choral literature, took me to spring U
I L choral contests where he judged, I sat back and made notes. We discussed choirs
and choral problems on the way home. He not only took me to musical events, but
even allow me to go with him to some of the Fort Worth Cats baseball games.
After a bout with polio and a six month stay in the veterans' hospitals, even
though I presented some problems getting up and down steps and on and off the ris-
ers, he never hesitated to allow me to continue singing and traveling with the choir.
That he allowed me to pick up where I left off was a great contribution to my rehabil-
itation. I can't imagine what it would have done to my confidence if he had said "No
Charles, you're not physically up to traveling with us on tour". I know of several times
when he recommended me for jobs.
Though we have not seen each other daily, or even monthly, from 1941 to the
present (62 years) our lives have been, and will continue to be, significantly entwined.
I want him to know how much his influence has meant to me and how I love him for
it.
Frank McKinley
119944
Frank McKinley Rememberedby John Lovelace
(From 2002 UNT Choral Reunion book)
My father had sung in Wilfred C. Bain's first North Texas State Teachers College
Choir the summer of 1938, so I had made it a goal to do likewise. Singing in the A
Cappella and editing the 1952 Yucca year book were highlights of my college career.
The 1950-1951 A Cappella Choir was blessed with unusually mature singers like
Lucille Mendenhall, Bob Kaebnick, Bill Fuller and Frank McKinley's brother
George. Our tour into Illinois and our Dallas recording of "The Prodigal Son" were
especially fulfilling. Tenors David Taylor and David Jones were also stalwarts.
Frank McKinley
119955
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Dale Peters
(From 2002 UNT Choral Reunion book)
My most memorable experiences were in the Grand Chorus performances with
the Dallas Symphony, Walter Hendl, conductor of Walton's Belshazzar's feast, Verdi's
Requiem, and Prokofiev's Alexander Nevski.
The performance of Alexander Nevski took place in December 1950, during the
beginning of the Korean War, when many guys in the choir were getting draft notices
from the Army. The Chinese Communist Army had just crossed into Korea and were
fighting the American Army, and in turn the National situation was very tense. It
was at the height of anti-Communist feeling in the U.S. The text of Alexander Nevski
was a hymn of praise to the Russian nation and people, celebrating a victory of the
Russian Army in the 13th century. The choruses praised "our great Russian and
fatherland". Some parents of choir members, and others, became disturbed when
they learned of these words, and call the college president to complain about these
treasonous words. Prior to the performance, we were instructed to strike out these
words in the score referring to Russia, and substitute a more generic phrases such as
"our natives land". The music was exciting and the performance was wonderful.
Singing in the chorus was always a pleasure, for the joy of discovery of new music,
the enjoyment of singing together with friends, and the thrill of performance. The
great choral music I learned at North Texas has stayed with me all my life, and has
given me lasting appreciation of choral singing and the choral repertoire.
Frank McKinley
119966
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Juanita (Teel) Peters
(From 2002 UNT Choral Reunion book)
Singing in the Grand Chorus performances with the Dallas Symphony were
some of my most memorable " experiences. I'll never forget the excitement of
Kodaly's Psalmus Hungarius with soloist Gabor Corelli under Antal Dorati, Verdi's
Requiem with soloist Francis Yeend and Walton's Belshazzar's feast under Walter
Hendl.
My experience in the A Cappella Choir gave me a lifelong appreciation of choral
music. I especially remember being introduced to contemporary choral music by
Frank McKinley in the choir. Hearing the soloists in the Verdi Requiem and
Prokoviev's Alexander Nevski with the Dallas Symphony inspired me to hope to be a
soloist in those works with Symphony Orchestra, which I was later able to do.
Frank McKinley
119977
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Edgar Stone
(From 2002 UNT Choral Reunion book)
We seldom appreciated the spectrum of our teachers contributions to our pro-
fessionalism until, in later years, we try to equal their provisions. I remember how
much I missed Frank McKinley in my senior year (1951 and 1952) when he was on
leave for doctoral studies. The interim director, we learned, in panic, expected each
of us to pay for incidental meals on the tour. In past years under Mr. McKinley, gave
us per diem funds passed out as we boarded the bus. It was then I learned choir tours
were not just hosts, music, programs, and transportation but a myriad of details to
care for each singers need. Thanks Mr. McKinley.
Being a small part of a performing whole, not just be "in step" with rhythmic and
dramatic import, but trying to balance my efforts with those around me in relation to
what was being called for by the director, was a great lesson to learn. Being part of
the team is a major life lesson.
Frank McKinley
119988
Frank McKinley Rememberedby Ira Schantz
I appreciate the way in which Mr. McKinley, in taking the place of a personality
as great as Dr. Bain, took over the position as the North Texas State Choral Director
in a completely smooth and unassuming manner, thereby easing the shock (to the stu-
dents) of our losing Dr. Bain so suddenly. Very few persons could have made the
change as judiciously as Frank McKinley.
I appreciate the fact that Mr. McKinley continued the tradition of having the
North Texas State choirs sing many of the great choral masterpieces. I particularly
remember pieces such as the Bach motets which we sang. I had previously been com-
pletely unaware that such beautiful music existed.
I appreciate Mr. McKinley giving me a number of solos on our tours, which fur-
ther enhanced my musical and personal confidence. I especially appreciated this
when looking back and realizing that he could have easily given these solos to other
tenors in the choir, who, it turns out, might have been as good, or, in some respects,
better than I.
Frank McKinley
MichaelJohnstone
Material prepared by Karl Hickfang
220022
A Biographical Sketch of Michael Fuller Johnstone
by Karl Hickfang
It is my sincere hope that the reader will accept the use of first-person in writing
of a man who influenced and inspired so many choral directors in the state of Texas.
During a summer of 1949, I was finishing requirements for a bachelor of Music
degree. I looked forward to my first teaching position as the band director at Bonham
High School, my alma mater. Near the end of August I learned the position was not
mine and I had to scramble to find another position so close to the start of the school
year.
The teacher placement bureau at the University of Texas informed me of junior
high school band openings at Conroe and Alvin, north and south of Houston. I
found the Conroe position filled. From a phone booths in downtown Houston I call
the superintendent of schools in Alvin and was told the band director at Alvin High
Schools would be at H and H Music in Houston and at 1:00 p.m. and that he had the
authority to hire me if he chose to do so.
While I waited at H and H Music Co. three gentlemen came in the store: Marvin
“Bunk” Atkinson, band director at Galena Park High School; Johnny Dessain, band
director at Galena Park Junior high school and Michael Johnstone, choir director at
Galena Park High School. I was introduced to these gentlemen and Mr. Johnstone
indicated he knew of me and said there was an opening for a choir director at
Woodland Acres Junior High School, in the Galena Park district. To this day I never
believed he knew of me and I told him I anticipated going to Alvin Junior High School
as a band director. I learned right then that you don’t say no to this man. He even-
tually he convinced me to take a position at Woodland Acres and became my mentor.
It was a tradition of Mike’s to have Tuesday evening two hour choir rehearsals in
addition to regular class hours. He did this at every school he worked to find students
who were willing to give their time to be there. I attended these rehearsals at Galena
Park and watched a genius at work. He was demanding, but fair; obviously a fine
musician; displayed outstanding vocal techniques and teaching skills that set a stan-
Michael Johnstone
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dard of excellence that few of us have been able to achieve.
A man of genius always has his critics and Mike was no exceptions. His choirs in the
late forties and early ‘50s were showcases of vocal maturity and repertoire far above the
standards of those years. His critics shook their heads and said he was ruining voices
with his extreme demands. What he was doing was developing vocal maturity in those
years that become the standard for the up and coming high school choir directors in
the late ‘50s.
Mike was always a the center of controversy because he spoke his mind and his
mind was always ahead of most of us. In February, 1950, I attended my first TMEA
convention in Mineral Wells, Texas. In those days very little standards were required
of membership in the various All-State groups. The directors would bring their best
students to the convention. Those who passed the audition became members of the
All-State band. Similarly the All-State orchestra was selected.
There were no requirements to be a member of the All-State choir. Directors
were asked to bring their best students to participate; some would bring their entire
choir to “learn from the experience”. Many of the students had no music with them.
The result: an unprepared group of between 400 and 500 voices, woefully unbal-
anced in voices of the four sections. Typically you might have 50 tenors, 100 basses,
125 altos and 175 sopranos. The first rehearsal had to be a nightmare for the clini-
cian. Mike sought to address this problem. At the vocal division business meeting he
proposed that the students be auditioned in their regions and that a numerical bal-
ance of sections be achieved. He suggested that only mature voices be chosen. Selected
students would be required to bring the music with them and be urged them to learn
their voice parts in advance. Mike put this in the form of a motion. There was a storm
of protest all over the room. The motion was defeated and nothing was done. Mike
became a villain.
Dr. Jon Finley Williamson, noted conductor of the famed Westminster Choir,
was clinician for this 1950 convention and accepted the invitation to return as clini-
cian at the 1951 convention in Galveston, Texas. During this convention he was invit-
ed to speak at the vocal division meeting. He very graciously spoke of the fine talent
he was working with and suggested the students be auditioned prior to the convention
Michael Johnstone
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“as a man suggested a year ago”. Only the directors who agreed with Mike in the pre-
vious year thought he should have been given credit for the changes that began to take
place in auditioning procedures; procedures that led to continued improvement in
the following years in developing the great All-State Choirs of Texas we have today.
Mike graduated from North Texas University in 1938 and began his teaching
career in Sugarland, Texas, a small district with a high-school enrollment of around
100. The late Jim Shepherd, a past president of TCDA, was a student of Mike’s dur-
ing his junior high days. Mike later toured with a Lawrence Welk orchestra in Kansas
and Nebraska, playing trombone.
After World War II (in 1946) Mike became the choir director at Grand Prairie
High Schools. While on a tour in the Houston area, they sang at Galena Park High
School. Don B. Slocomb, principal at Galena Park High School, was a great believ-
er of arts in the curriculum of public schools. In 1948, after hearing Mike’s Grand
Prairie choir, he convinced Mike to become the Galena Park choir director. After
Mike’s marriage failed in the summer of 1951, Mike resigned from Galena Park and
returned to North Texas State University to finish his master’s degree.
In 1952 Mr. Slocumb accepted a position as superintendent in Giddings, Texas.
He invited me to go with him as band director and to start a choir program. Like a
fool I turned him down. He then called Mike at North Texas and asked him to rec-
ommend a young graduate for the job. Mike replied that he would like to take the job
which included the position of high school principal. He proceeded to turn a poor
band into a First Division group and his first year choir was the talk of the region choir
contest at San Antonio. In 1953, Mike remarried, worked a year at Parker music com-
pany in Houston and in 1954 choir director at Jackson Jr. High School in Pasadena.
In 1955, he and his young wife, Pattye, became a team as they moved to Abilene
where he became choir director at Abilene High School. Pattye was a marvelous singer
and she proved to be a fine teacher as she worked individually with Mike’s students.
She later accepted a position at the University of North Texas on the voice faculty, a
position held until her death recently. Later, Mike moved to the “new” high school
(Cooper high) where they continued to work together. In 1964, their marriage failed
and Mike moved, for one year, to a small community in Missouri.
Michael Johnstone
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In 1965, he became supervisor of music in the Pulaski County School District in
Arkansas, a position he held until his death. In Arkansas, he started a summer read-
ing clinic similar to TCDA. He always came to the TCDA clinics, bringing with him,
young Arkansas directors, many of whom became members of TCDA. Mike said of
his years in TCDA: “I will always remember the great professional drive manifested by
most of the TCDA officers during my nine years in TCDA. All of them were good
directors and were dedicated in their work for TCDA”.
The legacy Mike started in Galena Park continued with James Furrh, who became
choir director there in 1954. James became the third president of TCDA in 1959.
Mike was vice president that year and became the fourth President of TCDA, 1961-
1963. Joe Lenzo, who followed me at Woodland Acres when I moved to Bay City in
1953 became executive secretary of TMEA. I served as third and first vice president,
1959-1962 and as President of TCDA 1965-1967.
Going back to 1948-1951, Mike had a boys quartet in his choir at Galena Park that
became a legend in their own right. They performed all over Houston and Harris
County. Subsequently they all received scholarships at North Texas University.
Their names: Vernon Moody, who taught voice and choral music at Abilene
Christian College and was a vice president of TCDA when I became president in 1965;
Van Hale, a fine choral director who followed James Furrh at Galena Park; Frank
Roberts, who was successful in his work in Beaumont; Bobby Jones, the fourth mem-
ber of the quartet, became associated with NASA in Florida. Still another president
of TCDA, Jack Glover, followed Mike at Cooper High School in Abilene, and the
aforementioned Jim Shepherd became president after Glover. Carroll Barnes,
another giant in choral music in Texas, was a member of Mike’s choirs at Abilene High
School for three years. The names seem to continue into later generations, all
inspired by the work of this great director who certainly deserves the recognition given
in this paper.
I know that all of us in choral music have heard beautiful singing in our minds,
marveling at the wonder of it. I suggest that on Tuesday evenings; the rehearsing of
the choir of heavenly hosts, directed by, you know who, MICHAEL FULLER JOHN-
STONE: a true legend of Texas Choral directors.
Michael Johnstone
220066
Michael F. Johnstone Rememberedby J. David Malloch, Galena Park (’52)
Graduate Student Director and Principal Accompanist
In 1948, Michael F. Johnstone began a three-year tenure as choral director at
Galena Park High School in Galena Park, Texas. Previously he had been choral direc-
tor at Grand Prairie High School. He distinguished himself as a major influence in
the lives of students who received choral music training through exposure to his
knowledge and master skills. He also influenced graduating seniors, including
myself, by directing them to the School of Music at North Texas State College,
Denton, Texas where he had graduated.
My association with Mr. Johnstone at Galena Park was accentuated by my assign-
ment as the choir’s principal accompanist for works requiring instrumental accompa-
niment, and student director for rehearsals and events in his absence. His adherence
to strict discipline and high performance standards enabled every choir member to
experience personal pride and satisfaction in being a member of the Galena Park
High School Choir. We had no special name other than being “one of the best high
school choirs in Texas.”
After graduation from North Texas in 1955, I followed Mr. Johnstone as choral
director at Southmore in the Pasadena Independent School District. Because I was
trained by him and knew his discipline and performance standards, I closely followed
his example. This enabled me to sustain high morale among returning students who
might otherwise be disappointed that he was no longer their director. There was
nothing of substance they could tell me about him that I did not already know!
Although my association with Mr. Johnstone encompassed only a few years early
in my life, I can proudly say that his influence continues to be felt more than five
decades later. Without hesitation I know that he was a giant--with few peers among
choral directors!
Michael Johnstone
220077
Michael F. Johnstone Rememberedby Vernon Moody
Professor Emertus, Metropolitan State College of Denver
I had recently moved to the Houston, Texas area from Oklahoma when I first met
Mike Johnstone. My music education was already off and running. My Dad and all
of his brothers were what you would call country musicians….that is “country”, not
“country western”….a term not yet used in the music industry. From the time I was
around 9 years old I had been playing the steel guitar while my Dad played the fiddle.
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Hank Williams, and Dad were my musical inspira-
tion. I continued playing the guitar for several yeas and had pretty well determined
that it would figure prominently in my future. That is until a most dramatic series of
events, over a three year period, totally changed my mind and my life.
Mike Johnstone and I arrived at Galena Park High School at approximately the
same time. Mike was hired to build a choral program at Galena Park and since there
had never been a choir there, he would be starting from scratch. It was on my first
visit to the school that I discovered that there was going to be a school choir. I simply
mentioned to the lady helping me to enroll that I was interested in music….specially
singing. She suggested that I should talk with the new choir director, Mr. Johnstone,
and directed me to his registration table..
After fifty years as a choral director myself, I can certainly understand now, why
Mike took a little extra time to convince me that I should sing in the choir. Just imag-
ine a tall, skinny fifteen year old kid who weighed around 125 pounds, who was all feet
and adams apple, walking up to your table and, speaking on about a low E-flat,
inquiring about how one might get into the choir!
From that day until now, some fifty-five years later, I have been constantly
reminded of his influence on my life. His demanding standards, which were strin-
gently enforced; his dedication to excellence; his lack of concern for what was “polit-
ically correct” at the time and his absolute faith in himself and his young students that,
between them, they could accomplish extra-ordinary results. He strongly influenced
Michael Johnstone
220088
all of us who had the privilege of being his students. Mike Johnstone, more than any
other teacher I have ever had, was absolutely convinced that great things could happen
when superb teaching and extraordinary dedication from ordinary students came
together in a common cause. He would argue that the particular area of study was not
really all that important….it could be athletics, wood working or music….whatever
the academic discipline, successful educational goals could and should be attained.
He said on many occasions that the one thing that he wished for was to be able to pick
all of his singers from the honor roll. With smart students he would guarantee a great
choir. With those not so smart he would also guarantee a great choir but it would just
take a little longer. How musically talented they were was of no real concern to him.
He contended that it was his job to teach them to sing. He also stoutly argued that the
size of the school should have little of no impact on the quality of the program. How
many times did you hear him say, “Kids are the same in any school. A bad choir is the
result of bad teaching, not of bad students.”? He proved his point many times.
Grand Prairie, Galena Park, Abilene, Giddings, several schools in Arkansas….large,
medium or small….it made no difference, his choirs were always above and beyond
what could reasonably be expected of them.
His strong opinions were not limited to education. I vividly remember one
evening during the semester we shared an apartment together at NTSU. It was in the
evening when I came home and found that he had prepared a wonderful steak dinner
for the two of us. We seldom had really good steak because it was simply too expen-
sive, but on this occasion he had really ignored the budgetary constraints and went all
out for a top notch T-bone for each of us. First, they were cooked medium rare. At
the time I liked mine well done….actually well burned and second, no steak was good
enough to eat without a huge helping of ketchup.
You can not imagine the explosion which took place when I covered that wonder-
ful serving of beef with about a half inch of tomato ketchup. For thirty minutes I was
lectured on the value of being able to actually taste the beef and that I might just as well
have a pile of cardboard on my plate because it would taste the same. He heaped on
the guilt by letting me know that he had wasted a substantial amount of cash on the
steak that I had just ruined. It has been over fifty years and I have never eaten anoth-
Michael Johnstone
220099
er steak with ketchup on it. Actually I even prefer my steak medium rare today, thanks
to that special meal prepared for me by Mike Johnstone many years ago.
Mike was also a very witty, humorous guy. Even when angry he could be funny. I
recall one occasion when the school quartet had an engagement in some little town
several hours drive from Galena Park. Mike insisted that, since he had committed us
to the program, he would drive us there in his new Kaiser. On the return trip,
around 2 a.m., Mike started looking for an all night service station because he des-
perately needed a rest stop. Things had reached a critical point when, finally, he
whipped into an open service station. As he jumped from the car, he yelled at the
attendant to fill it up. He ran around the corner of the station to the men’s room. A
few seconds later he came flying from the direction of the rest room yelling at the
attendant for the key to the toilet. Frank Roberts, Bobby Jones, Ted Wilson and I were
standing in the well lighted office when Mike barged into the room. He was livid. He
started in on the poor attendant. “Mr.”, he growled. “I want you to know that my
grand daddy lived on a farm and he always had an out door toilet which he never
locked. My Daddy also lived on a farm with an out door toilet…he also never locked
it. I also grew up using an out door toilet which was never locked.” Mike paused long
enough to breath and let the blood drain from his face. “And I want you to know sir,
that there was never, ever one pound of crap stolen from any of them.” With that he
paid the bill, huffed and puffed his way out to the car and we continued our journey
home. It was one of the most miserable couple of hours the quartet ever spent togeth-
er. We were biting our tongues to keep from laughing but we knew that at that
moment, it was no laughing matter for Mr. J.
Mike was also an unintended matchmaker. I met my wife in his choir. Cherita
Kirksey, the love of my life, was fifteen and I was sixteen at the time. We sat together
on a short choir tour to south Texas and have been together ever since. Our three
children and six grand children give us great joy and pleasure. Thanks Mike!!
His telephone call to me from North Texas State, urging me to consider trans-
ferring there instead of continuing at Abilene Christian College, was another mile-
stone in my life.
I could go on and on about M. F. Johnstone. We all know he could be difficult
Michael Johnstone
221100
and frustrating at times. However we also know that he was the best there was at what
he did and his influence is still strongly present in the choral (TCDA) community of
Texas. I miss him. I am confident that the quality of the heavenly choir has improved
since he took over the direction of it.
Michael Johnstone
221111
Michael F. Johnstone Rememberedby Charles Nelson
I was in Wilfred Bain’s fourth choir at NTSTC. Michael Johnstone had been in
an earlier choir. I had seen his picture and heard his name, but I didn’t meet him face
to face until 1948 or 1949 when the North Texas Choir sang a concert at Galena Park
High School where Mike was the choir director. As was the custom of the times, when
a high school choir sponsored a college choir on tour, the hosts found some time to
sing for the visiting choir. After our concert in Galena Park, we heard their high
school choir sing with a power and precision far beyond the norm for high school
singers. It was obvious that this Michael Johnstone, whom I had only seen in choir
pictures, was a very special teacher. A friendship that began with this meeting lasted
the rest of his life and will linger in my memory for as long as I live.
The Galena Park choir sang with a big full vocal sound that was the ideal for late
nineteenth and early twentieth century choral compositions. After hearing a Caro
Carapetian choir, Mike wanted to explore a sound which was more compatible with
the European renaissance tradition. When he finished study with Carapetian, his
choir sounded altogether different. In all my experience I’ve never heard a conduc-
tors product change as rapidly and as completely as Mikes. The maturity was still there
but he had added a refinement. Mike was an “older” teacher who set standards for the
large group of young choral directors who flooded the choral scene following W.W.
II.
On the many occasions we were together, an entire evening would be spent talk-
ing music and choral techniques. Mike could teach a group of high schools singers to
sing better, faster than any teacher I have ever known. I’m not sure I know how he did
it. Fear may have played a part. He made tremendous demands on his students, but
did it in such a way as to not drive them away. As a matter of fact, his demands seemed
to attract singers. The daughter of the Superintendent of School where Mike was
teaching said, “I don’t feel like I’ve been to choir unless I’ve cried two or three times
a week”.
Mike’s students learned to read. He was adamant about teaching them to sing by
Michael Johnstone
221122
numbers. He knew that numbers are inadequate in reading chromatics, but he knew
that most of the singers he taught would not continue to be professional musicians
and figured the immediate facility numbers allowed, balanced any negatives. The
debate continues, but that was Mike’s point of view, and it served him well.
Mike’s choirs always attracted the more mature students in school. This means
that he attracted school athletes. The inevitable conflict of concerts vs games reared
its ugly head. Mike considered his program as important as football, basketball and
track. He drew up a plan and proposed it to the athletic coaches. Added to the ath-
letic schedule of football season, basketball season and track season, would be choir
season. During each of the seasons, the appropriate coach would have first call on the
boys. During choir season, Mike had first call. He planned his concerts and tours
accordingly. What a sensible approach. I doubt they would have accepted such an idea
if the choir work had not been of high standard.
Once, when Bev Henson was teaching at Trinity University, he invited Mike’s
Abilene High School Choir to sing for the Trinity students. Their recital hall was a
circa 300 seat facility with excellent acoustics. Bev had been rehearsing his choir there
and while singing a Bach double motet had tried dividing the choir with one half in
the front and the other in the back. The choir didn’t stay together too well and Bev
blamed the acoustical lag and they brought the two halves closer together. A few days
later, Mikes choir arrived just in time to sing the concert. Without hearing a sound
in the hall, the choir divided in three equal choirs, went to the fartherest corners of
the room and opened the concert (in perfect sync) singing a Gabrieli piece for three
choirs. Bev was more than a little embarrassed when his students said, “Mr. Henson,
what was that about distance and time lag”?
Then there was the time Mike’s madrigal group was invited to Stephen F. Austin
University to participate in a madrigal festival. Robert Ottman, a professor from
North Texas, director of the North Texas Madrigal Singers, was the guest lecturer and
clinician. During his lecture he mention a number of famous madrigals, adding,
“But of course, they are too difficult for high school students”. It so happened that
Mike had programmed some of the “too difficult for high school singers” professor
Ottman had mentioned, and sang them like young professionals.
Michael Johnstone
221133
In 1956, when I was TMEA Vocal Chairman (while the business meeting was still
held at a luncheon meeting) I had learned that the main duty of the chairman was to
keep the organization from self-destructing. Though an agenda was prepared and
followed, we had many motions (bombshells) from the floor. In many ways, Mike was
a no nonsense guy and always had strong opinions. That day, Mike had offered sev-
eral motions from the floor which were duly voted down, or sent to committee for
further study. After all that had happened, I was reluctant to recognize Mr. Johnstone
again, but alas, painful as it might be, I had a duty. It went something like this: “The
chair recognizes Mr. Johnstone”. Getting to his feet, and in his most resonant bass
voice we heard, “Mr. Chairman, I would like for one of my motions to pass today. I
move we adjourn”. After a quick second, and amid a room full of guffaws, we
adjourned, and I had dodged another bullet.
Mike also had a keen sense of humor and was not timid about hurling an analyt-
ical barb here and there. While judging a UIL Choir Contest in the Panhandle, a
men’s choir arrived on stage with several girls in the first tenor section. One of the
judges (Ed Hatchett) took the director (Al Skoog) to task about girls in a boys choir.
A heated argument ensued. Finally, from the stage, Mr. Skoog, beating right forefin-
ger against left palm said: “Mr. Hatchett, you can’t show me where it says in the rule
book that girls can’t sing in a boys choir”! Whereupon Mr. Johnstone said “Someone
should show Mr. Skoog a biology book”. Mike Johnstone stories are legend.
In his later years Mike moved to the Jacksonville County schools in Arkansas and
became music supervisor. He left his mark on those teachers and students in the
Jacksonville Schools. He was responsible for me singing several oratorios with a civic
choir in Little Rock. Mike was singing in that civic choir. Riding home with Mike,
after the first rehearsal, I suggested that he should be directing the choir for his
knowledge and skill were far more than the man who was directing. He said he would-
n’t mind directing the music, but he just didn’t want to have to “. . .put up with all
those people”.
For years Mike and I met at the first reading session at each TCDA Convention,
sat together and added all we could to the bass section. The standards Mike set were
always a goal to reach for. Who knows how far his influence will reach.
Michael Johnstone
221144
Michael F. Johnstone Rememberedby David W. Jones
I first met Mike Johnstone and around 1950 in the Opera Workshop class at
UNT. He was rehearsing the baritone part in Menotti’s “The Telephone”. I had seen
him earlier while on choir tour at Galena Park High School. After our choir had sung
we listen to his choir sing All Brathing Life from Bach’s Motet #1. I can tell you that
I had not heard anything like it in my short experience with choral music, especially
from a high school choir. The tone was a very full and extremely loud. It was, how-
ever, perfectly performed. (I knew the piece by memory.) It was obvious that this was
a highly disciplined group. But I must say that it was not very pretty.
Although I had some association with him at professional meetings, i.e., TCDA
and TMEA, I really didn’t get to know him until he brought his five member madri-
gal group to perform for a luncheon at TCDA in San Antonio, Texas. The entire
audience was completely “blown out” by what we heard. The group performed
Morley, Monteverdi, and even Gesualdo with a precision, style, and beautiful tone
that I’m sure no one at the luncheon believed possible from high school group. He
was teaching at Cooper High School in Abilene, Texas. I later heard his A Cappella
Choir and it sang with a completely different sound and sensitivity from what I heard
at Galena Park High School.
In 1963, shortly after I started teaching at Stephen F. Austin State University, I
decided to have a madrigal festival. As I recall about 12 groups attended. The format
was to have distinguished people to lecture and demonstrate for the madrigal groups
and their directors. The professionals were also there to judge the groups and to
award first, second, and third places. I selected Robert Ottman, the distinguished
theorist and director of the UNT madrigal group to lecture on literature, composers,
and where to find published music. I selected Samuel Adler, composer in residence
at UNT, and a composer who had written some madrigals, to lecture on “what consti-
tutes a madrigal”, composition of such, and the poetry. I selected Mike Johnstone,
the best madrigal director I had ever known, to cover style and performance.
I was very satisfied with my selections because they achieved my aims of both a
Michael Johnstone
221155
scholarly and performance oriented festival. In the contest, first, second and third
place awards were won by Herbert Teat’s three groups that he brought to the festival.
Samuel Adler presented the first lecture of the afternoon, which was informative
and helpful. The second lecture was given by Robert Ottman weapon, who gave us a
very detailed presentation of a massive amount of music available for all levels of per-
formance. He also, as he presented the pieces of music to us, rated them according
to difficulty of performance. Dr. Ottmann had been the director of the UNT
Madrigal Singers for years and had performed an immense amount of literature of all
styles. In his lecture he gave Ravel’s “Nicolette” as an example that was so difficult that
no high school madrigal group would be able to perform it. He said his university
group had tried it and was never able to give it satisfactory performance. It ended at
that.
Now Mike had brought his five member madrigal group with him as a demonstra-
tion group, the same group of peace TCDA fame. First, Mike’s would talk about a
piece of music and discuss it’s style of performance. Then his group would sing a live
performance of the piece, demonstrating the style he described. After a couple of
pieces he announced that his group was going to perform Ravel’s “Nicolette”, the
piece previously described by Dr. Ottman as too difficult for any high school group.
Mike was a very nice about it, apologize to Dr. Ottman, and said that he in no way
was trying to show him up, but that he had already had this piece on the program. He
said that he hoped the audience would not be disappointed. Well, of course his
madrigal group just sang it to perfection. Everyone was amazed, even Dr. Ottman,
who said that he was glad to hear what the piece was supposed to sound like.
Michael Johnstone
221166
Michael Johnstone Rememberedby Frank Roberts
In my hometown of Galena Park, Texas in 1949, not many of my peers were dis-
cussing serious music, or of going off to college after graduation. We had a band and
a football team but were blissfully ignorant of just about anything else. Thanks to a
visionary high school principal named Don B. Slocumb who, after hearing an out-
standing assembly concert by the Grand Prairie High School A Cappella Choir,
recruited it's director almost on the spot. That man was Michael F. Johnstone who, in
a few years had developed possibly the first high school touring choir in the state at
Grand Prairie.
In only three short years at Galena Park, many would say, he surpassed what he
created at Grand Prairie and consequently impacted the lives, careers, and the very
culture of my generation of choral singers at Galena Park. Indeed, my abiding love
of music is the result of the powerful influence and leadership of this great man. I
believe it's safe to say that many, many others around Texas share my admiration for
Mike and the wonderful contributions he made to their education.
Mike was an incurable builder. He built Choral Programs and then would move
on to the next challenge, always leaving a much better situation than he found. He
was a marvel to observe in teaching, conducting and organizing. Mostly though, it was
inspirational to see him create so much from so little, and in so little time. When I
reflect on my own educational history, Mike stands alone as the model of inspiration
and motivation for my own life. This, in my mind, multiplied by the many others he
influenced over his career, is his legacy. He truly is a giant in the history of choral
music in Texas.
So, here's to you Mike. And thanks for revealing a world of music and culture to
one who might have missed out had it not been for you.
Michael Johnstone
221177
Michael F. Johnstone Rememberedby DeLois Wimmer
I want to relate the influence he has had on our lives in the little town of Galena
Park. The first year he was there my brother Ted Wilson sang in the choir. When I
heard that first concert I knew I was willing to give up my right arm in order to sing
in such an organiztion with Mr. Johnstone.
The next two years I sang in that magnificent choir and like all the other students
in the high school I will always be indebted to Mr. Johnstone for coming to our com-
munity. I was a soloist and a accompanist at contest. (We all know how he simply
abided contests.) His first year choir did not enter contest at all, instead they went
around Texas performing for other communities to encourage choral music. He set
an example of what could be accomplished from scratch in one year. Wow! Did he
ever show us a thing or twol
I was indebted to him in that he led me to the Episcopal church as a worshiper, a
singer and an accompanist. He also let me be a baby sitter for his childern who were
so dear. He gave us great insights into other things rather than just music. He helped
build us up through developing character, creative thinking, as well as solving prob-
lems. I followed him as the high school choir director in Giddings, Texas and I
understand it was because of his reference that I was asked by Superintendent Don B.
Slocomb to come and teach there. Don Slocomb has had a great influence on music
education in Texas. He was our high school principal and the man who brought
Michael Johnstone to Galena Park. These two men will always be my heroes.
I have noticed so many of the GPHS graduates went on to be teachers as well as
choir directors. They wanted to be teachers like those at GPHS or they wanted to be
like Michael Johnstone and be the best of choir directors.
I wanted to be a high school choir director but he suggested I go into elementary
school music. I have taught Pre-K through high school. I certainly loved the high
school music but I felt as a mother raising three little children I could handle elemen-
tary school better. He was right and that is where I have been teaching for thirty-five
years. Those under the influence of Mr. Johnstone who did not make a career of
Michael Johnstone
221188
music have grown in their love and appreciation of wonderful music. He planted a
seed that has grown and flourished into something very wonderful. It is sad he did-
n't live long enough to see all the good he had accomplished.
I talk about myself because of such a wonderful influence he had on me. This lit-
tle kid went on to great a doctorate in music education. I never dreamed I would even
get the opportunity to go to college. Mr. Johnstone helped and inspired me to make
my dreams come true. My love of great music and all kinds of music stem from his
introducing all us to the wonderful world of music. He brought us a great feast of
music on the finest of silver platters. Thank you Michael Johnstone for the legacy and
heritage you left us.
Michael Johnstone
221199
Michael F. Johnstone Rememberedby Carroll Barnes, Past President TCDA
Little did I know that this man who recruited me out of study hall to sing in his
choir would have such a profound influence on my life and future career. Also, lit-
tle did I know that this man was tough!!! No more free rides or coasting. Not only
was Mike a tough old bird, but a taskmaster as well. Before I graduated he had me
singing in the Texas All-State Choir, taking Voice Lessons from his wife, Pattie, tak-
ing care of the Choral Library at Abilene High School, leading Sectional Rehearsals,
singing in his Madrigal Group, taking Music Theory (all this on top of Band and
Orchestra), Sight Reading new music in the newly formed TCDA, and helped me get
a Scholarship to the University of North Texas. I do remember one special moment
of great joy under his direction. When my voice changed, he let me sing bass for two
weeks before moving me to First Tenor. Ah, the good old days!
Actually, there were many days of enjoyment as well as hard work. He was very
demanding and expected your best. He was also so very far ahead of his time as a
Musician and Choir Director. Have you ever taken your choir to UIL Contest and
sung a Triple Choir selection with one choir in the balcony, one on stage and one on
the side. Or better still, a twelve-part arrangement (with three additional soloists) of
the Saint Louis Blues. All of this took place in the late 1950’s when choirs were not
so good. Little did we students know what kind of education we were getting from
Mike Johnstone.
Mike not only had a great impact on his students, but on Texas Choral Music and
the forming of The Texas Choral Directors Association. While this may sound trite
or a little self-serving, I remember Mike taking some of his students to read new music
at the newly formed TCDA, held at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. It was the year
Clois Webb was President and had brought his Superintendent, Gilbert Mize to be the
guest speaker. One night after everyone had left the ballroom where we had gathered,
I wandered back into the hall to see if anything was going on. The hall was dimly lit,
but the Lectern had remained bright. As a high school student standing at the back
of the ballroom, I had been very impressed with TCDA and Choral Directing. For
Michael Johnstone
222200
some reason the thought came to me that, “One day I want to become President of this
Association and I want to become a Choral Director.” Both came true, thanks to Mike
Johnstone.
Mike was truly a Pioneer in Texas Choral Music, but more importantly, he was a
Leader, Teacher and a “God Send” to his students. We will not forget!
Michael Johnstone
IInnddeexx ooff CCoonnttrriibbuuttoorrss
AAAdams, Randy… 109
Albert, Donnie Ray… 284
Alfred, Maurice… 99
Allibon, Amy Detrick… 384
Antinone, Pat… 482
Ard, Michael… 477
Armstrong, Ken… 102
Atherton, John… 281
Austin, Barbara Lewis… 155
Austin, Bob… 189
BBBaden, Carolyn… 478
Bailey, Donald… 451, 469
Bailey, Raymond… 462
Barnes, Carroll… 168, 219
Barnes, Edward… 107
Bates, Carl… 318
Bates, Dorothy & John… 87
Bates, Eloin Bradley… 125
Baxter, Jerry… 458
Beaty, Dewayne… 110
Bennighof, Jim… 471
Bernson, Dorothy… 95
Biffle, George… 235
Bingham, Lyndal… 111
Birkner, Julie… 356
Boggs, Frank… 476
Bottoms, Jack… 112
Bowers, Jack… 239
Box, Cecelia… 27
Bradford, Betty… 472
Brantley, Royal… 435
Brewer, Dave… 259
Brewton, Sarah… 473
Briggs, Phil & Jennette… 115
Broadstreet, Kim… 463
Brooks, Gene… 436
Bryant, Roger… 341
Buddo, J. Christopher… 474
Burkhalter, Betty… 140
CCCarlson, John… 447
Carrell, Stephen… 437
Casey, Beth Baldwin… 369
Casey, Glenda… 252
Chambers, Ava Nell Donoho… 154
Christi, Lynn… 187
Clark, Dave… 171
Clifton, Jim… 133
Coates, Kenneth… 475
Coffman, Wesley… 191
Colderon, Jack… 479
Colvin, Herbert… 470
Index552222
Cooper, Thelma… 485
Council, Tom & Winifred… 286
DDDavidson, Sandra Fulmer… 157
Davis, Bill… 116
Davis, Sid & Linda… 288
Dawson, Rebecca… 430, 488
DeBord, Erwin… 419
DeLoach, Doris & David… 489
Dilday, Russell… 490
Donald, Elena Ann… 85
Dorsey, Wilma… 28
Downey, Charles… 79
Duson, Dede… 299, 363, 375
EEEder, Terry… 337
Ellison, Hugh… 192
Evans, Jana Bullard King… 244
Everest, Ann Everett… 24
FFFederer, Alice Lee Gist… 132
Fisher, Robin… 486
Fitzgerald, Mary… 117
Foley, Nelda Reid… 176
Foster, Walter… 309
Franklin, James… 175
Fuller, Charles… 88, 427
Fulton, Ken… 249
GGGans, Judith… 185
Garner, Cody… 164, 491
Garrett, Jean Rapp… 158
Garwood, Harry & Edith… 453
Gibbs, Vicki McFarlin… 444
Gilchrest, Anita Mobley… 124
Glenn, Philip… 397
Gorham, Dee Ann… 344
Grahnquest, Sharon… 188
Grant, Eleanor… 285
Green, Georgia… 492
Griffis, Don… 480
HHHackett, Kathy… 354
Hall Jr., OD… 92
Harrison, Paul… 156
Hart, Kenneth… 273
Hassell, Alton & Patricia… 94
Hatcher, Janet Bonicelli… 393
Hawthorne, Lloyd… 455
Heathclott, Rence Fast… 93
Heffley, Rosemary… 301, 357, 376
Hensarling, Jesse… 26, 100
Index 552233
552244
Henson, Nora… 335
Hickfang, Karl… 202
Hightower, Alan… 331
Hinojosa, Clara Dina… 390
Hirt, Charles… 424
Hodgson, Walter… 312
Holbrook, Charles Ray… 153
Holcomb, Al Dee… 406
Holcup, Gene… 349
Holmes, Ruth… 166
Hopson, Hal… 493
Horan, Leta… 481
Huffer, Kerry… 426
Hyson, Priscilla Lawhorne… 118
IIIrby, Bob… 20
Irwin, Joe… 456
Ivey, Mel… 163
JJJacobson, Michael… 494
Jasek, Melvin… 119
Jeffress, Charles… 135
Johnson, John… 498
Johnson, JW… 18
Johnson, Karen… 495
Johnson, Mary Jane… 248
Joiner, Gerre… 238
Jones, David… 214
Jones, Joyce… 496
Jones, Suzie & Theiss… 497
Jordan, James… 402
Jordan, Randy… 257
Jousan, Pat… 282
KKKates, David… 366
Kavanaugh, Janette… 159
Keathley, Naymond… 499
Kennedy/Horsman, Katherine… 260
Killingsworth, Terry… 169
Kincaid, Pat Agnew… 106
King, Ben… 261
King, Tim… 224
Koen, Harriett Snider… 237
Kohler, Ken… 139
LLLand, Lois… 297
Langner, Gerald… 445
Lawson, Linda… 416
Lehr, Allison Ercholz… 484
Lewis, Gerry… 420
Lewis, Virginia Lee Allen… 120
Loden, James… 121
Lovelace, John… 194
Lunsford, Donna Magee… 122
Index
552255
Luper Jr., Marion… 98
MMMagee, John… 96
Malloch, J. David… 206
Marshall, Jane… 276
Martin, Morris… 172
Mathis, Margaret… 368
McClintock, Nancy Fields… 138, 141
McCormic, Mary… 320
McDaniel, John… 500
McGill, Stan… 454
McMahon, Stephanie Batt… 501
McWhorter, Bill… 502
Means, David… 459
Medlen, Suzanne.. 311
Medly, Mike… 241
Melone, Roger… 362
Miller, Brian… 387
Miller, Kim Word… 422
Moody, Vernon… 207
Moore, Edgar… 178
Moore, Jim… 296
Moore, Winifred… 503
Morris, Brenda… 468
Morris, Terry… 347
Morrison, Babs… 450
Moss, Eileene… 440
Murphy, J. Carter… 12
Murphy-Manley, Sheryl… 313, 365
Murry, Lena Sue Chilton… 104
NNNance, AD… 317
Nance, James… 31, 136
Neel, Eddie Lou… 33
Nelson, Charles… 1, 3, 10, 52, 131, 193,
211, 233, 279, 314, 339, 378, 442, 449
Neuenschwander, JW… 255
Newcomb, Armentia… 380
Newell, KC… 29
Nichols, Ed… 57
Norman, RB… 316
Nunez, Rebecca Breining… 160
PPPack, Carol… 466
Palmer, James & Betty… 504
Pasetti, Texas De Sautell… 134
Patterson, Tammy Charles… 342
Pausky, Martha Brittain… 58
Peebles, Wyley… 59
Perales, Jerry… 345
Perron, Paula Constantine… 60
Peters, Dale… 195
Peters, Juanita Teel… 196
Phillips, Mary Jane… 372, 395
Poetschke, Linda Catt… 179
Pollard, Marvin… 151
Index
552266
Ponce, Beryle Eileen… 184
Porter, Euell… 319, 465
Preskitt, Terrie McKenzie… 400
Prestidge, Sam… 61
Prestidge, SW… 505
Price, Terry… 294
Pugh, Donald… 161
QQQuebe, Fern Wiese… 62
Quillin, Eddie… 245
RRReynolds, Allison… 403
Reynolds, Herbert… 461, 506
Rice, Jeff & Jannifer… 509
Riehle, Kevin… 290
Roberts, Frank… 162, 216
Robinson, Wayne… 399
Robison, Lora Thomas… 63, 507
Rodgers, Candis… 452
Rogers, Cheryl… 183
Rogers, Michael… 181
Russo, Diane Sentell… 508
SSSager, Carolyn Pittman… 64
Sanders, Rinky… 65
Savage, Andrea Hall… 67
Schantz, Ira… 23, 198
Schmeltekopf, Donald… 511
Schott, Sally… 382
Scott, Daniel… 512
Segrest, Robert… 68
Seible, Rob… 351
Seibold, Robert… 180
Shanley, Richard & Helen Ann… 513
Shirley, Jakie… 70
Shore, Kenneth… 443
Simons, John… 514
Simpson, Francis Bryant… 54
Smith, Carol… 388
Smith, Karen Skinner… 439
Smith, Kay… 25
Smith, Lucia Woodbury… 167
Smith, Martha Pampell… 190
Smith, Ralph… 457
Snyder, Richard… 247
Stewart, Kay… 515
Stone, Edgar… 197
Swan, Howard… 434
Szenasi, Kay Norsworthy… 77
TTTadlock, Gloriana… 364
Taliaferro, Rowena… 21
Talley, Barry… 428
Talley, Billy… 438
Index
552277
Talley, Randy… 413
Tanner, Amby… 383
Tarkington, Regena Ragan… 516
Taylor, James… 391
Teat, Herbert… 15
Teel, Bruce… 78
Thomas, C. William… 81
Thomas, Pamela Cooper… 177
Thornton, Frances… 84
VVValighan, Jay… 518
VanDyke, Georgianne… 517
Venable, DeAnna… 72
Vickers, Paul… 359
Vickney, Ray… 519
Vickrey, Sharon… 73
WWWalker, Marilyn… 74
Wall, Sampy… 174
Ware, Broadman… 53
Ware, Mike… 353
Watkins, Bobby… 75
Watson, Bob… 321
Webb, Cloys… 137
White, Andrew… 76
White, Brad… 386
Whitsett, Brenda… 173
Whitsett, Dwight… 170
Whitten, Lynn… 130
Williams-Wimberley, Lou… 292
Wimmer, DeLois… 217
Wood, Conan… 367
YYYates, Jack… 89
York, Terry… 520
Young, Carlton... 264
Index