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     It is impossible for me to begin considering singers without having ONE singer come immediately to mind. Throughout most of my 28 years of tenure I was blessed to have Barbara Schmalz serving as what we now call “Chorus Manager.” It in no way diminishes the talents and dedication of Margie Wyand, Joan Nesbitt, or Julie Peterson who have held this role for shorter periods, to describe Barbara a having unique abilities to meet, get to know, and then remember people—and EVERYTHING about them! Would that I could call Barbara while writing this history, as I have dozens and dozens of times over the years, to ask about particular singers, but she has joined Martha Ramsey and others in singing the heavenly B Minor Mass.
     So I’ll proceed with my less perfect memory, aided by my ever-present lists. As a person who made a decision forty years ago, when it was time to choose a major in college, to become a professional musician, I have spent my career being blessed by nourishment from fellow travelers who made other career decisions. Oh, it’s true that the Choral Society has benefited tremendously from the small percentage of its membership who trained as musicians. But for me the miracle has been what this Society has accomplished as a community of dedicated human beings, most of whom spend their days in non-musical pursuits. I cannot even begin to count the number of Monday nights I have come to a Choral Society rehearsal certain I was too exhausted from all the heavy burdens of the day and week to conduct a two-hour rehearsal, only to find such reaffirming energy coming back at me from the assembled singers that I went away more refreshed than I arrived.
     Bym’s list of diverse occupations of Society members could be expanded many times over, I’m sure. For example, as an old Iowa farm boy I would certainly add agrarian professionals among my favorite folks. In fact, for several years after becoming Music Director of the Society one of the highlights of the Millers’ culinary year occurred the week after the spring concert when we enjoyed the content of a large package of beef provided as a result of the Neuberts’ spring butchering. And of course one enormous change on the professional front over the past two decades is the much larger number of sopranos and altos who are pursuing professions outside the home. The largest effect of this change on organizations such as the Choral Society has been on the number of hours volunteers are available for certain non-musical responsibilities.
     When we began thinking toward our fiftieth anniversary a year or so ago I decided to devote a significant amount of time to creating a database of all singers who have sung in the Society. By recording each singer whose name appears on the program from the major performance of each season, the data base of Appendix A has resulted.
     I cannot tell you how much pleasure it has brought me to remember singers as I entered their information in the data base. I can only hope its printing here provides such pleasure for others as well. Allow me here to first be a bit of a statistician in getting the big picture presented, remembering that each of these numbers represents living, breathing, singing human beings. Then perhaps we can reminisce a bit, particularly about those individuals with the greatest longevity in the Society.
     Because of the length of time required to accomplish the database entry work, I chose to list the personnel for only one concert each season, even though all seasons during the past quarter century have included at least two concerts, and some seasons have included three. In each case I selected the concert which had the largest chorus. In twenty-one of those concerts the choir consisted of over 100 singers and perhaps a list of those largest choirs would be of interest (I’m happy to report that our current spring roster includes 180 singers. They have already been entered into the database as having sung the May 2, 1999, B Minor Mass performance): 

     As of the January 1999 roster of membership, a total of more than 1300 different singers have sung in at least one concert with the Society. (Actually there are probably considerably more since some singers will have sung only in a concert which was not recorded in the database.) Of these, several were listed in more than one section (for example, soprano some years, alto for others.) And although I am certain some singers whose last names changed at the time of their marriage haven’t been caught, we have identified several who appear in programs bearing both those names in different years. (Again, Bym Condee’s historical memory to the rescue!) In fact more than one romance has been cultivated partially through the Choral Society community, where a couple came to know each other. For example, I think of Dottie Poulos and Rev. Fred Sanford, Cecil Goodwin and Rev. Jean Hilton, Chip and Laurie Amos, Miriam and Ralph Locklin, and from earlier times Bym recalls Mim Dickey and Bill Pierce, and Elsi Meyer and Bill Ackerman.
     The Society has sung at least one concert in each of its 48 seasons with the exception of the 1955-56 season. That was the year between Martha Ramsey’s tenure as the Society’s Music Director and the beginning of Raymond Brown’s. Therefore, the listing is for forty-nine seasons of concerts, including this spring’s forthcoming B Minor Mass. One other clarification: For the Society’s first five years the annual concert was presented in December; thus the first concert is identified in the database as 1949. In the 1954-55 season the concert was shifted to the spring and is identified in the database as 1955. No concert is labeled as 1954. (See concert list below.)
     The relative balance of the voice parts of the full list of singers is roughly the same as the balance of the chorus on any given concert. Of the approximately 1350 singers, about 420 are sopranos, 420 are altos, 220 are tenors, and 290 are basses. It is not shocking to find that the singer who has sung in concerts the most seasons is the author of part one of this history, Norma Condee, whose name appears in 43 of the 49 programs. (She and Ralph spent a number of springs in Scotland; thus her lack of “perfect attendance!”) Second in longevity is another singer who is still a very active member of the Society, Miriam Locklin, who has also been a frequent soloist during her 38 seasons. Since the Society began rehearsing in Trinity Lutheran Church, where Mim serves as Choir Director, Mim and Ralph Locklin (26 years) have served as unofficial “hosts” for the Society’s rehearsals. (Ralph reconstructs the specially-designed conductor’s podium/gallows each Monday evening! Incidentally, sitting out here on “Miller Mountain” in my barn is another “specially designed” podium on which Martha Ramsey is pictured conducting during the earliest years of the Society and which I inherited in 1972. It would hardly transport well into the Penn State Room where the Society’s archives are stored, so I hereby report on its whereabouts, should any later historian wish to locate it.)
     Barbara Schmalz, introduced above, sang 33 years and Francoise Rosen sang 32, at least one of them in the company of Valerie, her daughter and fellow soprano. Such two-generational experiences have not been uncommon, though it goes without saying that Barbara and Tim Roberts, for example, did not sing in the same section! In fact the Choral Society provided an opportunity for the current Music Director, at various times, to make music with his spouse, his son, and his daughter. As Bym suggests, the Choral Society is clearly a family in many ways. I’ll allow myself to reminisce about only a few more names down the longevity list before I present it here. Gordon DeJong, at 28 years, should have been commissioned to write this portion of the history, since as one of the world’s foremost demographers he could put things into much clearer perspective than this amateur sleuth. And Herb McKinstry, also at 28 years, represents yet another “family” connection since his trumpet-playing son Herb has been a member of the Society’s orchestra.
     Mim Pierce converted her professional skills as a librarian into the role of Historian of the Society and was responsible for getting our original archival materials into the Penn State Room of Pattee Library. I will follow her lead and send a few more boxes once I have passed the baton. Reverend Donald Carruthers’ bass voice is one that still booms in my ears, and his thoughtful ministry to this Quaker was profound. Like those notes from Bym Condee and others which I have retained and treasure, I greatly value Rev. Carruthers’ deeply spiritual messages written after nearly every concert. His funeral was the first in which I was involved in which a group of singers from the Society shared our music as part of our memorial to a fellow singer. There have been several since. This fall we decided to do likewise to honor a living member as we sang for the Renaissance Banquet honoring 25-year singer Pat Farrell, whom Bym also notes as the first female member of the Brass Ensemble when she was a State High student. She’ll also figure prominently below in the history of the Madrigal Singers since she served as “Lady of the Manor” and in general kept us all in stitches laughing. Pat is a very special woman!
     Lois Cowan ought to get credit beyond her listed 27 years since she also contributed not one but two sons, a tenor and a bass, to both the Choral Society and the Madrigal Singers. Tim and Bob were both “wearers of the tights” during the Madrigal Singers’ earliest years.
     And also at 27 years is the woman who holds at least two Society records, both of significance. Sigrid Byers has sung more Madrigal Dinner performances as a Madrigal Singer than any other singer (and has collected, by far, the most thrown peanuts in the process.) But she is also the member who has the most years of service on the Society’s Board, having served in nearly every important leadership position including multiple years as the Board’s President. At present she not only serves as the Board’s Vice-Chair but also as Chair of the Committee which will recommend the Society’s next Music Director.
     Special memories attach to each of the other quarter-century members:
     Evelyn Bartsch’s pure soprano voice has provided dozens of solos with the Madrigal Singers and Nova Consort during Madrigal Dinners and elsewhere. I guess I’ve sung more duets with Evelyn than with anyone else in my life! And like many of us, those evenings in the “Great Hall” are among our most precious memories of the Choral Society.
     Ellen Trumbo and Vivien Griffith, with their Choir Director Charlotte Dunham, welcomed the Society to Park Forest Methodist for rehearsals for a few years. Ellen also served as Madrigal Dinner Chair for several years. Charlotte holds a very, very special place in the life of the Society as Chair of the Board for two different two-year terms, Madrigal Singer, and passionate envisioner of its future. Cancer took her from us far too early and we miss her!
     Bill Bemis is a unique presence in any organization of which he is a part, and the Choral Society is no exception. For many years he followed up on the tradition begun by Ernie Pollard of providing lemon drops or their equivalent each rehearsal. I can still ser his Santa Claus-like demeanor in distributing them, and his puckish pleasure in saying, sure he could bring a pizza oven to Sig’s farm for a Choral Society Pizza party. I think he has one of everything ever invented in his basement!
     Paul Grun, who was originally part of the Society in Raymond Brown’s first season, went on to serve as one of the Society Board’s Presidents.
     Nydia Finch served as the Society’s Managing Assistant for many of its early years. And I can remember her unmatched success in promoting ticket sales. Singers would come to rehearsals proud of having sold 2, 4, or 10 tickets only to find that Nydia had sold 97!
     And two other members join Norma Condee as Charter Members who have sung over half of the Society’s seasons. I can recall Elin Nielsen’s gracious presence in my early years with the Society. And Kay McNall will join Bym as the two Charter Members standing on the stage as singers this May when we sing the work they both began rehearsing with Martha Ramsey in 1949. I’ll bet they have the notes learned by now! Kay spent her career teaching music (wonderfully) in State College’s elementary schools, and thus also represents dozens of teachers who have been responsible for helping teach State College to sing! I know my two children were the beneficiaries, as was her daughter Jessica, a former member of both the Choral Society and the Madrigal Singers and also a teacher of singing.
     Well, “twenty-five year members” is a rather arbitrary place to stop reminiscing, especially when I see that significant group of singers in the “almost-25 list:” Eight additional Madrigal Singers are among the 20-25 year folks: Joan Page, Julie Peterson, Elizabeth Specht, Charlotte Dunham, Ernie Hawk, David Richards, Leonard Herzog, and Jean Slates Hawk, several of whom were also significant contributors to the Society in other ways as well. But I think the reader must be getting the idea: the journey down memory lane for this Music Director which this exercise has called forth has been and is one of great nostalgia. Certainly I cannot put face to name for all 900(??) singers who have sung in the Society during my 28-year tenure. But I must say that nearly every name on the 10-and-more-years list which follows brings back very special memories, and I do indeed feel blessed by how these people’s lives have enriched my own, and the life of the Choral Society.
     So, to summarize and then list: One person has sung with the Society more than 40 seasons, three additional singers have sung more than 30 seasons, 16 additional have sung 25 seasons or more, 17 additional have sung 20 or more seasons, and 96 additional have sung for 10 or more seasons. This totals 133 singers who have sung with the Society for 10 or more seasons. They are listed below. The remaining singers have sung for approximately the following number of years:

Singers who have sung for 10 or more seasons