Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Singing for Two Sitting Presidents
Yesterday was a good day and today is going to be good too. Story number two is that I have sung for two sitting presidents. I attended Belvedere Elementary School in West Palm Beach, FL. We had a music teacher named Miss Murphy and we would put on these cute little programs throughout the year. The year I was in second grade we put on a Veteran's Day program and President John F. Kennedy and his family sat in the audience and watched us sing. I thought that was pretty cool because I thought he was the handsomest man I had ever seen....except for my dad. I was very sad and will always remember the year he was shot. It is one of those moments you will never forget. As a child I remembered how loving he seemed with his little girl and son. The Kennedy family has had to endure a number of very tragic moments throughout the years. I used to love to ride by the Kennedy compound in Palm Beach just for a glimpse of them...it never happened. The only glimpses I ever got were in magazines, on the television, and in the newspapers. Many years later, when I was in high school at Forest Hill, I sang with the First United Methodist youth choir called New Dawn. It was an awesome experience to sing with New Dawn. It was in the choir that I learned I had a pretty decent voice and began using it in public. Before that I sang for family and friends only. Anyways, there was a huge concert at the Leaky Teepee (the Civic Center) that combined all of the local church youth choirs and sitting in the audience was President Richard M. Nixon. I actually had a solo for this performance and could see him and all his entourage sitting on the front row while I sang. I was so nervous that I am surprised he did not hear my knees knocking in the microphones. Years after this Mr. Nixon fell from grace and it saddened me that such a powerful political figure could do all the terrible things the news said he did. After I heard Chuck Colson speak about the Watergate Trial and the various roles people had at a conference later in my life I was saddened again because I was so naive about government officials and their abuse of power. But, no matter who he was...I sang for him while he was the President of the United States and it was a memorable experience. Have a Terrific Tuesday...I am planning to!
Labels:
Belvedere,
Forest Hill High School,
FUMC West Palm Beach,
Kennedy,
New Dawn,
Nixon
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