What an odd year UMM has been through. We must all be wondering when or if we will see the normal routine and atmosphere on campus again. My, how we desire that. In my case I desperately pine for the routine in music. The Ralph and Martha Williams Fund exists to facilitate aims in music.
The pandemic has presented a serious obstacle, just because of the nature of music performances. We can close our eyes, smile and imagine a regular concert at the recital hall. We will never again take these events for granted. My parents experienced the Great Depression and once it receded, they never again took any of the little things for granted. Unfortunately they raised a generation that would take everything for granted.
But let's focus on the present: I am reminded on this February 2 that eight years have passed since Dad left this life. What a blessed life he had, living as he did to age 96 and being able to stay at his beloved home on Northridge Drive until the end. It was in the evening when he passed. I had just set out his evening pill. I handed him his glass of water. I began walking away and then I heard the glass drop on the table.
Had I been expecting this? I got a hint things might not be normal in the preceding week or two. On a couple occasions I held up a framed photo of Mom and our dog, taken a few years earlier. We had a household joke about how "Sandy" was "Mama's little sweetheart" despite how Mom would get distressed by some of Sandy's hyper behavior. Advancing years solved some of those issues of course.
Sandy like my parents lived to about the maximum age. He and our previous dog Heidi lived to over 16 years. Our first dog Misty wasn't quite so fortunate as she came down with cancer.
Anyway, as Dad approached his date of death, he did not automatically break out in a smile when I held up the photo. There might have been some discomfort building up. He was doctoring well enough. He recently had been administered "labs" and the nurse called to say they were good. He was supposed to come in for a routine appointment in connection with that, but the nurse said "you don't have to bring him in." A mistake? Well no, I don't think so. Dad was 96 and had been through five-vessel heart bypass in the mid-1980s. He was 96 and his time was approaching. He died peacefully.
Almost instantly after I heard the glass drop, I could suspect what happened. I shook him a little and pleaded. Within seconds I told Mom, not in the same room, "Mom, I think Dad died." In an earlier time Mom's grief and panic could have easily overtaken her. It was her nature. And yet on that night of February 2, 2013, she was totally composed, as if she had been sensing it was imminent.
Mom had a variety of concerning health issues during her advanced years. We can always second-guess how we handle certain issues. Should I have pushed her to get a mammogram sooner than she did? There is no point dealing with this or other questions. We always did the best we could. Mom had an unreasonable fear of medical intervention. She said once that when she was a kid, "people died all the time." Medical care was not nearly as advanced. Getting medical intervention was not such a routine or reliable matter. Strides in science eventually made our medical professionals into true miracle workers.
Mom got through the shoals of medical issues to almost reach 94. Dad was 96, our last two dogs were over 16, so I think on the whole we've done fine. I'm on the waiting list for the vaccine now. I take Lipitor every day. Dr. Huikko of SCMC does a great job. My father had Dr. Stock. Mom had Dr. Wernsing for many years and Dr. Barnstuble toward the end. Mom had "Dr. Sam" as surgeon. I feel tremendous gratitude to all. Dad had his heart surgery at Abbott-Northwestern.
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| Williams family heart resides here |
My family came to Morris at the time UMM got launched. After six months renting a place on Lake Minnewaska - not sure why we did that - we settled in Morris permanently. Dad introduced the UMM music program in a grand way at our armory in November of 1960.
You may not remember the "old" armory. Boy I sure do: I played elementary basketball under coach Marvin Laabs there. It was a grand building where our library is located today.
Dad introduced the UMM band musicians dressed in navy blue uniforms trimmed with maroon and gold. The performance was for the Stevens County 4-H youth and their parents. What an ideal way to cement UMM's relationship with the broader community. The Morris paper reported that the band numbered about 50 pieces. "A band of this size was not anticipated the first year," the article noted.
We're so proud to remember all this. Mom and Dad will be beaming from heaven when again we can see the various UMM music groups show their talent and enthusiasm from the recital hall on campus.
Addendum re. Dad: In 1951 Williams became the seventh director of the Apollo Club. Melvin Burlingame, former historian of the Club wrote in 1964:
His term of directorship was highlighted by his interpretation of the Club's music, his brilliant showmanship, stage presentation and personality. With the introduction of his own compositions and arrangements into the programs of the Apollo Club, the Club produced a new sound that was excitingly different from the usual choral fare.
The Apollo Male Chorus is a Minneapolis institution.
Burlingame also mentioned that one of the most interesting episodes of his own personal experiences in singing in the Apollo Club was under the direction of Professor Ralph E. Williams: "His keen musicianship and approach to the various problems confronting all singers was of great value in advancing the writer's musical education."
Music critic Norman Houk, upon hearing the first concert conducted by Williams, wrote: "It was apparent from the performance that Williams makes his singers pay attention to enunciation, for the meaning of few lines was lost. He also tends to let the chorus enjoy singing at full voice. This produces an inspiring volume of sound but more sparing use would make it more effective."
Perhaps Houk had second thoughts about volume, for after hearing the November 1951 concert he wrote: "Any large number of men can sing loudly, but to do so and produce a wholly musical and homogeneous tone as do the 120 Apollo singers is a feat of cooperation and direction."
Again, in 1952 Houk wrote: "The chorus always has loved to produce a robust, ringing volume of tone and at its biggest that tone is now smooth and controlled."
John K. Sherman made laudatory remarks about the Apollo Club trained by Ralph E. Williams in December of 1952: "100 men have acquired the quick reflexes, the phrasing smoothness and tonal clarity of a well-drilled vocal quartet."
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| Dad in 1962 |
The Apollo Club background shared here is from the anniversary publication that came out in 1995. The booklet was called "Sweeter Than The Honeywell: 100 years of music and friendship."
Let's always stay close to the memories made from UMM's early years! The institution has always been "the jewel in the crown."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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