Here are some more recollections from and reflections on the weekend I just spent in Decorah on the occasion of my 30th year college reunion. From the second half of the weekend:
By the time Jim Penning had regaled us with his beautiful performance in the recital hall, I felt like I had already had more than a full weekend’s worth of homecoming joy – but there was much more to come!
Night Life – Saturday evening was our class dinner, and I think it was Deb Fordice who mentioned that when you get to a certain point in the reunion parade, they shift the class dinner from evening dinner to noontime lunch- presumably so there aren’t people falling asleep before they’ve finished their salad. Fortunately, the 30th reunion still passes the nighttime test, and those of us who gathered at the old Cliff House (I don’t remember what it’s called now) had a fantastic time and, as far as I could tell, stayed awake with no trouble at all! We were at a table with Marshall and several friends, including a good friend of ours named Tom Davis who lived just a couple of doors down from us freshman year. As the three of us reminisced, it was fun to realize that memory is so much more than what each of us individually remembers- it’s also what we remember collectively, and how we can help each other recall things which we have allowed to slip away into the ether. And I suppose when you reach the age of 52, you start to more deeply appreciate anything that keeps the demons of memory loss at bay and makes our memories live more vividly. And my family would probably chime in that collective memory helps curb what they see as my tendency to embroider my memories with information that is not exactly part of the factual record. But if Marshall and I and Tom all remembered something, you can take it to the bank- it really happened!
By the way, I was so glad that our reunion dinner was held where it was because this is a place I remember from growing up in Decorah. If one needed to go out for a fancy dinner back in those dinner, and you weren’t going out of town, it pretty much had to be at the Cliff House. And I know that I celebrated one of my junior high birthdays at the Cliff House. I remember that it was by the pool because they had advertised some sort of pool party special – but I have no recollection of going anywhere near the water that night. I just thought a pool party sounded sort of exciting. Anyway, it was good to be back to the Cliff House, which had also been the sight of a couple of other important celebrations, including the 50th wedding anniversary celebration for Marshall’s folks. I felt some sort of connection with the place, unlike the elegant country club where our 25th dinner was held. It felt so right to be someplace familiar.
Look, Up in the Sky – When we saw Matt and Randi & Family for a few minutes Saturday afternoon, Randi said that they had something very exciting to show us that night, if we were willing to come on out after the dinner. She said it in such a way that “no” didn’t seem like an option, and I was game – just hoping that what she was so excited about wasn’t going to be a demonstration of smoyg (a dying form of Norwegian cross stitch) or a performance by some folk musicians blowing into jugs. She seemed so certain that I would be excited, so I knew it couldn’t possibly be anything like the above. And I was right!
So what we did is walked out into the meadow next to their house in the country – without a flash light, so it was absolutely pitch black. It was Randi, Matt, Matt’s mom Donna, my nephew Kaj – and me. (Kathy had opted out, exhausted from the long day – and she had been a terrific trooper.) My imagination wandered to some disconcerting possibilities, most of which involved scary scenes from horror movies… but this turned out to be something amazing and beautiful. The surprise was the launching of a Japanese sky lantern, which is sort of a cross between a box kite and a small hot air balloon. It’s made of biodegradable paper- with some sort of fuse at the bottom, mouth end of the balloon which – when fully burning – causes the balloon to rise dramatically up into the air. It was a stunning sight, especially given what a surprise it was for me – and it was just the right cap to an already memorable day.
Church Bells – Homecoming church at Luther is the real deal, with five different choirs plus the bell choir offering up stunningly beautiful music. The Gospel for the day was the story of the feeding of the 5000, and the preacher drew an intriguing parallel between those 5000 hungry people and the 5000 people estimated to be on campus during homecoming….. between current students, alumni, faculty and staff. How richly they were fed- and us as well! And as it so happens, Kathy and I sat right next to the main station where communion was served – and it was so moving to watch from such close proximity the amazing array of people coming forward – from young college students in the healthy prime of life to very elderly people leaning on the arm of a loved one. All hungry- all coming to be fed.
Speaking of Hungry – Lunch was at the Fordice home – and it was Mabe’s Pizza. It was one more chance to gather with special friends and to partake in the best pizza on earth. A few goodbyes had to be said at that point, to friends unable to stay for the concert that afternoon. That’s part of every homecoming as well- the inevitable goodbyes.
Bringing Down the House – Luther at homecoming always culminates with a concert featuring the orchestra, concert band and Nordic Choir – and it’s usually a very substantial crowd who gathers to take in what’s always a magnificent outpouring of music. One of my favorite moments was when the new director of the band, Joan deAlbuquerque, thanked everyone for coming- but then singled out one very special band alum who was in the audience: a Luther grad from 1937, back celebrating his 75th reunion. And when he stood up to acknowledge the greeting, you’d better believe that our applause swelled into a roaring ovation!
The concert opened with the symphony orchestra, and it was gratifying to see that the group has achieved a truly remarkable excellence. They led off with a thundering performance of the Montagues and Capulets from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, followed by two movements from Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. The band’s portion of the concert included the James Croft arrangement of Bach’s “Who Puts His Trust in God Most Just” – a striking arrangement in which the members of the band both play and sing. I still so vividly remember the first time I heard the Luther band do that back in my junior year – I bawled my eyes out, so overcome by the unexpected beauty of those voices rising out of the band. And this time around, even without the element of surprise, it was still lovely and moving. Nordic sounded gorgeous under their still new conductor, Allen Hightower, with a set that included “The Lord is the Everlasting God,” written by Kenneth Jennings to honor Weston Noble’s 50th anniversary with the Nordic Choir. . .and F. Melius Christiansen’s stirring setting of “Praise to the Lord,” which I conducted with the Carthage Choir back in 2000 and 2001 and not heard since. And the last song was Tschesnekoff’s “O Lord God,” which has been Nordic’s theme song for generations. And in a relatively new tradition, any and all Nordic alumni were invited to the stage to sing it with the choir, which was great fun- although I almost wish I’d stayed in the audience to hear what that stage full of singers really sounded like.
But what provided the deepest and most personal pleasure for me during the concert was to see two people very important to me receive two of the highest awards that Luther can bestow. The first was Dr. James Ripley, who is the director of instrumental music at Carthage and who has led the Carthage bands into a spectacular new era. When it comes to amazing growth which our department has demonstrated over the last decade, no single person has been more essential or indispensable to that growth than Dr. Ripley. He was given the Carlo Sperati Award, which is named for the founder of the Luther Concert Band – which is presented to an outstanding alum in the field of instrumental music. Jim had his whole family there (even Jacy from far away Eastman School of Music was able to get there) plus his junior high band director and his high school band director . . . all there to share in this great occasion. And when JIm’s long list of accomplishments had finally been read and his name announced as the recipient of this year’s award, the place erupted with an ovation that Jim so richly deserved. I’ve known him since the days when we were at Luther together (he was a year ahead of me) – including the summer when we both worked for the summer Dorian Festival . I have to say that I can’t think of anyone in my professional / academic / personal circles who is held in higher regard than Jim Ripley. He is a consummate gentleman and superlative musician and I am so glad that Kathy and I were there to see him receive this great honor. I am even more glad to count him as both my colleague and my friend.
And if that weren’t enough, a little later in the concert the Noble Award for excellence in choral music was given to a man named Bruce Tammen who has been in my life even longer than Jim has! Bruce was a Luther student in the late 60’s and early 70’s and my mom knew him well from her work as Mr. Noble’s secretary. Bruce was in our home a number of times (I think he didn’t see all that much of his parents in those days) and he was even my Bible school teacher one summer as well as the director of a Wizard of Oz production for which I was the Tin Man. When I came back to Luther as a freshman and was singing my first audition for the choral staff, I had not yet uttered a sound when I suddenly heard this deep, powerful baritone speaking voice roar from the darkened recital hall : “The Tin Man! The TIN MAN!” He saw my name and realized who I was and couldn’t help his outburst of recognition- which in turn caused me to sing a rather shaky audition. By this point Bruce was back at Luther, directing the Chapel Choir with great distinction. (One of the neatest things he did was to fold some wonderful Jewish music into their repertoire, which gave the group its own unique voice.) Since leaving Luther’s faculty in the early 80’s, my contact with Bruce has been sadly sporadic- but I’ve been grateful for the chance to reconnect from time to time (Thank goodness for Facebook) and to follow his musical exploits, which have been considerable.
One of the hardest things for me to get my mind around is the difference between Bruce then and now, physically. I remember a Bible school canoe trip in which he and I ended up in the same canoe (I guess no one else wanted me.) I can clearly picture Bruce looking so tall, vigorous and strong – the very picture of athletic health – and I quickly realized how lucky I was as the puniest guy in the class to be “stuck” in the teacher’s canoe! But some years later, Bruce began to contend with a series of medical setbacks that have compromised his mobility – rather severely at times. But Bruce has met this with such patience and grace. And isn’t it true that we really see into a someone’s when we see how they live in the face of such reversals. By that measure, Bruce Tammen remains one of my heroes – and to see him on the stage of the CFL, receiving such a heartfelt ovation and a warm embrace from Weston Noble himself, was one of the crowning moments of the whole weekend.
Strangers and Friends – As Kathy was looking through the program, she spotted a familiar name in the roster of the orchestra- Dietmeyer, the last name of two people she knew from her days at Carthage. And according to the program, this young woman – the concertmaster of the orchestra – was from Georgia. “I bet you anything that she is the daughter of Carl and Laura,” Kathy whispered just as the concert was beginning. Interesting enough. But then imagine my surprise and delight to discover during intermission that Carl and Laura were there at the concert! It was a wonderful reunion- especially because Kathy had spent the weekend almost completely in the company of friendly strangers but strangers nevertheless – my family and Marshall aside. So for us to have this completely unexpected reconnection with Carl and Laura was just about the sweetest surprise we could have wished for – and one of those surprises that joins the various circles of one’s life in ways we never could have scripted ourselves.
It was just one more item on an incredibly long list of things for which to be deeply grateful.
pictured above: The final tableau of the homecoming concert- The current Nordic Choir is joined by alumni. The only thing missing from that moment was the smiling face of Kathy Hoadley among the alumni. We lost her two years ago. How she would have loved this gathering! How we would have loved to have her with us!