She may have handed off her crown to Miss New York back in January,  but there’s no question that Laura Kaeppler will always be MIss America to the people of Kenosha.  That was really evident last night at an event where the Kenosha West Rotary Club gave Laura their Outstanding Kenoshan Award.  One of the speakers last night remarked quite correctly that this award almost always is given to someone approaching or just past retirement, looking back on a long life of service and achievement.  (Last year’s recipient, for instance,  was outgoing Carthage president F. Gregory Campbell.)   So the sight of a 25-year-old Carthage grad receiving such an honor was a bit stunning- yet not the least bit surprising. . . especially after hearing one speaker after another speaking so eloquently and earnestly about Laura and the kind of person she is- and has always been.  Two of my favorite speakers were:  her mother, Sue Kaeppler, who is so incredibly gracious . . .   and Patricia McTernan, who is head of St. Joseph High School,  Laura’s alma mater. She talked most movingly about Laura’s emotional first homecoming back to Kenosha after being named Miss America- and of how Laura spent hours greeting every single person who wanted to say hello to her, not for a moment betraying any signs of fatigue or frustration or impatience.

I was there because Carthage was asked to provide some music for the event,  and with last weekend’s graduation, the vast majority of our students have scattered to the winds.  Fortunately,  several of our finest singers are from right around here,  and two of them –  Nick Huff and Mike Anderle- were honored to offer up their talents for this occasion.   We practiced only twice,  but these young men are the kind of musicians for whom just about anything is possible.  With no stipulation on what should be done,  I opted to push the envelop towards “heavy” – with two opera offerings and one music theater song.  I knew that one of the pieces should be an excerpt from the act four duet from Puccini’s La Boheme, which they sang so beautifully for our most recent opera workshop.  I knew that I wanted Mike to sing “Younger than Springtime,” from South Pacific – which he did for solo & ensemble back in high school and which fits him wonderfully..  It was only Tuesday afternoon, right before our first rehearsal, that it dawned on me what Nick should sing . . .  an aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute, since that was the opera in which Laura starred her senior year.  We had done a tiny bit of work on Tamino’s aria’ DIes Bildniss ist bezaubernd schön, but (as it turns out) not nearly as much as I thought we had. In fact, it was an almost brand new aria to Nick,  but he liked the idea of singing it as a tribute to Laura, and by the time last night rolled around, you would have thought he had been singing it for months, if not years.  And much to my relief,  the three pieces went over very well last night.  Of course, the crowd had already fallen in love with Nick and Mike when they took the stage right before dinner and offered up a magnificent rendition of the national anthem.  As the applause died away from that,  I knew that they had already won the hearts of the audience, who would enjoy and appreciate whatever else they sang.

The big surprise of the evening, musically,  was when the guys and I sang a song which I composed this past weekend-  “The Very Best Kind of Beautiful”  – with Laura in mind.   The lyrics draw a sharp distinction between two  words that people tend to use interchangeably: ‘pretty’ and ‘beautiful.’  And the words of the song make it pretty clear which term is the one I favor:

Pretty is something you can’t keep;

painted on, and just skin deep;

but you are the very best kind of beautiful.

 

Pretty is rather commonplace.

Beautiful is a rarer grace

and you are the very best kind of beautiful . . .    etc.

That gives you an idea of the gist of the song, which at one point says “long before they crowned you Miss America….” which was the moment when, for instance,  Laura’s fiancee realized that this was an entirely original song written expressly for this occasion and to honor her.   I had been asked to say a few words at this event, in part because Laura’s advisor and primary mentor, Dr. Peter Dennee, was going to be out of the country and unavailable.  But then I read Dr. Dennee’s written remarks (which I was asked to read aloud at the event) and realized that he had said it all so perfectly and anything I would try to say would be anticlimactic and/or redundant.  So I decided to have my say with a song.   And I’m really glad I did.   And Nick and Mike very graciously agreed to learn the song in order to sing it with me, and did a beautiful job.

Laura has now resettled in California,  and I suspect that life will keep her from coming back to Kenosha and to Carthage as often as she or we would like.  That made last night’s event a bit poignant- and it’s probably why her voice wavered and cracked a bit as she spoke at the end of the evening about how much she loves her hometown.  Last night was yet another demonstration of how much that hometown loves her in return . . . . and always, always will.

photo above:   Laura Kaeppler, former Miss America, listens as Nick Huff, Mike Anderle and I serenade her.  She listened so attentively,  and was so appreciative and grateful.