Archive by Author

BBQ Time! Part 2

6 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Last time, I mentioned that May is proclaimed BBQ month!   But May is past now, and I still have one of our favorite bbq eateries to tell you about.  So even though it is now June, and bbq month is over, I still want to tell you about another favorite bbq place:

Our other favorite bbq eatery is the Mission BBQ. 

 A bit different type of barbecue, and the atmosphere is amazing! 

Their dedication to the first reponders and military is amazing!  If you are there by straight-up 12:00 noon, you are asked/invited to stand up and observe the National Anthem.  Every.  Single.  Day. At noon.  I believe it is sung by a military academy choir.  There is a U.S. flag inside the building, but there is also one showing on the TV screens during the anthem. 

I personally hold my hand over my heart, as I was taught, and try to sing along.  However, I usually get so choked up that I am in tears and unable to finish the song.

Recently, it was “Armed Forces” week, with Armed Forces Day on the following Saturday, so Mission BBQ had a special day for each branch of the service.  The day we were there was honoring the Navy, and four cadets from a local high school presented the color guard.  Very touching.

From their website:  

Our Story

MISSION BBQ opened its doors for business on September 11, 2011.

Ten years after our world changed forever, in some small way we wanted to change it back.

We strive every day to remind ourselves what makes Our Country great—its heroes.

It started with two best friends patriotic for Our Country, passionate about BBQ and who believe in running a business with meaning and purpose.

We believe there is nothing more American than BBQ. And nobody more American than the brave men and women who have sworn to protect and serve Our Communities and Our Country. We do what we do for the love of our soldiers, firefighters, police officers, first responders—all our loved ones in service.

We set across this great land from Texas to Kansas City, Memphis, St. Louis and the Carolinas…to discover the secrets of great BBQ.

Every day we work hard to prepare you authentic BBQ, made from the freshest ingredients.  Serve it to you in a patriotic dining room filled with tributes to those who’ve made Our Community and Our Country great, given to us by the people who earned them. Stop by at lunchtime, and you might catch us during our daily salute to the Stars and Stripes.

At MISSION BBQ, we Proudly Serve Those Who Serve. Come help us complete Our Mission.

There are 17 Mission BBQ locations in Florida, alone.

They have great sauces to choose from, but my favorite is one they keep in the refrigerator, called Alabama White Sauce.  Just enough “kick” to it to get your nose running!

We go as often as we can, and always want to be there for the noon salute.  Their restaurant is a ways from our house, so it is a designated time that we go – not very spur-of-the-moment.

So there you have it – our two favorite BBQ eateries in Orlando/Kissimmee.  We are so very glad they are here, and we are able to partake of their BBQ!  

Eat up, Orlando!!

✪ Click HERE to see if there is a location near you.✪


Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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BBQ Time! Part 1

30 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

BBQ TIME! – PART 1

This is the final Sunday in May 2021…so this month is almost over.

And yet, I’ve only recently heard and seen that May is BBQ month!

Of course, our favorite bbq places are the ones advertising that fact!  So let me tell you about our favorite bbq restaurants.  Since there are two of them, and they are both amazing, I’ll share one of them today, and the other one next time.

I guess the bbq eatery we patronize the most is 4Rivers Smokehouse.

We first learned of it from our Minister of Music, Rick Steele.  He grew up eating there, since it wasn’t too far from his house.  The original eatery was in Winter Park, Florida, quite a ways from us, so we only went there to eat when we were in that part of Orlando, which wasn’t very often.  But in the past few years, Johnny Rivers built another of his smokehouses in Kissimmee, and we manage to eat there at least once a week.  Really good bbq!

 Our Beginnings:  It all started in a garage:

4 Rivers Smokehouse began with the launch of the “Barbecue Ministry” in 2004, when John hosted a cookout fundraiser to support a local family whose young daughter was battling cancer. This one event resulted in a passion for supporting local schools, churches, and charitable organizations, and a few years later, smoking thousands of pounds of meat out of a garage just wouldn’t cut it anymore.

4 RIVERS WEBSITE

Also, a   FUN FACT:

Why four Rivers? In short, it represents our family, John, Monica (wife), Jared (son) and Cameron (daughter). But they also appreciate the serendipitous double meaning with Genesis 2:10, where four rivers branch from that which flows out of Eden. Now you know!

There are 14  4Rivers locations in Florida and Georgia.  

There is even a 4Rivers Cantina at Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney)

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Music and Me-Part 8

23 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

In addition to the choir in Seaford Baptist Church (Virginia),

Seaford Baptist Church ( Old Sanctuary)
Seaford Baptist Church (old Sanctuary) Choir

I also played the piano some, and sometimes the organ (again).  One of my joys in playing was when the other pianist and I played two-piano duets during the offertory.  We usually pulled a piano in from the choir-practice room, set it near the main piano, and we played next to each other.  We had some fantastic arrangements of hymns, and the congregation always enjoyed those times.  I had a couple of books that were for piano-organ duets, but I re-arranged the organ part so I could play the piano instead.  That was so much fun!  I’ve not been able to do that in the church we are in now.  I just have to remember and enjoy the times I have had.  God has been so gracious to me, and I am grateful. 

Perhaps that is why I have always enjoyed the two-piano recordings we have of the team of Ferrante and Teicher.  Hearing them play together is how I actually discovered how stereo is supposed to sound!  

That came about when we were living in San Jose, California, in 1965.  We had arrived in June for Fred to begin his meteorology study at then-San Jose State College for the Air Force.  He took a summer class, then had a few weeks between that class and the regular semesters classes.  He wanted to “unwind” some, so decided to actually build our stereo system.  He spent many hours wiring and soldering together all the parts that he needed to make the system work.  We purchased two speakers and set them on either side of the doorway.  Our first record purchase was a Ferrante and Teicher album.

Photo Credit Google search

I’m not sure why we purchased that, as I had no idea who “Ferrante and Teicher” were!  One day I was sitting on our couch – probably crocheting something – and listening to that album.  And then I heard it – the piano sound came out of the left speaker – and then another piano sound came out of the right speaker – bouncing back and forth!  I was amazed!  You must remember – this was wwaaayyy back in 1965 – the dark ages to some!  And if I had heard stereo before that – I didn’t realize it.  I was delighted!  We purchased quite a few more Ferrante and Teicher albums throughout our lifetime.

It actually reminded me of some of the antiphonal singing we had done in our large church in Fort Worth, Texas.  Some of the choir members were placed in the balcony, with the majority of the choir in the choir loft.  The larger choir would sing something, then the smaller choir would echo.  It was a great sound.

I think that about finishes my thoughts on Music and Me for now.  If I think of anything else, I’ll write about it later.  I hope you have enjoyed this little side jaunt through my music memories.  It has certainly brought to my mind some things in my life I had forgotten – and that’s a good thing!

~~~~~~~~~~The End….for now~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Music and Me-Part 7

16 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

When we lived in San Antonio, Texas for those three years,

The Alamo-San Antonio, Texas

we joined the First Baptist Church, downtown.

FBC San Antonio, Texas – credit Google Search and FBC website

It was – and is – a very large church.  We were part of a Sunday School department of members essentially our own age.  While the Sunday School department in our Fort Worth church was mainly made up of Seminary students, I don’t remember the Sunday School in San Antonio being a “military” members group, even though there were several military people in that class.

One “funny” event that happened while we were in that group: Karen was old enough to sit in the worship service (Janet was in the nursery), and she sat with an older couple during the service, since Fred and I were in the choir.  To keep her occupied, I had a coloring book for her to take to the service with her.  One Sunday morning, before the class started, I was sitting next to a woman I didn’t know.  She tapped the coloring book on my lap and said, “I know how you stay awake in the service!”  I laughed and told her why I had it.  I found out later that she was the Senior Pastor’s wife!!  Oh no!!  She and I became good friends following that.

And, of course, we joined the choir early on.  It was quite a large choir – probably close to 100 members.  Again, we had a few professionally trained voices, and that just added to our sound.

Sanctuary Choir – FBC San Antonio – Credit Google Search and FBC website

The choir director that we had the entire three years there was Lanny Allen – no relation to our Senior Pastor, Jimmy Allen.  As a matter of fact, I remember one Sunday evening that Lanny was standing at the pulpit, announcing the next song, and Jimmy came up beside him, as if to sing into the microphone.  Lanny, startled, looked at Jimmy and literally pushed him out of the way with a “oh no you don’t!”  Jimmy couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket!  We were all laughing at this point!

I remember one choir retreat/camp we went to in Kerrville, Texas, the “Hill Country” of Texas.  It was just a short weekend camp, but we all connected in a wonderful way, and learned some music along with it…probably learning the music for our Christmas program to come in another few months.

Music Camp in Kerrville, Texas

After we rotated stateside from Heidelberg in 1983, we joined a small church in the housing area we lived in. 

Seaford Baptist Church, Seaford, Virginia

But in spite of it being a “neighborhood” church, it had a good number of members attending.  And it did have a choir, which we joined, of course.  We stayed in that church – and choir – for the entire nearly-13 years we lived in Virginia.  

We had several Ministers of Music at that church, and we performed some amazing musicals – both Christmas and Easter.  I remember one Christmas musical that had acting along with it.  The choir was set up to the side of the sanctuary, so all the acting could be on the stage.  At one point, one of the songs told about the crucifixion of Christ, and I thought it was a strange place to be in a Christmas musical.  But then I realized that – that was the entire purpose of Christ being born as a human – to come and die for our sins, and by being raised from the dead, He gave us eternal life!  Amazing!!  And thank you, God, for making that way for all the world to live with you in eternity, if we just accept your gift!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Mother’s Day 2021

9 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Credit ChurchArt

Here we are, another Mother’s Day.  It seems I’ve told you about all I can or know about my mother and my mother-in-law.  And so, I may share some snippets from other posts I’ve done about them…and then add some new thoughts.

My mother was unique

in that she met and married a man 20 years her senior.  And yet, that marriage was rock solid, and one I looked to imitate in my own marriage.  I like to think Fred and I have achieved that.  

She loved to sing and to play the piano.  She had a good ear and would just go and sit down at the piano and begin playing. 

She was a great cook!  I’m sorry to say I didn’t let her teach me much about cooking.  Most of what I did/do I more-or-less learned on my own.  I also can’t duplicate much of what she cooked.

Her work ethic was one to be admired.  While I am a good “starter” I’m not necessarily a good “finisher.”  Mother was good at both – if she started a project, she didn’t stop until it was finished.

I loved her dearly, and miss her terribly.

Fred’s mother 

was a joy to be around.  Her love was her husband and her children – all four of them!  And after Fred (her first born) and I married, she treated me like one of her daughters!  She was, truly, a second mother to me.

She was also a great cook, and she taught me several of her recipes that her family loved.  And I still use some of them to this day.

To know my husband as I do, I can see her hand in his up-bringing.  She was a gentle soul, but must have had a firm hand in child-rearing.  

She loved to have fun, and was a bit of a cut-up.  I will always remember her with me on the beach in northern California, dancing barefoot through the wet sand and kelp.

She was funny, cute, elegant, classy, down-to-earth, loved to laugh….

She left us far too early with Alzheimer’s Disease, and I miss her terribly.

Both mothers – above all else – taught their families to love and honor Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

And I like to think we have passed that along to our daughters, as well.  Both of our girls are God-fearing and God-loving women.  They have taught their children about Jesus Christ, and I’m pleased to say that Jesus is the guiding light in their families.

We are so proud of both our daughters.

Our Karen

has loved libraries and books as long as we can remember.  And so, her chosen field is to work in a library.  She started out as a “page” in her high school years, and is now a “researcher” in her local library.  She’s the expert!

Our Janet

is the Human Resources Director for a county.  I was always amused to hear her say that she didn’t need to take a typing class in high school, as she would have a secretary to do all her typing!   Didn’t quite work out that way, hmm, Janet?

They are both professional women, and yet love and care for their families.  

We thank God for our Mothers and the lineage they have passed down through us to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

Credit ChurchArt

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY 2021

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Music and Me-Part 6

2 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I loved to sing…as I’ve mentioned in previous musings.  And while my favorite way to sing was in groups – trios, choirs, mixed groups – I did occasionally sing solos.  As I sang, I usually had the copy of the music in front of me, “just in case…”  Well, it was a good thing I did, because once, as I was beginning a solo, the intro had been played, and I opened my mouth to sing…and the words had completely left my memory!!  The pianist continued to play as I scrambled to look down at the music to find my place.  I was so totally embarrassed by that, that my confidence was forever shattered.  I never again did a solo without the music “just in case” – it was always there to support me.

I’ve mentioned that I sang with wives groups at all the military bases where we were stationed.  I sang with a wives group in Wiesbaden, West Germany, and later with the wives group in Heidelberg.  Unfortunately, while in Heidelberg, the pianist for the group had rotated back stateside with her family, and they needed a pianist/accompanist more than a singer, so that’s what I did.  I remember once we did a fun number (sorry, I can’t remember the name of the song we did), and about halfway through the song, was a piano interlude.  The director thought it would be a fun touch for the accompanist to stand up and play that piano interlude.  So when it came to that part – I actually stood up, Cheshire-cat-smiled at the audience (and winked at them) and played the music standing up!  It got a good laugh from the audience!

Last week I posted a picture of the entire music program at my home church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Photo credit First Baptist Church, Albuquerque

First Baptist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico

 While that picture included the children, there were over 60 adults in that choir…no small thing. 

(Please see my post of February 21, 2016 – The Cruise of a Lifetime – Part 4.  We met Richard and Judy Bradford on that cruise, and he was the Minister of Music at my home church in Albuquerque in the 1970’s!)

When Fred and I first married, we moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for Fred to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary – Rotunda

We joined Travis Avenue Baptist Church while there, and became members of the choir.

Travis Avenue Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas Photo credit Google search and website

It was a great choir, and we had some amazing directors.  There were probably 80-100 members of the adult choir at that church.  We had some classically trained voices, and the first director was a voice teacher at the Seminary.  However, other directors who followed her were also great.  The one we sang under the most was Bill Pearson.  I remember we did The Seven Last Words of Christ,

Photo credit Google search and Biblio .com

and later a musical called God’s Trombones.

credit Google search and Amazon.com

That was so much fun to do – Bill had the choir members scattered throughout the sanctuary.  Someone had a large handbell, and when it began to toll, we got up, one or two at a time, and made our way to the choir loft.  And then we sang.  It is a wonderful piece of music, that would probably be considered “politically incorrect” in today’s world, unfortunately.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Music and Me-Part 5

25 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

I remember being in church choirs all my life long.  From the time I was just a small child (in the children’ choir) through the Sanctuary or Adult choir in my home church.  I even remember helping out with the children’s choir after I aged out of the youth choir.  And I do mean just helping out – again, I wasn’t really able to really lead those children.

I don’t really have any pictures of choirs I was part of in my early years, except this one of the entire choir from the First Baptist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I’m not in the group of small children in the white robes, but I am in the row of a little older children.  And my older brother, Bill, is in that picture as well.  Looking at the picture, he is in the third row from the top, on the right hand, second person in.  I don’t know whether or not Bill was ever in any other choirs, until he and DiVoran moved to Titusville, Florida, and joined their church there.  I know they were both in several of the church choirs there.

And here is a picture of the group of Officer’s Wives Singers at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas in 1973.

I remember singing with that group, and I remember that lovely blue dress.  We were performing at the Base Chapel here, and it was a Christmas program.  We took that program – with taped accompaniment – to the San Antonio River Walk one evening.  We rode up and down the river on one of the tour boats, singing, for about one hour.  It was such fun!  But an interesting event came from that.  We kept seeing a threesome sitting at one of the restaurants along the way.  They would always wave to us, and the older gentleman would “tip” his hat to us.  As we were finishing up, they called for us to join them for a drink.  Well, I don’t “drink,” but I thought it would be fun to visit with them.  So a group of about five of us did just that.  Turns out, they were actors from Austin, who had come down to show off the River Walk.  It also turns out that the older gentleman was Hans Conried!  Movie actor (Uncle Tonoose on the Danny Thomas show) and voice of the mirror in “Snow White” as well as George Darling and Captain Hook in the Disney movies.  WOW!!  What a privilege to meet him.

1977- Hans Conried Credit Google Search and Wikipedia

While I don’t have a picture of the Officer’s Wives singing group I sang with while at Tyndall AFB, Florida (Panama City), I do remember singing with them.  We performed at many functions around the base, as well as throughout the city.  My fondest memory of that group was a Christmas program we did at the Base Chapel.  I was singing a solo (as I remember, it was I Wonder As I Wander), and I looked down at the audience to see our five-year-old Janet watching me in open-mouth amazement!  I’m not sure she had heard me sing before!

As just a side-note here – As I was riding home from one of our performances at Tyndall AFB, the lady I was riding with asked me, “would you like to be bad?”  I said, “What do you have in mind?”  And she suggested that we stop at the Dairy Queen and get a banana split.  Well, never having had one before, I was all game for it!  So we did – and I developed my of love for banana splits from that point on!  At least from DQ!  I’ve had others that use the “Neopolitan” ice cream, and it’s just NOT the same!  DQ every time for me!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Music and Me Part 4

18 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I mentioned before that I thoroughly enjoyed singing in choirs – all through my growing-up years.  Church choirs…school choirs…and just about any other kinds of choirs I could get into.

1959 Highland High School combined chorus. (I’m in there somewhere?)

I’m not too sure whether or not I really had a solo voice, and so I was more comfortable singing in groups.  Trios were my favorite.  I usually sang the second soprano part, and I loved it!  I still enjoy harmonizing – even harmonizing along with the songs we do it church.  Our church has taken to having a “blended” worship service, which includes some of the old hymns and some of the new music.  Most of the time it is agreeable to me.  However, we don’t use the hymnals much anymore, where the harmony parts are printed.  The words to the songs are shown on a large screen, so most everyone sings the melody.  That’s when I harmonize on my own!  It’s kind of fun, too!

I guess that’s why I enjoyed singing with the Dreamers in my high school so much.  I was placed on the Second Soprano part nearly always.  And I was in the school chorus as well, so that gave me more opportunity to harmonize.

But my very favorite group to sing with was Billie and her sister, Becky.

     1958 – Becky – Senior Picture              1959 – Billie – Senior Picture 1959 Judy Senior Picture

1959 – Judy, Becky and Billie – practicing at Judy’s house

Why they chose me to join them, I’ll never know.  But we had a really good sound together.  Becky was a grade ahead of Billie and I, and she had the sweetest soprano voice!  I was second, and Billie was alto.  What made it more interesting was that Billie also played the piano for us!  We did a lot of the old songs – Moon Over Miami, Mr. Sandman, Sugartime, Old Cape Cod, Muscrat Ramble.  While we had our own sound, we did tend to imitate The Andrew Sisters.  As Billie said, we never had sheet music – we just sang what we heard and remembered.  Oh the memories – it was such fun!

I didn’t attend the same church that Billie and Becky did, but I do remember going to their church to sing in their services some times.  I don’t remember whether or not they came to my church for the same thing.  Doesn’t matter – we just loved singing together.

I also remember singing in a “mixed” trio when we lived in Panama City, Florida.  It was part of the church choir there, and the music director, one other fellow, and myself were the trio.  That time I sang soprano, and the guys sang tenor and bass.  As I recall the song we did in the service was a Gaither song, Something Beautiful.  It was a fairly new song just then, and it was well received by the congregation.

The only time I remember not singing the second soprano part was while we were living in San Antonio, Texas.  I don’t remember exactly the event that the women’s quartet I was singing with was performing for.  But I just remember that I had terrible cold that day – nearly laryngitis!  And my voice was so low that I sang the lowest part of the songs!  And in women’s four-part harmony…that’s LOW!

I sang one time with the choir at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary while we were there in Fort Worth, Texas.  I was not a student there – Fred was – but the community at large was invited to sing with the choir.  It was a wonderful experience, and we did Handel’s Messiah- but I only did it one time.  We met to rehearse in the evening, and I was so tired from working all day that I could hardly keep my eyes open!

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary rotunda – Fort Worth, Texas

~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Music and Me-Part 3

11 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

But while the piano has been a large part of my life, I found singing to be my love and joy.  I can remember singing in childrens and youth choirs most of my life.  When I came of age, I began singing in the Adult Choir in our church.

First Baptist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico Credit Google Search

1964 – Sanctuary Choir – First Baptist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico

I remember the very first solo I sang – it was in 1st grade and it was for a Christmas program in my class.  I sang “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”  I don’t remember singing many other solos until I reached Junior High (what today would be called Middle School).  I was in the school chorus there, and we sang for many school functions.

November 26 – Christmas parade – I’m holding the 2nd “F” – Jefferson Junior High School

In that day, Junior High was grades 7, 8, and 9, with High School being just three years, 10th, 11th, and 12th. 

Highland High School – Albuquerque, New Mexico

I was in the girl’s chorus all three of those years.  I had tried out for All-State Chorus in 10th grade, but had a cold that day, and didn’t make it.  However, I was in it the next two years.  

Highland High School’s All State Chorus – 1959

Since Albuquerque was the largest city in New Mexico, that’s where All-State Chorus was held.  We met in the gymnasium of the University of New Mexico.  It was a great time – all the All-State choruses from around the state gathered in Albuquerque, and we all sang together.  I loved it!

I remember one particular All-State Chorus time – probably my senior year in high school – when we began to sing, and we found ourselves off-key – and we were in the concert time, not rehearsal!  The director stopped us from singing.  I was mortified!  And I think most of the rest of the chorus was, as well!  He had the pianist play something in another key, then started us up again.  We stayed on-pitch that time, much to my surprise.  But rather than let us fumble through the piece in the wrong key, he had the presence of mind to correct it.  HE was not mortified at all!  I have since learned that, if the group is being accompanied by a drum, that even if the drum is the only sound going, we stay on-pitch.  Amazing!

The most fun of my high school singing time was that I was chosen to sing in the hand-picked group of girls singers – Dreamers.

Dreamers – 1959 – Highland High School – Albuquerque, New Mexico

We had 12 girls in the group, with four girls on each part.  Occasionally the songs we did had more than three parts, and we would split into more parts.  That’s where I learned to love singing second soprano.  I learned to sing the second soprano with the first soprano ringing in my head.  Still do that to some degree.  Dreamers sang at many functions around the city.  It was a wonderful time in my life.  I was in Dreamers my entire three years in high school.  

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Music and Me Part 2

28 Mar

Sunday Memories

Judy Wills

Still considering my piano playing,  I guess one of my favorite pieces to play was “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy.  A magnificent piece.  I really loved that music.  Unfortunately, so many of the Miss America contestants during those years played it for their talent, it sort of became “rote.”  There was another piece by Debussy, “The Sunken Cathedral” that I attempted to learn to play, but it just seemed to be out of my range of capability.  It’s quite complicated, but in the right hands, it, too is magnificent.  Mrs. Larsen played it for me one time, and I was mesmerized.

! have mentioned in a previous posting, that after we joined our church here in Orlando, that our Minister of Music gathered six of us that played the piano and we had a concert for the church.  We each played on a Clavinova (electronic pianos), which also meant they were all “tuned” together.  In my post of September 30, 2012, I mentioned this concert.  I mentioned that we practiced at the piano store, then they brought the instruments to the church and they were placed on the stage.  I stated:  We played two or three pieces all together – different parts of the song, like an orchestra.  Then we each played a duet with one of the other pianists, then a solo.  It was a great deal of fun, and we got to praise our Lord with the talent He gave each of us.

Photo credit Church Art

I never really thought I would be a piano teacher.  I mean, I played the instrument, but that is quite a bit different than teaching someone else to play it.  At different times, I have had several people ask me if I would teach their children, but I always declined.  However, when we were in Heidelberg (1980-1983), I was given the opportunity to teach.  I wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect, but the circumstances were different.

Photo credit Pixabay

You see, there was a Canadian family in our church.  They approached me about teaching their boys.  I was quite interested to learn that Canada has a “conservatory” system of teaching piano.  In other words, if you lived in one of the Eastern provinces and began taking piano lessons, but then had to move, perhaps to one of the Middle or  Western provinces, you could find a teacher and pick up right where you left off!  Neat!  And these boys had been taking lessons for a number of years, and just needed someone to keep them up-to-date while they were in Germany.  It was quite a program, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time we had together.  One of the boys was in high school, and the other boy was in middle school, therefore – different levels.  

Because of my time studying music at the Community College in Florida, I had learned a lot of theory that had just never occurred to me before.  I was able to pass all that along to those boys I was teaching.

Another time that I taught piano, was still during the time we were in Heidelberg.  We had a military doctor and his family living downstairs from us, and they had three little girls.  The oldest was about eight years old, and eager to learn.  And so they talked me into teaching her.  She had some piano lessons behind her, so that helped.  Well, as I’ve mentioned before, I was/am NOT a prodigy.  But this little girl WAS a prodigy.  I hardly had to teach her anything, and she was off and running with it.  For instance:  I have always had trouble doing transposition.  When I mentioned it to her, she said, “oh you mean like this?” and proceeded to transpose the song she was playing from one key to the next – all the way through the octave!  I’m sure my mouth was hanging open by that!  She was amazing!!

Photo credit Pixabay

To be Continued

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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