One of the first times I actually did extra curicular activities in grade school was in seventh or eighth grade during something called the Spring Concert. It was difficult for me to participate in these things since I never thought I had enough time. It was fun to do. It may have been in eighth grade since I do not remember any upper classmen in the class being in the choir. They may have been there but I just do not remember. One of my friends asked me who I was going to vote for in the Harvest Queen competition. I remember there were two main competitors. I know I liked both of them. I do not remember what the actual name of the position or title was, although I do remember who I voted for.
The choir director was was Sister Mary Williams, although I am not sure that was her name really was. She was one of Teresa's favorite teachers. I may remember it wrongly. We were going to sing a selection of tunes such as The Bridge over Toubled Waters, Songs fom Carousel, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, and the Sound of Music. I had never sung in a choir before although I had always been interested in doing so. I actually had a lot of fun doing so.
I remember we nixed the Bridge over Troubled Waters since a lot of us could not reach the high notes anymore. All the boys were at that age, or just past it. I was kind of sad about it. Robert was going to use that song as his graduation song in his class as he graduated from LaSalle High School. The person who was going to sing it was Francisco Batista. He was the lead singer of the Antiques, a locally popular group.
Mom was very supportive. I was actually surprised how supportive she was in her own way. She had always been supportive of my efforts but I was surprised since she was so busy. I would not really speak to her about it very much since at this time she was already working either at the Topps Factory or the Juliette factory. She worked all night so if she was needed at the house, she could be there and help. This was when I was thirteen or fourteen so my little brother and sister were still very young. When I think about it now, I am very pleased when I realized how supportive she really was. Although at the time, I may not have fully realized it. In fact I was a bit surprised when I saw she had attended the concert. Mom was always very busy. Every time she showed up for me I was somewhat surprised. I was very happy she did. I believe right after the concert she went to work. At that time she may have been working as a baby sitter at the Montmartre Hotel. Stuff to think about when we think we just have too much to do.
I remember a little bit about each of the songs we sang. I remember all the words to a few of them. I remember Sister kind of scolding in my direction to keep the noise down. I guess I did not sing as well as I thought I had. I slowly started learning the songs and from where they originated. The one I had the hardest time learning was "On the Street Where You Live" by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Later on it became my favorite of the repertoire. There were a few others which I did not know but they had simple melodies and I could figure it out. That was probably the first time I had signed up for extracurricular activities. I would play football and baseball and basketball but never really on the team. It was surprising how few extracurricular activities there were available at that time. My first time was the Spring concert mainly because my sister, Teresa, told me that Sister Mary Williams was agood choir director.
When I did this I literally did it because I thought it would be fun. And it was.
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