Edgewater Singers, Kathy Gemperle's recollections

The Edgewater Singers
A memoir by Kathy Gemperle

The gathering of the group to sing preceded the name Edgewater Singers. Paul Boyd invited me to a Christmas gathering at his home to sing Christmas carols. I believe at the time that a few others were invited to join in including Roger Flaherty, who lives on the 5500 block of Lakewood. After this inside sing along we discussed creating an in-home concert. One was held at the home of the Marciniaks on Catalpa, and another was held at the home of the Haiders on Lakewood.

In 1984 the Edgewater Community Council decided to hold a fundraising event at Mundelein College in the McCormick Lounge. It was called Midnight at the Marine Room, and the group was asked to sing a few of the songs from Cole Porter and George Gershwin. The next year Paul Boyd and I (we were both board members of ECC) arranged the event to be in the Ballroom at the Broadway Armory. In planning for this event, I suggested that we call the group the Edgewater Singers, as we needed a name on the printed program. After that we stuck with the name. Terry Stevenson was our accompanist, and we had no real director. There were nine of us.

The following year we moved the event to the gym floor of the Broadway Armory, and also included Johnny Frigo, a well known violinist. The attendance was good that year; however, the sound was not good as the high ceiling made the sound disappear. We were stumped on a place where we could perform. In the meantime, ECC decided to shift gears and created an event called Salute Edgewater. So that left us on our own to find a performance venue.

In a discussion of the need for a director, a gentleman, Jim Anderson, who lived on Wayne, and worked for Lutheran Services, agreed to direct the group. We did a concert at their facility on Kenmore. He was not able to continue with the group. That left us looking for a director. We invited Bill Chin to come to hear us. He rejected the idea of working with us. So we were back at square one.

Paul Boyd was always on the lookout for singers in his real estate business, so if he found someone a place to live, he always asked if they liked to sing. This is how we connected with David and Diane Aitken. We invited them to my house because Diane offered that she could sing tenor (and we always were in need of tenors). I remember quite well how Diane came into my home and sat with us in the living room, while David sat in front of the fireplace with something to read. Paul tried to engage both of them in the prospect of joining the singers, Diane as an accompanist and David as a Bass. In the interview we learned that Diane was multi talented in music, and could possibly direct the group. So she agreed to be the pianist and direct us. Our first concert with Diane was in 1985. For the next 21 years Diane directed us and taught us all kinds of music. It is impossible to say how many hours she devoted to this group and our performances. Eventually we were able to find an accompanist, Ann Basye, so that Diane could better focus on the directing and the sound of the group. This required many more hours working with Ann on the music before rehearsals. It was determined that these rehearsals would be once a week, on Sunday evening, and that they could be either at Diane and David’s apartment on Magnolia or in our various homes. In 1986 we practiced at five different homes. The group at that time was initially about 11-15 people.

With a real director working with us, we improved and expanded the music we were able to sing. The venues for our concerts changed from the Broadway Armory, to Mundelein College, to Berger Park, and to various Churches in Edgewater. This placed a demand to find an agreeable date and place for every event. Early on we did two concerts a year, one at Christmas and another in the spring. The spring program was usually written by someone in the group and included poems and stories on a theme. K.C. Conway took over this role and created many programs for us.

Diane produced a book of all the programs we did under her direction. It is a wonderful compilation. We also took to recording our concert with Jim Shipp, who produced both videos and CDs. After Diane retired in 2006, one of the singers in the group, Joseph Sablan, took over the direction of the group. The accompanist was Richard Aldrich, and sometimes Terry Stevenson. After a few years, Joseph announced that he and Richard were moving to Michigan, and the search for a director began again.

In 2009 we met and determined that not only would we need to find a new director, but also we would need to raise money to fund the position. So the forming of a not-for-profit organization began with assistance from Mike Callahan. This took about one year. Accounting for donations and paying a director became another task of the group. As the group added members, it became clear that no home could hold all of us for rehearsals. North Shore Baptist Church agreed to give us space on Sunday evenings. The singers had always made a contribution for the music used in the concerts, but those funds did not cover the cost of having a paid director.

Our first paid director was Michael Oriatti, who worked with us for about a year and a half. He then turned over the baton to Philip Seward, who began with the group in 2013.

More people joined the group as a call went out for auditions. As of 2016 there are 25 members with openings for voices in tenor and bass.

Each year the concerts are set in different venues in Edgewater. Among the churches who have hosted the singers concerts are St. Ita, St. Gertrude, Unity Lutheran, Bethany Lutheran and Immanuel Lutheran. In addition, the Singers have performed at several area rest homes including the Self Help Home, The Admiral, The Methodist Home and Bethany Retirement Home. These special performances are usually on a Saturday afternoon.

Kathy Gemperle

–written in 2010