Big Pic

September 2002:  Junior Choir

Over the next year and a half, there's a "Birthday Celebration" at the First United Methodist Church of Richwood, Ohio.  It's the 100th anniversary of the church building.  Ground was broken on October 6, 1902, and the dedication was held on March 4, 1904. I found a few pictures to contribute to the centennial, including one that was taken by a professional photographer when I was 11 years old. On this Sunday morning in March of 1958, the Boy Scouts are sitting in the front row.  Rev. Roy Ballard has just finished the pastoral prayer, which normally concludes with everyone reciting the Lord's Prayer.  But this week, the prayer is being sung by the Junior Choir, of which I am a member.  It takes us more than two minutes to perform Albert Hay Malotte's setting of "The Lord's Prayer," while Rev. Ballard remains standing at the lectern. The Junior Choir was made up of children from grades 3 to 8, approximately.  It was under the direction of Margaret Ann Riley, with Gladys Winter at the organ.  As I recall, we sang about once a month for church services.  We also made a few trips to other venues; I recall one trip to the nearby town of Magnetic Springs to sing for the few remaining polio patients at a treatment facility there. For those of you who may have been a member of this choir in the 1950s, I've included the following three enlargements of this photo. I'm the little guy with the glasses in the first closeup below, leaning toward the rail to keep my eye on the director.