The Good News • December 2008

Make a Joyful Noise!

As the building of the new church on Wick Avenue neared completion in 1897, discussion began about the worship that would take place there. There had been a choir for some time, but now there was discussion about forming a choir of men and boys. As often happens today with new programs, the question arose of how to pay for it. As also happens today, "an angel," Miss Sallie Tod (daughter of Governor David and Maria Tod), stepped in with an offer of $1,000 per year to pay a choirmaster.

The vestry also discussed whether to buy a new organ or refurbish the existing one. Believing that the new building should have a new organ, in November 1897 they decided to accept a bid from J. W. Steere & Son of Springfield, Massachusetts to build one at a cost of $3,500 (allowing $1,000 as a trade-in on the old one).

These decisions made, it remained to find a competent (competence being a condition of Miss Tod's gift) organist-choirmaster. On January 14, 1898 the following report from the Music Committee occurs in the Minute Book:

It was unanimously decided to not call Mr. Squires of Phila to be our organist and choirmaster... (Mr. Squires gave us an Organ Recital the evening before at Tabernacle U.P. Church which was very unsatisfactory).

Fortunately, another candidate was available, and in January 1898 negotiations with Mr. Robert W. Forcier, organist of Trinity Church, Seymour, Connecticut, were successful. Mr. Forcier arrived in Youngstown on March 1st to begin working with boys and men who had volunteered to form the new choir. His standards were high. Although the group was enthusiastic and regularly attended the thrice-weekly evening rehearsals, this was not enough, and about half a dozen boys were drafted to attend extra practices four to five times a week after school. The choir's first performance on May 23, 1898 is rapturously described in the Vindicator:

The strains of the offertory hymn, by the choristers attired in their surplice and cottas, wafted through the edifice, now soft and gentle, and again bursting into a wondrous harmony.

In addition to singing at the Sunday services the choir gave frequent concerts, including sacred and secular music. They were rewarded for their work by an annual two-week choir camp, parties and trips to the theatre. There were three St. John's Choir baseball teams, outfitted with uniforms, gloves and bats, who "played quite snappy ball." We have some wonderful photos of choir camps, with the boys swimming and playing games, given to us by Mary Lou Robinson, whose father, Earl Percival, the soprano soloist, was a most gifted singer.

The Vindicator of March 8, 1907 gives an account of a "curious and painful accident" which happened to young Earl Percival as he was playing ball in the yard of the Rayen School (now the Board of Education building, just across Wick Avenue). In climbing over the fence to retrieve the ball he caught his foot between the railings, broke his leg and was left hanging head down until rescued by his companions. He was carried to a doctor's office across the street, where the leg was set, and then transported in Miss Sallie Tod's carriage to his home at 114 Ridge Avenue. This injury prevented him from taking part in that year's Easter Sunday service, but did not diminish his love for the choir and for St. John's — he sang in the choir for a total of fifty-eight years, beginning in 1901, served on the Vestry, and received the Vestry Silver Cross in 1958. The citation for the award refers to "the things he treasures most highly in life — close family ties, a clear-cut adherence to what he believes to be true, a sense of humor, and a deep and abiding affection for the Church and her ministry among men."

Liz Wrona

Sources: History of St. John's Episcopal Church, 1898-1934; St. John's Archives

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