Eight members of the Athens Middle School choir attended the Region 21 UIL Middle School Solo and Ensemble Contest on Saturday, Feb. 1, at Robert E. Lee High School, in Tyler, Texas. Each one earned a “First Division (I)” for their solo. They are:
Taegan Alen
Jordan Ickes
Josh Bateman
Ethan Condon
Chandler Early
Jackson Kilgore
Jacob Moore
Jonathan Snowden
Each participant sang an Italian Art Song. Ethan Condon and Jacob Moore each sang a “Class I” solo, the highest level of difficulty for a high school participant.
Congratulations to each of these young people. They truly “Performed like Champions!”
On Friday, Jan. 31, 17 Athens High School choir students went to UIL Vocal Solo/Ensemble Contest held at Whitehouse High School. There were 17 solos and one ensemble. Sixteen students made a division I rating (the best) and one a division II. There was also a girls trio that made a division I rating.
Congratulations to the following for making a division I rating on their Class I solo that qualifies them for State Solo/Ensemble competition in May:
Rebecca Archer, Jessica Bonnette, Kat Charr, Amber Conner, Paula Contois, Logan Dooley, Azsia Hearn, Evelyn Sanchez, Amuy Schoonover, Rachel Taylor, Jadeyn Traxson, Felicity Walker, Jordan Walker, and Kenyon Walker
Congratulations to Jessica Bonnette, Paula Contois, and Felicity Walker for making a division I rating on a Class I ensemble.
Congratulations to Trevor Baumgartner and Darien Lambert for making a division I rating on a Class II solo.
What a way to go! The Henderson County Performing Arts Center (HCPAC) and Arabella of Athens are donning their Cupid bows and arrows to bring you “Death by Chocolate,” a romantic Valentine’s evening of decadence. Not only will there be luscious chocolate confections to woo your beloved but who could resist a chocolate fountain overflowing onto fruits, cookies, candies and cakes? ‘Will you be my Valentine?’ will get an affirmative nod from all
those enticed by the sweet fare.
If she needs a little more persuasion, look no farther than the chocolate cherry wine and a very extraordinary Valentine’s love cocktail. Also joining in the fun will be Coffee Love (how appropriate!) offering a tantalizing variety of unique coffee blends to complement the evening’s dessert banquet.
The event will help introduce much anticipated Arabella Retirement Community and its new facility to the people of Athens. Death by Chocolate will be held in the Arabella Club House. The brand new facility is across the street from HCPAC at 413 Gibson Road, Athens.
The event is scheduled from 8:30 to 11 p.m. both Friday, February 14th and Saturday, February 15th. Cost is $20 per person and is a benefit to the HCPAC YES! Program.
Those attending the production of “Love Letters” will have plenty of time to indulge after the show.
Reservations are recommended as space is limited. Please call 903-675-3908.
Shirley Niswonger (Melissa Gardner) and J Niswonger (Andy Ladd III) are one of four couples who will be performing A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters on stage at Henderson County Performing Arts Center. The Niswongers are scheduled to perform on Thursday, February 6th and Friday, February 14th. The production, sponsored by Arabella of Athens, runs February 6,7,8,13,14,15 at 7:30pm with 2pm matinees on Sunday, February 9 and 16. Reservations may be made by calling 903-675-3908 or on line at www.hcpac.org.
HCPAC press releasee
Love is in the air at the Henderson County Performing Arts Center (HCPAC) with the presentation of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters.”
The play, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, centers around the correspondence of Melissa Gardner and Andrew M. Ladd, III over the course of 50 years. She’s a rich kid with nurses, absent parents and more money than Andy but he’s ambitious, trying to fulfill the lofty expectations of his father.
Laced with laugh-out-loud humor and real-life poignant situations, the two characters evolve from their early grade school awkward exchanges to becoming true confidants, allowing each other to see all their foibles. Hopes and dreams, failures and successes are the cornerstone of the missives along with ill-timed attempts at romance. While Melissa and Andy are connected intensely by their letters, their lives go in opposite directions.
Love Letters is performed as Readers’ Theatre, the actors sit behind desks and read the cards, notes and letters Melissa and Andy have written to each other. The action is implied but the emotional roller-coaster is very real. Famous Hollywood actors such as Elizabeth Taylor, James Earl Jones, Robert Wagner, Stephanie Powers, William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Christopher Reeve and Sigourney Weaver have given their interpretations to the characters. It is one of the most popular and often performed pieces in American theater.
The play opens February 6th and runs through February 16th. Four local couples will lend their talents twice during the run of the show. J and Shirley Niswonger will perform Thursday, February 6th
and Friday, February 14th. John Smith and Kathrine Newton perform Friday, February 7th and Sunday, February 16th. Dr. Mark Roberts and Lesa Dietz perform Saturday, February 8th and Thursday, February 13th. Rounding out the actors are Garret Smith and Sharie Withers on Sunday, February 9th and Saturday, February 15th. All shows have 7:30 p.m. curtains except the two Sunday performances which are at 2 p.m. in the afternoon.
In conjunction with Love Letters and as a special St. Valentine’s event, HCPAC is reviving its popular “Death by Chocolate” February 14th and 15th following the presentations of “Love Letters.”
The event will take place at the Arabella of Athens Club House, directly across the street from the theatre. The event will begin at approximately 9 p.m., following the show. Tickets to ‘Death by Chocolate’ are $20 per person.
“Love Letters” is sponsored by Arabella of Athens. Reservations are highly recommended as space is limited. Call 903-675-3908 for more information or to make a reservation. Reservations may also be made online at www.hcpac.org.
Andrea Jean McCallum and her husband Joe Breithaupt.
By Nina Hendricks Sarah Maples DAR
The Sarah Maples Chapter of DAR has its very own Navy WAVE or “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service”, (WAVES). Andrea Jean McCallum Breithaupt Small was born in Sedgwick, Alberta, Canada where her father happened to be working at the time. Her father died when she was three years old so her mother moved back to Peoria, Illinois to live with Jean’s grandmother. This grandmother was a DAR member also. Her grandmother worked as a Travelers Aid for Union Station in Peoria. She helped people with children get on the right trains and helped with luggage also.
Jean graduated from high school in Peoria at the age of 17 and wanted to go to Nursing school but she had to be 18 before they would take her. So she went to work to pass the time and instead of nursing school she joined the Navy in April of 1943 when she was 23 years old. She kept putting off nursing school because she was making good money. She took her basic training at Cedar Falls Iowa and then she was sent to Washington D.C. She was one of the first WAVES out of Peoria. Due to the scarcity of manpower and the urgency of protecting our nation, nearly 4000,000 women took on new roles in all military branches during World War II. Jean mostly worked as a secretary doing filing and shorthand,sorting mail to make sure it got to the right people.
At 95 years of age Jean remembers a lot about that time in Washington D.C. She remembers that she lived in a row house with three other girls. She remembers hearing about Pearl Harbor. She had just left church when she heard the news. She had been asked if she wanted to go to Hawaii to work before the bombing but she decided not to go, several of her friends went. She remembers rushing to the windows in the building where she worked to see President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) flag draped coffin ride by on a horse drawn caisson down Pennsylvania Avenue. She remembers his funeral procession was on April 14, 1945. She remembers that this is where she met her future husband at a Navy USO party. She said the Catholic Church had a really good USO for all the service men and women.
Both she and Joe were Yeomen 1st Class. They were both working toward earning their Chief stripe. Joe receive his. She married him on July 13, 1945, three months after they met and were married for 29 years until his death from cancer. They were married in a chapel by a Naval Chaplain. Her mother and grandmother were able to come to the wedding and her mother even managed to have a cake. Joe was stationed on the USS Yorktown when it was hit by Japanese aircraft who managed to land three bombs on its deck. The Yorktown was an aircraft carrier commissioned in the United States Navy from 1937 until she was sunk at the battle of Midway in June of 1942. The ship was being towed back to Pearl when an unknown Japanese submarine sent torpedo’s to finish the job. Joe went over the side which was about a three story drop. The Yorktown rolled upside down and then sank.The men were picked up by other ships in the area. Joe was in the Navy for 12 years and Jean for 2 1/2. Jean and Joe made their home in the Corsicana area where he was from and where they raised three sons. Jean then married Marlyn Small and they were married for 9 years until his death.
Jean just had a birthday on Jan. 3 and we wish her all the best. Jean very quietly goes about doing whatever is ask of her. She rarely misses a Sarah Maples DAR meeting.
