Memories & Reflections of Hendricks Chapel

Alred Quinn '36 BS & Doris Harriman '37 BS

I am happy to report that my wife and I were married in the Chapel on June 5, 1937, My wife was Doris Harriman who graduated from the School of Speech in 1937 a few days before our wedding. I am Alfred O. Quinn graduated from Applied Science in Civil Engineering in 1936. I had extensive studies under Dr, Earl Church in Photogrammetry and Advanced Surveying.. I followed these studies with a successful career in Surveying Mapping and Photogrammetry with the Tennessee Valley Authority, an Officer in the Navy, a Professor at Syracuse University, Chief Engineer of an International Aerial Mapping Company and my own company doing mapping throughout the free world. I enjoyed playing 4 years of Lacrosse under Roy Simmons

We have been happily married for 68 years, and have 4 children, 12 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. One grandson attended Syracuse, others have graduated from colleges in the East, South and mid West. We have lived in a great many places the best of which was in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains, Wilmington, N.Y. We now have a cottage on The Glen ,a retirement community in Queensbury, N.Y.

We love Syracuse University---Go ORANGE!!

Arlene Alaimo Wright '65

I had the privilege of being a member of the Hendricks Chapel Choir, under the direction of Dr. Arthur Poister, from 1961-1965. Dr. Poister's superb musicianship exposed me to the highest quality in choral music and fostered a lifetime avocation. The ambiance of Hendricks Chapel, and the dignity and skills of Dean Noble and Dr. Poister have had a profound effect on my quality of life. They are among my fondest memories of Syracuse University.

Mark A. Leo, '81 BA, '95 MS

I am an SU graduate and a soon to be employee of the University. Suffering from multiple sclerosis and in wheelchair, I currently reside close to the University which allows me to access events, worship services, and personal growth meetings. I have appreciated that Hendricks Chapel has always been affirming of me and valued me as a person

Barbara Ann Knopf, School of Music, '65

In 1961, I started my first year at Syracuse. Chapel Choir was the first thing that I joined. We had 150 students in the choir. I was a member for 3 years and loved to hear Dr. Poister play the Bach cantata's on the organ. And I loved to join the others in song on Sunday's and special occasions.

We often stayed after the service for about 20 to 30 minutes to hear Dr. Poister play! Such talent.... and he made me feel really special! My senior year, I needed extra credits and joined the Crouse Choir....Dr. Poister never forgave me for leaving the chapel choir! Hendricks was a place to go to feel happy in my "life away from home."

The Methodist Sunday evening meeting became my favorite part of the week and I made many new friends from many lands . I remember the evening we went caroling in a very bad snow storm and almost froze. We also went on a wonderful Hay Ride at one of the local farms.......and then there were the retreats we attended with other colleges from the area.

Hendricks Chapel and Chapel Choir were my security blanket when I was so home sick for Connecticut. I would have never stayed at Syracuse for 4 years if there had not been a Hendricks Chapel!

Robert Borden

My experiences at Hendricks Chapel formed the core commitment for the next fifty years of my life. Charlie Noble was the dean and preacher at the protestant services. While I played hooky from chapel as did many, when I attended it was always necessary to get there early because of the crowd his preaching drew.

My first experience at Hendricks was in September, 1953 at the Opening Convocation for incoming freshman. Chancellor Bill Tolley spoke about dreaming and following the dream. "Dream no small dreams," was his challenge (later made famous in a poem by the then Poet in Residence, A. E. Johnson.) The phrase has stuck in my mind to the present day. The spring of 1956, E. E. Cumming read poetry to a chapel filled with students, one poem of which held the US in scorn for it's appethetic foreign policy in response to the Hungarian uprising. Finally, my relationship with Dean Noble (who married my grandmother to her second husband years earlier - she who ran a boarding house for students at 609 Comstock) helped me with a decision to enter the Christian ministry - which I did after studying at St Andews, Scotland and at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

After ordination in 1960, still inspired by Cummings concern for the lack of commitment in the US, and Tolley's words about 'small dreams," I became a Navy Chaplain. I retired in 1986 and then went to Japan as a missionary until 1996. Returning to the US, I continued in ministry until last year (4 churches, 2 years each) when I suffered a massive stroke, and finally decided to really retire.

I can certainly tie my most important life decisions partly to happenings in Hendricks and the wonderful ministry of Dean Noble. By the way both of my children attended SU.

John Willmott

In 1956-57 I was a starving graduate student (was there ever any other kind?) in the Radio-TV department. Our base of operations was in the basement of the Carnegie Library, not far from the Chapel.

My wife, Bitc, worked as secretary to the Dr. Charles Noble, Dean of The Chapel. One of her duties was to master the intricacies of an IBM electric typewriter. Back in those days, such a machine was considered high-tech.

We sued to spend our lunch hours in the basement, eating our tuna fish sandwiches (food was a luxury) and listening to Chapel Organist Arthur Poister practicing. The food, the atmosphere and the music somehow made it all worth while.

Years later, as a spokesman for IBM, I was stunned when my manager told me of the night he heard Dean Nobele speak at an IBM function. My boss recalled how Thomas J. Watson Sr. had personally ordered him to secure an electric typewriter for the Chapel.

That was the very same machine my wife used during our time at Syracuse. What a coincidence!

We were only on the hill for a year, but the Syracuse experience changed our lives. It was, and is, a unique place.

Reverend Dr. Mark S. Harvey, '68

RECOLLECTIONS OF JAZZ IN THE CHAPEL
Just about halfway to this 75th anniversary, 1967 to be exact, I was commissioned by the Hendricks Chapel Board to compose a jazz liturgy for a Sunday morning service. Duke Ellington had recently premiered his first sacred concert, and a spirit of innovation was in the air. Dean Charles Noble and a number of the chaplains, notably the Reverend Harvey Bates, also a musical collaborator, were most supportive, as was Dr. David N. Johnson, organist and choirmaster in Hendricks. And since I was a member of the Chapel Choir, an invitation to them to participate seemed most fitting.

Titled A Worship Service in Jazz Form, the event in the spring of 1967 featured the hundred-voice Chapel Choir, a twelve-piece jazz ensemble, vocal soloist Doris Mayes from the Crouse College faculty, and several liturgists, all under my direction as a fledgling conductor who was boldly going where he had not gone before. Although Dean Noble was firmly against doing this merely to be "relevant" or to attract a crowd, as it turned out, the Chapel was packed to the rafters and, as I recall, the collection was quite substantial as well.

The following spring, I was asked to create another work, this time a music-drama in collaboration with Methodist chaplain Frank Halse titled Preface to Uneasiness: the Stations of the Cross. His poetic-dramatic musings counterpointed the seven stations as given by a group of student actors at the front of the Chapel while a group of student musicians further counterpointed and underscored all of this from the balcony. This performance was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had recently been assassinated, and was all the more poignant since it was held on Good Friday.

These early compositional efforts and the supportive, encouraging environment provided by Hendricks Chapel and its wonderful spiritual leaders were highly significant for my later work as a United Methodist minister. For nearly forty years, I have been engaged in ministry with jazz musicians and through jazz, performing my own original compositions with my professional jazz orchestra in churches, colleges and universities, theological schools, and other venues, including the American Academy of Religion, as well as preaching, lecturing, and writing about jazz and religion. Those Hendricks experiences helped to launch me on what continues to be a most fulfilling career path. I'm delighted to be able to express my deep gratitude and appreciation on the occasion of this anniversary celebration.

Margaret Hopper

Hendricks Chapel was the center of my life while at Syracuse University. I graduated with a Bachelor of Music, Organ Performance, Degree in June 1965. I sang in the Chapel Choir for four years with perfect attendance. While a graduate student I served as University Organist at the Chapel after Dr. Arthur Poister retired from that position. I was married in Hendricks Chapel.

Other memories include a Step Singing Contest my freshman year. I was a resident of Winchell Hall, no longer there, and we participated in this event. I directed our group of women in a cappella singing from one of the side balconies in the Chapel. Each ensemble was assigned to one of the balconies. We didn't win, but, as I recall, we advanced to the final round, and I still remember one of the pieces we sang, "Alleluia" by William Boyce.

Another side balcony memory is of Ernie Davis. He always sat in the balcony opposite my seat in the choir when he attended Sunday services. Dr. Poister pointed that out to the choir the Sunday after Mr. Davis' death and spoke very highly of him.

At the news of President Kennedy's assassination many students, myself included, found their way to Hendricks Chapel in search of comfort. We sat in stunned silence for a long time.

During my senior year I was privileged to receive the Outstanding Student in the School of Music Award. This Honors Convocation was held in Hendricks Chapel.

Two quick Chapel Choir memories: One Sunday during the procession we sneaked doughnuts in on napkins in our hymnals to leave on the sides of the organ console for Dr. Poister. After four years in that wonderful organization I sat in my choir robe in the back pew long after the service had ended, not wanting this part of my University experience to be over. After the tears passed I made my way downstairs where I hung up my robe, "zipping and popping it," as I had been instructed at my first rehearsal.

Jim Talbot

Hendricks Chapel and the Choir on Sunday was the most meaningful and important thing that I did at Syracuse University. I gained the most education listening to Dean John Mccomb on Sundays and it was the most special thing that I did at S.U.

Ron D'Napoli '91

I can vaguely remember the first time I visited the chapel. It was 1978 and I was ten years old visiting Syracuse to take part in my oldest sister's wedding (well, not part of the wedding --party--, but I was going to hand out programs). I can remember exploring the passages downstairs while the wedding rehearsal was going on and thinking it was the coolest place!

Eight years later I was a freshman at SU, but I managed to avoid the chapel for whatever reason until my last year (1991). I was taking the last class I needed to take to earn my degree (I had been working full time by now and finishing up the degree through University College part time). It was Holy Week, I had a major paper due, and I can remember feeling terribly guilty that I hadn't been attending services anywhere. A co-worker was having his child baptized at the Easter Vigil service at the chapel, and he invited me to attend. I can remember thinking that I could attend the Easter Vigil service, deal with my guilt and then have all of Easter Sunday to finish my paper! The service was special and I was exposed to the Interdenominational Protestant Campus Ministry for the first time. I was warmly welcomed and invited to Sunday "suppers" held at the parsonage each week. I began attending those suppers and Sunday services and rediscovered my spirituality! It was a great time. I stayed involved with the IPCM even after I finished my class and was certified with my degree at the end of 1991. After that I volunteered to do things such as pick up donuts for the choir and donut holes to be served in the narthex after service from Peter's Groceries every Sunday. I can even recall ushering for a few choir concerts. The IPCM group, led by Tom Wolfe, held many events-- both formal and informal (Hey Tom, remember coffee and donuts waiting outside the gates of Green Lakes State Park to play a round of golf?). But perhaps the most significant events were retreats at camp Casowasco on Owasco Lake. This led me to get involved a bit more there and be a camp counselor for a camp held over the summer in 1992. It was through that experience that I met my (now) wife Sue. But have I veered too far from the subject of Hendricks Chapel at this point? Not really, because Sue convinced me to audition for the choir (along with her) and during the Spring of 1993 we were both a part of that group. At the spring concert that year Sue and I both sang solo parts in Benjamin Britten's "Rejoice in the Lamb". It was a bittersweet moment when we finished because even though we both felt we did great on the solos, I had just received news the Friday before the concert that my place of employment was closing its doors and I was out of a job. I knew I would be leaving Syracuse that summer. Sure enough, I was off to New Jersey within 6 weeks with no obvious plans to ever return. But the chapel knew it wasn't done with me yet! Sue and I were engaged that December and deciding where to get married was not difficult! And even though we didn't end up getting married until October of 1995, that day the chapel felt just as warm and welcoming as it did when I was singing in the choir as it did when I attended that Easter Vigil service as it did to the ten year old back in 1978 who was seeing it for the first time. Our oldest son is 8 years old now... almost time to show him around the chapel for the first time! Thanks for all of the memories!

Lance Davis, Newhouse '94 and Amy Morris, Arts & Sciences '95

My husband and I saw your information on the celebration for Hendricks Chapel and we wanted to email you about our Hendricks Chapel experience. Our lives and the lives of family members have had wonderful experiences at Hendricks Chapel with Reverend Wolfe.

My mother used to work in the Bursar's office at SU and was remarried at Hendricks Chapel in a beautiful Christmas ceremony on December 16, 1995. She was married by Reverend Wolfe and it was then that I realized what an amazing person he is an how much he cares about people.

My husband (Lance Davis, Newhouse '94) and I (Amy Morris, Arts & Sciences '95) meet at Syracuse University. We meet my freshman year, his sophomore, and dated all throughout college and afterwards. Surprisingly enough I married someone that I meet my freshman year, who happened to live on my floor. So many people are shocked by that and seem to say that those early college matches never last. On August 8, 1998 we were married at Hendricks Chapel by Reverend Wolfe. He is an incredible man. Our wedding day was a beautiful HOT Syracuse day. It was the HOTEST day on record for Syracuse that summer. Unbeknownst to us we had a bridesmaid pass out during the ceremony. Reverend Wolfe carried on as calm as usual and never let on to us that anything was going on behind us (while a doctor from the congregation helped out the bridesmaid). We were pronounced man and wife and walked down the isle and were shocked when people told us that someone had passed out. We have wonderful pictures both inside the church, in the entryway and outside with all of the people who attended our wedding. That is our story.

Eric A. Lindstrom, Tenor, Hendricks Chapel Choir, Fall 1978 - Spring 1980. (M.A., 1983)

I was walking across the quad in front of Hendricks Chapel on a bright, sunny day in September, 1978. I was a new graduate student trying to find my way in life and around the university. I came upon a pretty, vivacious, blond woman sitting at a card table at the foot of the chapel steps. She was Dean John McComb's wife, Dorie. She was recruiting singers for the Hendricks Chapel Choir, then directed by Winston Stephens, Jr. The come-on was a cross-country concert tour from Syracuse to California the following May. Eleven concerts in 21 days. By bus. Nearly coast to coast. I took the bait, signed up, passed the audition, and eventually got on the bus.

In the fall of 1979 we were preparing our Christmas Concert. One of the pieces we were to perform was THE THREE KINGS with words by Laurence Housman and music by Healy Willan. It is a beautiful piece of music originally written for TTBB (Tenor, Tenor, Bass, Bass) voice parts. We were singing an SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) arrangement with some delicious high notes for sopranos and tenors. As long as I live, I will never forget this song. The first time I heard its last line it sent shivers up my spine. Still does. A more sacred command I've never heard. See what you think....

"Who knocks tonight so late," the weary porter said.
Three Kings stood at the gate, each with a crown on head.
The serving man bowed down, the inn was full, he knew.
Said he, "In all this town is no fit place for you.
A light the manger lit: there lay the Mother meek.
Said they, "This place is fit: Here is the rest we seek."
They loosed their latchet strings, so stood they all unshod.
Come in, come in ye Kings, ye Kings, ye Kings.
Come in and kiss the feet of God.

During Lent, 1980, some of us discovered the FIVE MYSTICAL SONGS with words by 17th century poet George Herbert and music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. These songs were written for baritone with choir, but in this instance I and another Tenor snagged the solos. For the Maundy Thursday evening communion service I sang LOVE BADE ME WELCOME in which God and Love are addressed as one.

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

A guest, I answer'd, worthy to be here:
Love said, you shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?

(Choir: Hums O Sacrum convivium)

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat.
So I did sit and eat.

For Easter Sunday morning service we sang EASTER--a more beautiful, hopeful song I have never heard. The solo part is robust and the choir's role is pure clarion.

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise
Without delays.
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With him may'st rise;
That, at his death calcined thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much more just.

Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thine art.
The cross taught all wood to resound his name
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.

Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song
Pleasant and long:
Or since all music is but three parts vied
And multiplied;
O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with his sweet art.

For me, these are two songs befitting a lifetime's contemplation. I have listened to recordings of them countless times. It is Holy Communion and Easter morning once again at each hearing.

In preparation for the 1980 Spring Concert and Spring Concert Tour--this time eastward to Boston and environs--a small subset of the choir learned the SERENADE TO MUSIC with words by William Shakespeare and music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. This work includes solos for 16 different singers who also sing together in harmony. After hearing its premier performance, Sergei Rachmaninov wrote in a letter to Sir Henry J. Wood, for whose jubilee it had been composed, that he had never been so moved by music. What more can I say?

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.

...Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Stll quiring to the young-ey'd cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst the muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.

Come ho! And wake Diana with a hymn;
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear,
And draw her home with music.

I am never merry when I hear sweet music,
The reason is, your spirits are attentive:
...The man that hath no music in himself
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, strategems and spoils;

Music! Hark!...It is the music of the house.
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day.
Silence bestows that virtue on it...
How many things by season season'd are
To their right praise and true perfection!
Peace ho! The moon sleeps with Endymion,
And would not be awak'd.

...Soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
(From The Merchant of Venice, Act V)

I experienced no greater joy or mystery at Syracuse than while singing in the Hendricks Chapel Choir. It was an unforgettable honor and privilege. It was a divine experience!