"Fessor" Charles H. Jones
~ A
Tribute ~
In
memory
September 11, 1915 ~ December 25, 2007
Playing ~ "The Lord Bless You and Keep
You"
~ with
sevenfold amen ~
by Peter C. Lutkin
1858-1931
This is probably the most special of all songs to me.
During my A Cappella Choir days at Carson-Newman
College, Jefferson City, Tennessee,
we
sang this song at the close of every rehearsal and every performance. A great many
of my fellow choir members from those days are still among my
very closest friends.
This included our beloved director, Charles H. Jones ("Fessor").
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Fessor and his wife, Ann, who also became a special friend to all of us!
"The Lord bless you and keep you,
The
Lord lift His countenance upon you,
And
give you peace,
and give you peace.
The Lord make His face to shine upon you,
And
be gracious unto you,
be gracious,
The
Lord be gracious,
gracious unto you.
Amen,
Amen, Amen,
Amen, Amen, Amen,
Amen."
~ Numbers 6: 24-26
Fessor came to Carson-Newman in 1946 and
retired in 1984. This tribute page for him is not intended to be
a history of his years at C-N. It is very personal and covers
only the time when we were his choir members
and/or music students ..... and then later beginning in the early
90s. Therefore, I cannot comment on the
intervening years after I graduated in 1952 until, for the most
part, 1992.
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Fessor
and Ann joined us at our GWGF Spring Fling in 2002 at Eight
Gables Inn, Gatlinburg.
After the candlelight dinner, they joined in the hilarious music
program and then at the close of
the evening are shown here as Fessor led us in "The
Benediction."
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I took this relaxing picture of Fessor and
Ann in 2005 at our GWGF annual Spring Fling.
They joined us at Cumberland Mountain State Park for lunch and
then went back with us
for an afternoon of fellowship at Nottingham Villas at Fairfield
Glade.
90th Birthday Celebration
We
celebrated Fessor's 90th birthday at homecoming, 2005. As usual,
Anna Joyce and Tommy Northern
had a special menu planned for our Friday night dinner. The room
was festive and quite a bit of "Fessor"
memorabilia was posted around the room. Emily and John Burgin had
received many tributes from Fessor's
former students and A Cappella Choir members. They put everything
together in a nice scrapbook which
was then presented to Fessor and Ann.
One
highlight of the evening for me was the playing of an old 45 RPM
recording of "The Creation" which the
A Cappella Choir had sung so often. In an actual performance, the
house lights in the church would dim with the
singing of the words "and darkness was upon the face of the
deep" ...... then the lights would come on suddenly
with the words "And God said, Let there be light, and there
was light!" (During the time that the lights were out,
Fessor directed us with a tiny pen light which presumably only
the choir could see.) We set the mood as best
we could at the dinner by controlling the lights in the room.
Following
is my own tribute to Fessor for his 90th birthday celebration.
There were many other
tributes in the scrapbook but, of course, I can't show all of
them.
(I retrieved the copy below, which is in Fessor's scrapbook, from
MWord where I wrote it.)
October 11, 2005
Dear Fessor,
Considering
that it has now been 57 years since I, and many others of us,
first met you, what a privilege it is for us to enjoy this
celebration
in honor of your wonderful 90 years!
Do you
remember what fun we all had 10 years ago as we celebrated
your 80th birthday! It’s hard to
believe 10 years have gone by since that
very rainy day at the Music Building
When I
entered Carson-Newman in 1948, I remember that my dearest desire
was to be a member of the A Cappella Choir. I was wild with
happiness
when I learned I had been chosen! Then ~ perhaps you recall ~
you decided that there were too many in the choir (or maybe you
just
weren’t
satisfied with our sound), and you held try-outs again that
2nd semester of my freshman year. I
dared not hope but I was still
in the choir! I don’t think my blood pressure could have
taken that again.
How I looked
forward to choir rehearsals, to performances at school,
to “The Messiah” each year, to Spring tours and to
shorter trips.
You became
the focal point of what I loved so dearly, and had all my life ~
music, and especially choir work. You gave our Ridgedale Trio, in
which
I sang with Barbara and Mary Ann, opportunities to perform, and
later I was
in the Girls’ Sextet with Yolanda, Doris Ruth, Shirley,
Kitty and Barbara.
You became a
friend to all of us and, although I’m sure you didn’t
realize it, you gave me much-needed confidence in myself.
Over the
years, I did see you on occasion, mostly at A Cappella Choir
concerts
where I eagerly awaited your asking choir alums to come down and
join
in singing “The Benediction.”
What a
privilege it has been to be with you and Ann since 1992 when
so many of us started coming back to Homecoming every year. With
so
many duties and other people to see, you’ve been so generous
to be with us
when you could. You have earned our love, respect and friendship.
We’ve
also loved being with Ann and enjoyed her talents, generosity of
time,
friendship, good humor and her wonderful laugh!
My memories
of four wonderful years at Carson-Newman are clear.
When I look at the big picture, other than the precious lifelong
friends
made during that time, my thoughts always are directed to you,
Fessor,
and to the A Cappella Choir. To me, you are
Carson-Newman!
Thank you,
not only for what you have meant to me,
but also for what you have meant to countless others!
“The Lord Bless You and Keep You!”
With friendship and much love ~
Carolyn
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I
snapped this picture of Fessor and Ann in March, 2007,
when they stopped by on their way to Texas to see Todd and his
family.
During homecoming,
2007, Fessor's health had reached the point that he needed to be
in the nursing home
there in Jefferson City for at least a period of time. Ann said
it would be fine for us to see him so
Barbara and I went for a visit. There is no way I could express
the joyous countenance on his face! And he was,
of course, as sharp as ever. We had a wonderful visit with him,
and we hugged him when we said "goodbye."
I had wondered, of course, how we would find him but he was happy
to see us and made me feel so good
and so thankful that we had been able to spend this time with him!
"For the common things of every day
God gave man speech in the common way;
For the deeper things men think and feel
God gave the poets to reveal;
For the heights and depths no words can
reach
God gave man music, the soul's own speech."
The following page
is devoted entirely to the remarks by Gene Wilder, Fessor's
pastor at First Baptist Church,
Jefferson City. His beautiful remarks are so much like Fessor,
and they echo the feelings of all of Fessor's
former students and certainly of those of us who were privileged
to be members of the A Cappella Choir.
Click for Graveside Remarks for "Fessor" by Dr. Gene Wilder
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