Choir sings for its supper
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REDDING, Calif. — No crowds gathered to greet members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir when their nine buses pulled into a parking lot at the Redding California Stake Center around 7 p.m. June 26. Nor was there a concert scheduled on day nine of its 16-day tour of the Pacific Northwest States.
The choir began its longest day of travel that morning, leaving Portland, Ore., about 10:30 a.m., after having attended a sacrament meeting at a hotel at 7:30 a.m. They would reach their destination in San Francisco around midnight.
Barry Anderson, the choir's administrative manager, arranged for a dinner stop to be held in Redding about 6:30 p.m. He arranged for a caterer, then faced the challenge of finding a place to serve a hot meal to some 500 people. President Kent Wiseman of the Redding California Stake advised against having the meal served in a park because of the summer heat. So Brother Anderson arranged for the meal to be served at the stake center.
Some 50 members of the stake were called to set up tables and chairs and serve the choir. "Brother Anderson told President Wiseman that the choir would sing for their supper," said Jennifer Pulice of stake public affairs.
After dinner, Richard Elliott, an organist traveling with the choir, began playing the organ in the chapel. Choir members, seated in the cultural hall and the chapel's overflow area, stood and sang "Come, Come, Ye Saints."
"Then they turned around and looked at us (who had served the meal and set up tables and chairs) and sang 'God Be With You,' " said Annette Jensen, who was there with her husband, Rick, and their three children, Hunter, 10; Amanda, 8; and Amber, 6. "There was not a dry eye among us. It was an honor and a privilege to serve the Tabernacle Choir. It was one of the highlights of my life.
"When the choir sang, our children were glued to them. Afterward, several members of the choir shook our hands. We all went home, sat at the kitchen table and wrote about the experience," she said.
