Serving the choir at stop in Kansas
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HAYS, KANSAS
Imagine being in charge of 569 people crowded onto 11 buses for a trip that would take more than 12 hours. One detail of the journey is far from minor: How and where will you feed such a large group?
Barry Anderson, administrative manager of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, had that challenge. As he looked at a map while planning the tour, he couldn't find any city that would have a restaurant capable of accommodating members of the choir, Orchestra at Temple Square and guests as they approached the dinner hour while riding through Kansas on Sunday, June 28, en route from Oklahoma City to Denver.
Then he was put in touch with a Church member who recommended that dinner be served in the student union building at Fort Hays State University. "Chartwells (the company that caters for the university) asked members of the Hays Ward to provide around two dozen volunteers. I believe we had around 30 members show up but we could have had many more," said Bishop John Moore. "My problem was that more people wanted to come than we needed. Everybody wanted to come."
Hays Ward members staffed the buffet line, replenished food, waited on tables and gave the weary travelers the warmest welcome possible.
Put yourself in their shoes: You're a Latter-day Saint, among a minority in your community and attend a small ward. Then 569 members of the Church show up. And those aren't just any fellow members. They're the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. And they sing — just for you.
Ryan Murphy, the new associate music director of the choir who had officially begun his duties just days before the tour began, led the choir in singing "Come, Come, Ye Saints" and "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again."
Tissues, backs of hands, shirt sleeves and aprons were put to use as the Hays Ward members wiped tears while listening to the choir. Bob and Jan Dysart fought their emotions, but tears brimmed.
"We've never had nearly 600 members of the Church come to Hays," Sister Dysart said. "I didn't get to go to the concert (in Kansas City, Mo.). It was amazingly powerful to have the choir sing just for us."
As the tour group entered the student union building they were greeted with piano music. Maureen Miles of Dearborn, Mich., decided to come to visit her daughter, Jennifer Riggins, and attend the concert in Kansas City. She ended up tending her grandchildren while others went to the concert.
"I cried when my daughter came home and told me about the concert, how wonderful it was," she said. "I decided to come over here today and play for the choir just so I could be close to them."
And close she was. She heard just two hymns but, certainly, it was a "concert" she's unlikely to forget.
