Kermit Wells Honored as Moline Boys Choir Director

After 54 years, choir director to bid farewell - Quad Cities Online:


The annual Moline Boys Choir spring concert later this month will be extra special -- not only because the April 29 program will inaugurate the new auditorium at John Deere Middle School, but that the choir, alumni and community will bid farewell to its longtime director, Kermit Wells.

After 54 years with the choir, Mr. Wells, 75, will retire this summer. The beloved choir (now with 36 regular members and 14 younger cadets) was founded by Frederick Swanson in 1948; Mr. Wells joined as an assistant in 1958. The MBC has toured the country and overseas, made many recordings, and included as many as 200 boys in three separate groups in the 1980s.

"I still enjoy teaching the kids; I don't have energy for concertizing," Mr. Wells said. "It takes so much stress, physical endurance for the concerts. I just don't have the energy for it. "

Former music coordinator for the Moline School District and a junior-high and high-school music teacher (he retired in 1995), Mr. Wells has directed MBC since 1973. He leads five one-hour rehearsals a week at the Coolidge auditorium; singers -- from second through ninth grades -- are required to attend at least two each week, and three in the weeks leading up to a concert. Mr. Wells often doesn't see the whole choir together until the concert.

The holiday season is a busy time for the choir, with several concerts in November and December. Each spring's concert usually features alumni, and the 3 p.m. concert April 29 should be extra full, given Mr. Wells' announcement, said choir alum Steve Slininger, of Silvis, who serves on the board and is heading up the search committee.

"It was pretty amazing," he said of the director's half-century tenure. "When I was a boy, the transformation occurred from Dr. Swanson to Mr. Wells. He was planning to do this on a temporary basis. He's been doing it temporary for 54 years."

"He was very big on tradition," Mr. Slininger said of Mr. Wells, who also taught his three brothers, and his son, Brian. "We kept up a lot of activities we did when I was a boy. He has his own different style of dealing with the boys. It used to be we never got away with anything."

The choir has hundreds of people across the country on its mailing list, and would like to find an alumnus to succeed Mr. Wells. "It should be somebody who knows the boys choir procedure," he said.

Mr. Slininger said the goal is to hire a new director by August. As he's done for 50 years, Mr. Wells will accompany a group of choir members to a week-long camp in Green Lake, Wis., in July. During the summer, the choir doesn't rehearse regularly, but meets for the week before the trip, and performs while there.

Mr. Wells said he's proudest of getting boys interested and involved in music.

"It's something boys don't come by naturally," he said. "To boys, music singing is a girl thing. Once they get into it, get to know each other, they enjoy each other -- the music, the applause and the standing ovations."

Now it's time for their dedicated director to take a bow.

Quotes from Boys Choir alumni

Reactions to Kermit Wells' decision to retire poured forth in a strong, sustained chorus on the Facebook page "Moline Boys Choir For Life":

Matt Sedlak: "Mr. Wells, you taught me so much. You taught me to believe in myself and to not be ashamed of the voice and personality God gave me. Thank you for being my Moline Boys Choir Director."
Jeff De Leon: "An era is truly coming to an end. Thank you for everything you've done to inspire youth to pursue the arts in the Q.C. and for being an incredible teacher."

Chadwick Vogel: "There never was a more dedicated, wonderful director. Thank you for the years of discipline, and beautiful music you gave to each and every member of the choir."

Tom Mahalla: "But how can one replace that which is irreplaceable?"

Peter Holst: "Thank you is not enough. You have been such a guiding influence in so many young lives. Thank you Mr. Wells!!!!!"

Steve Van Daele: "Kermit, you have been such a positive influence to 'your' boys over the years. One can tell by the following you have from afar on FB. Your dedication has given many the 'escape' they were always looking for. I am proud being an Alumni of the MBC."

Andrew Swenson: "Kermit, Many thanks for your years of service to MBC! My MBC experience provided a solid foundation for almost 40 years of choral singing, an indispensable part of my life. You were a big part of that MBC experience."

Bruce John is in the center, fifth row,
and John Robeson (redhead) is fourth row, on the right.
Dr. Fred Swanson is directing this Christmas concert, probably 1960.

'via Blog this'








Left click for more detail.

Larry Eyre's mother kept this certificate for 50 years. The fine print is worth reading - "not for pecuniary profit."

John Robeson, MBC member from the same year, sent some scans which were posted.

Kermit Wells Provided These Photos of the Moline Boys Choir, 1960

Reprise: Moline Boys Choir

Can you find Linda Nelson Pearson's son Troy?

"A Teacher Affects Eternity; He Can Never Tell Where His Influence Stops.” Henry Brooks Adams

Bruce Johnson (l.), George Small (c.), and Jim Krohn
were part of the Garfield Gashouse Gang,
denounced by Mr. McAllister at John Deere Junior High.

I was talking to George Small, one of my more hilarious friends from Garfield and John Deere. I asked, "Have you recovered from the Panama Canal?"

Someone just posted the newspaper article in Facebook, where George and others were working on a mock-up of the Panama Canal.

George said, "Recovered? That is why I became an engineer. Your mother had us create this model of the Panama Canal and she explained everything, how the gates and locks and everything else worked. It was tactile experience. I told myself - this is what I want to do in life. And I became an engineer. And later, I got to see it myself. It was exactly the way we were taught and worked just as your mother told us. It was fantastic."

Robert Millman, Michael Rothweiler,
George Small, and the late Terry Carlson worked on the model
in this Moline Dispatch article.

Then George brought up my mother's ring with the rock embedded in it. She reversed it in her hand and used it to clonk students who were not behaving. "I remember your mother's ring."

One ring to rule George Small,
and in the classroom bind him.

I said, "My wife wore the ring for the dinner tonight."

George got more excited. "She has it? Where is your wife? Excuse me. I have to go see it."

I walked over in a minute or two. Chris told me that George asked her to clonk him twice on the head. He claimed that one crack in the ring probably came from his head. More than one of her students brought up "the ring" at various times.

George and I, not to mention many others, talked about the great teachers we had in the Moline system. They agreed that we got the benefits of a very large private school with the best teachers. They went out of their way to do things for the students, such as taking them on overnight trips.

People often bring up Mary Copeland, Liz Copeland's mother, as one of their favorite teachers. Steph Sundine told a reporter that she got into music through Mrs. Leland, the singing teacher at Garfield with the angelic voice. Many guys were in the Moline Boys Choir - Lawrence Eyre, Bruce Johnson, Greg Keller, John Robeson, and more. Their director, Fred Swanson, had a PhD in music.

Alan Hoffman, our PhD rocket scientist, was encouraged by Mr. Goar at MHS to study physics. That chem-physics class was a riot, in and out of class.

Rex Bullock, whose entire ministry has involved singing, mentioned the musical ability of Mr. Partridge at MHS. There was no field, vocation, or skill that students could not pursue. We had so much available that we took it for granted, but everyone agreed, "We were prepared for college and anything else we wanted to do."

John Robeson, PhD, the late Margaret Carr, and Jim Patronagio
showed off their skills in this Line O Type article.
Mary Parsons, Debbie Mitchell, Rosemary Flatley, Jackie Ozanne,
Dean Parker,and Lawrence Eyre are also mentioned.
The class crushed my science hopes but launched a career in writing song parodies.

For One Brief Shining Moment We Were Allowed To Wear Shorts

Bruce Johnson and Sharlene Carlson became lawyers, so they switched to briefs.

Gas and Electric Awards

Bruce Johnson Congratulated Bruce Johnson

The one feature I remembered from our senior year is Bruce congratulating Bruce.

Senior Class Photos, Moline High School, 1966:The Class the Stars Fell On

Moline High School, when the buildings were brand new.

Many people have lost track of their M, the famous one with the unique madras cover.

Lawrence Eyre loaned me his, so I scanned the most interesting pages into this blog and my Facebook albums.

I decided to add the senior photos, since another class did that with their website.

I had a lot of fun doing it. Unfortunately, a blob of rubber cement from the binding kept appearing on some photos, but inconsistently. I thought it was a scanning error, until I saw formations over some of the faces. When I Photoshopped the blob away, the faces were even more disfigured, far worse than teen acne. I scanned most of them again.

The job reminded me of working at Melo-Cream, except I did not get to enjoy under the counter snacks. Our three-legged cattle dog made up for it by insisting on a trip to Dairy Queen, down the hill. That made uploading 60 pages a little easier.

If you are a Facebook friend you can also page through the senior photos there by left clicking each. Feel free to add tags.

I am looking for photos, digital or printed, of school days in Moline. I am happy to scan and return them. For many, the photos are a priceless return to those happy days when we had wonderful, dedicated teachers and the best possible education. I have told many people, "I went through a public school system that was more like the best private schools."

Those happy days unite our friendships today.

The subtitle of the class album comes from a remark Bruce Johnson made, at one of our reunions, alluding to a West Point class which turned out to be full of future generals. He said, "We were the class the stars fell on." He might have meant to be ironic, sardonic, or humorous, but I think it fits.

Concert Band, Leo Brunner

Leo Brunner can be seen in the back row of this band photo,
fifth from the right.
Bruce Johnson is in the third row, sixth from the right.
The blogger is the only guy in the front row.

The Bad Seed

Literary Board

More Moline Boys Choir - 1960s

John Robeson sent this photo of the Moline Boys Choir singing in the 1960s, 50 years ago today.

Bruce can be located by looking above Fred Swanson's head and a little to the left.

John is the redhead on the far right, middle row.

In the future, I hope to have more information and photos about the Moline Boys Choir.
posted.