Singing Valentines Stories 2008The stories below are from FWD quartet's experiences while delivering Singing Valentines. If you have a heart warming story to share, please send it to webmaster@spebsqsafwd.org Newer stories will be added at the top, so come back frequently to catch up on recent entries.
Stockton, CA -- Scramble 2 QuartetThe Valentine Quartet we labeled "Scramble 2" was video taped at the Valley Brew restaurant by the local newspaper The Record. They were featured with a color picture on the front page of the local section. The video clip could be seen on The Record website. Good coverage. The group consisted of Bill Legg, Lead; Jim Herrington, Tenor; John Eilers, Baritone and first time participant Don Hickinbotham, Bass. Don is a long time member of the chapter and we finally talked him into partaking in this fun time function. Jim and John sang full time from 8am to 8pm with the equivalant of 42 valentines. We haven't seen John since.
Kep Keplinger Fullerton, CA -- Cheers QuartetThe quartet I sang with, called Cheers, sang to 10 ladies or groups of people. One of the most unusual ones was singing to a young lady at Pearson Park in Anaheim. This is the same park where the Fullerton Chapter puts on their annual Harmony Under the Stars show that raises so much money for Youth in Harmony. We were told to go to the east side of the park and look for a girl holding a red rose. She would be our recipient. Well, we arrived early, just in case, and found no girl. After waiting about 15 minutes, we thought we saw someone on the other side of the park that might meet the description. We drove over there only to find out it was an older gentleman who looked like he had slept there. So it was back to the other side of the park again. As we were making the turn, a car approached the intersection to our left. The young lady in the car followed us and parked two spaces away from us. She did not know who we were or why we were there. We just waited in the car as we watched her get out of her car, put on her coat (it was cold and windy), and take a red rose off the passenger seat, then walk over to a nearby bench and sit down. It looked like out girl had arrived! As we approached, we asked her if she was expecting someone. She replied that she was instructed by her boyfriend to go to the park and wait for a special Valentines Day gift. She had no idea what to expect. We told her we were her gift and proceeded to deliver the Singing Valentine. Of course, she absolutely loved it, and it turned out that we had sung to her at the Fullerton Chapter's Christmas Cabaret just two months before. Another special one was presenting a Singing Valentine to my wife at her work When I sang with the Whittier Chapter, I used to have Singing Valentines delivered to my wife almost every year. She, and of course, her fellow office workers always enjoyed the experience and after a while grew to expect them. But after about 10 years of this, I decided to do something different one year. That was a big mistake, because one of her fellow workers had come prepared with video camera, still camera, and tape recorder to capture the experience he had heard so much about, before he went back to his home country of China. Man, did I hear about the great upset when I got home that night after singing to 18 other women and some men. So this year, my wife asked me if I would send her a Singing Valentine. Now, I had been taking one day off each week for several weeks and this week, I took Thursday off. My wife noted that this was a different day than I usually took off, and on Wednesday, she asked me suddenly, "So, how is the quartet going?" I was trying to keep the Singing Valentine a secret, so I replied, "What quartet? I'm taking the car in for service tomorrow!" She decided to believe that instead of the idea of me delivering Singing Valentines the next day, just in case I was telling the truth. On Thursday morning, just to make it more convincing, I left the house in raggy clothes because I don't care how I look when I'm sitting in a car dealership waiting for my car. I also made a point of grabbing the valet key on my way out the door. As it turned out, she didn't even notice what I was wearing. (Oh well, I tried.) She was the last delivery of the day, and at about 3:00 we crept into her office, signaling the growing crowd to be quiet. We stood right behind her in her office and she didn't have a clue we were there until the baritone blew the pitchpipe! I later found out that her first thought when she heard the pipe was, "Oh goody, they're here!" We made our delivery and on the way out, listened to the comments of her coworkers. I always love to hear those comments because they tell you just how special this gift is. Their comment to my wife was, "Tina, you are so lucky!" Her reply was, "You bet I am!" It is a really special thing to be making a Singing Valentine delivery and, as you are walking in to find your recipient, hear comments like, "Wow, who are those guys all dressed up so pretty and who are they going to sing for?" Yes, they KNOW you are there to sing for someone. And then it gets even better when you're done and leaving. I can't say enough about how great of an experience this is for US the singers. Sure our recipients get a big surprise and they are usually delighted with the special attention and warm thoughts from their loved one who sent us. But the thrill that we the singers get from making these deliveries is also very special. The difference is that we get that thrill many times during the day. Thanks, Keith, for collecting these neat stories.
Dave Gunther, Fullerton, CAWe went to a prenatal center for a mini-show. The husbands of 10 expectant mothers set up tables, each with it's own unique decorations and laid out a buffet. The dinner and the quartet were a surprise to the ladies. We sang for about 20 minutes using love songs from the big band era and polecats. The ladies, all in their 20s, commented that they enjoyed the singing and that none of the songs were familiar to them. I hope it wasn't because the of way we sang them. Dennis Woodson Central CaliforniaA young lady called and was very excited to reserve a Valengram for her new boyfriend. S he made all the arrangements and was thrilled to know that it would be delivered with a Polaroid photo of the recipient surrounded by the quartet, a real rose, the card with a very romantic sentiment and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” as her special song. She made sure that we would be there by calling me several days before to remind me of our arrangement for delivery. However, the day before Valentine’s Day, s he called in tears and said that she caught her boyfriend in an amorous activity with one of her “friends”. Needless to say, she cancelled the event with the comment: “I’m not paying $45 for that bum!!” Howard Barber Sacramento, CA -- ILLUSION QuartetOur quartet ILLUSION delivered a Valentine to a lady working in a Circle K in Folsom. As we left and walked back to our car a man walked out of a store and said "We need a Barbershop Quartet!" I looked up a d realized we were standing in front of a barbershop and replied "We just happen to be a barbershop quartet!" and proceeded to walk inside. There happened to be a very pretty lady working there that day so I called the other guys in and we sang Let Me Call You Sweetheart for her. The two young barbers were so impressed that we were hired on the spot to go sing for their wives. While singing for one of the wives we got another gig for later in the day. AL Treadway Lead for ILLUSION Placerville, CA -- PayDirt QuartetI had the privilege of subbing for the Bass of the PayDirt quartet who is not quite ready to sing after surgery. We delivered 15 valentines and about that many freebies too. The most memorable was a freebie on the way out of a county building where we sang to the Elections Office staff that was still counting ballots. As we passed the reception desk the two women there asked who we were and what brought us there. We explained our delivery, then we looked at each other and nodded yes. At the sound of our pitch pipe, one women said "Wait, it's Sherrie's birthday", and off she ran to find her. About a dozen people showed up with Sherrie, so first we sang Happy Birthday and she beamed. Then we sang Let Me Call You Sweetheart and they all beamed. It is so fun to put smiles on so many faces. I considered Valentines the best barbershopping day of the year. Keith Eckhardt Central California -- The FourTune Hunters QuartetWell, I'm almost fully recovered from our 250 mile, 30 valengram efforts of last Thursday. The FourTune Hunters (Nor-Cal East/Northern Nevada Senior Champs) really put in a day. We started at 7:45 AM and got home around 8:30 PM. A great day full of great memories. The one that stands out the most is the one we did at "Tranquility House", which is a shelter for battered women. There were about 30 women there who sat in chairs and on the floor so we could deliver this valentine to one young lady from her father. There were so many tears (especially from the recipient). We joked later about how we always bring an audience to tears with our singing, but this was truly a memorable experience. Roy Anderson, Bass La Jolla, CA -- Smooth Sailin' QuartetPacific Coast Harmony and the La Jolla chapter delivered about 75 SVs. We charge $50 and deliver 2 songs, a card, 2 balloons, and a bag of chocolate mints. This year, we teamed with the local section of Operation Homefront, a volunteer organization that caters to the needs of families of deployed military personnel. OH solicited requests from the deployed USS Nimitz, based here in San Diego, and got 300 responses in the first day. Fortunately, they had anticipated that and had made it a drawing. Through personal contact, a corporate sponsor put up $1000 to deliver 30 OH SVs. On the advertising side, we did run into reluctance from businesses to put up advertising. This was especially true of corporate chains like Denny's. Local single-owner businesses were fine with it. Paul Girard Prescott, AZPicture this: On February 14th, a foursome dressed in tux pants, pastel shirts, white bow ties and dinner jackets walking through a snowstorm to find the preschool classroom in which Laurie taught. She and two other teachers were working with six little 4-year-olds when we entered. The world stopped when we presented Laurie with a long-stemmed rose, a beautiful Valentine, and two songs. What we didn't expect was one little guy who, with a big smile on his face, clamped his hands over his ears and began to screech loudly. He was quickly quieted, he listened, and then clapped along with everyone else when our songs were over. We told him to check back with us in 14 years as we'll probably need a new baritone by then.
Sam Stimple Tucson, AZ -- Chord Conspiracy QuartetI sang as a substitute bass in the Chord Conspiracy Quartet. Ken Sylvia, the real bass, was unable to be there because of an illness. One of the valentines we sang was for a woman who worked at the Boys and Girls Club of greater Tucson. We were to meet the boyfriend out front at around 11:00. We did meet up with him and in making the final arrangements, he asked if he could sing “Happy Valentines to you” along with us to the tune of Happy Birthday. We wondered about his singing background, and he opened his vest to show us his name badge! He sang in the Collegiate Barbershop Quartet International contest in around 1996 with the “Acapellas” from Seattle! His name is Tad, but I didn’t get the last name. We are encouraging him to come sing with our chorus now, and hope he will begin to do so. His girlfriend was touched, surprised, and tearful throughout the singing. Tad did a creditable job on Lead for “Happy Valentine’s” as well. Another that we did truly surprised the woman. As we launched into “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” she said something like “Does he know what you’re singing? He’s just a client!” She was a bit nonplussed by the romantic nature of the song! So for the second song, we lit into “Beer Barrel Polka,” and that went over much better!
David Updegraff Orange, CA -- Balderdash Quartet*My favorite is the Valentine we did at the Sheriff’s Department in Santa Ana. The building itself was awesome! Like a fortress but nice with Bulletproof Glass and all that stuff! People walking around with Uniforms and Side- Arms, yes, I even saw a Shotgun! But, everyone who saw us would break into a smile. I believe they knew what we were up to and who the poor guy was that we were seeking. We were escorted to an elevator and up we went. We went into a nice working Area with a large opening into an area of cubicles. They called out his name (I won’t mention his name because he would be embarrassed if it ever got out). As he came around the corner, he knew something dastardly was going to happen , so he drew his gun!--(Whoa! just kidding!). Anyhow, he bolted but two big uniformed officers held onto him—he nearly brought one of the cubicle walls down trying to hold onto it for dear life as they were dragging him bodily towards us. Anyhow, he finally got resigned to his fate as we proceeded to sing him our two Songs of Love. OOO it was so tough for him. He was properly embarrassed and chagrined and resigned to his fate. *We had to sing a Valentine to a Grandma given to her by her daughter. The Instructions were as follows: “Knock on the door and if she won’t let you in call me!”. Well, when we got there a young man with a hand held movie camera was waiting outside. We knocked on the door and a young gal opened the door. We told her why we were there and asked if we could come in as it was pretty cool outside. She asked us to wait and we heard some rustling from inside and pretty soon the young lady appeared at the door with her grandma. Well, Grand- ma wasn’t about to let us in. Grandma was in a bathrobe and was standing there barefoot, but she was willing to listen to our songs. Almost immediately, after we started to sing, tears started to well up in her eyes. It was obvious she was touched. To us it was well worth the effort. She was one sweet lady. *We went into one of the main offices of AAA’s insurance section. It was very nice and classy—-a lot of offices and cubicles. Two beautiful young receptionists got very excited, literally screaming, “they’re here, where is she?”, opening doors and running down hallways. We were escorted down a long hallway and into a cubicle office just off the hallway. The recipient of our Valentine gift was just being escorted by some of her cohorts to her office. She was a very pretty and demure, affectedly modest and coy. There were 20 to 30 employees stopping work and standing outside offices cubicles and hallways to take part in what was going on. The very moment we started to sing, she started to cry. She never stopped crying the whole time we were singing. She was having a hard time composing herself but she never quite recovered. She was apparently very much in love with the individual who sent her the gift-- that and the embarrassment of being front and center was a bit much for her. It was a sweet moment for all involved. I could go on and on but it would take me an awful long time. Hopefully some Of the other Quartets can share their unique experiences. In every Valentine sing we gave each recipient a Card, a Rose and a picture taken with the Quartet. It seems to me that the picture part of it means a lot to them. Balderdash Light was comprised of Rich Martinez, Tenor—Dave Gryvnak, Lead—Ken Tillmanns, Baritone—Don Engle, Bass and sang Valentines onWednesday, February 13, 2008. Our thanks to Don Engle for filling in to make the day possible. Balderdash was comprised of Rich Martinez, Tenor—Dave Gryvnak, Lead—Ken Tillmanns,Baritone—Mike Warner, Bass and sang Valentines on Thursday, February 14, 2008. |
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