My Singing Story .. Jennifer French

Singing has been a part of my very  being since I was born!  Raised in a home where my mom sang to me, we all sang in choirs, classical music was the norm on the radio (KFSD anyone?)  And of course junior high and high school I was THE choir geek!  Performing has always been a passion of mine.  Fast forward almost 30 years from graduation, and after raising two kids, and being a Girl Scout leader for 11 - and finally graduating my now adult Girl Scouts - I happened upon the San Diego Chorus.  It was truly a life changing evening - my first visit to Rehearsal.  After my audition, an explanation of what Barbershop was (and boy was I confused!) and then being told I was a Baritone (?HUH?) I was up on the risers trying desperately to follow along!  But oh my!  My heart was lifted and the passion of singing good music just stunned me.  As I tell people, I was hooked within the first 15 minutes!  One whole year later, my excitement and passion hasn't waned.  In fact, it has grown exponentially!  I was very fortunate to be adopted by a Quartet (Chordial) and we competed in April and even won the Best Novice Quartet award!  My very first competition was in fact the Sweet Adeline International Contest in Houston.  Quite a baptism by fire!  I felt taken in and accepted wholly by this amazing group of women, nurtured and cared for immediately.  To the point, when we lost our home to a fire in February, 2012, it was two Chorus sisters who were there with me and my family that night.  The women of the Chorus reached out the entire time, and if my family or I had any needs, they were taken care of by them. And THAT was when I was a member for less than a year!   The San Diego Chorus has been an oasis in this time of my life.  Singing and pushing myself to get better under the direction of Kim Vaugn and the director team, competing with a group who want to win as much as I do, and growing emotionally, mentally and in all other ways is only the tip of the iceberg of how I feel.  I sing with women who have been doing this for 40 years, and I am determined to do the same!  

As my mentor told me my first night,  singing with the Chorus "is like drinking from a fire hose".  And yes, it is.  But I find that I've become accustomed to being blown away with how much work, practice, patience and trust in myself it's taken me to become a Sweet Adeline!   And while I'm holding the wily, winding, waggling end of the fire hose, taking tiny sips every week, the base of that hose is firmly connected to the amazingly strong group of women, whom I am ever so privileged to call my Singing Sisters; women who have handily changed my life!  

Jennifer French

The Red-Headed Baritone

Rookie of the Year 2011/2012

Chordial Baritone - Winner of the 2012 Novice Quartet of the Year

And grateful Member of the San Diego Chorus - Sweet Adelines

My Singing Story ... Bonita Cross

My name is Bonita (Bonnie) Cross and I am an Emeritus member of the San Diego Chorus.  I joined Sweet Adelines in 1955 at the invitation of my cousin, Eethyle Ford, Jan Stauffer's mom.  In 1955 I was one of about 12 members of the San Diego Chorus, but not a charter member.  We sat on picnic benches and met in the art buildings, across from the big tree by the museum of Natural History in Balboa Park.  I think it was or is called Spanish Village.  I can't remember who the director was, but we had a grand time singing all of the "old" songs; and I mean "old".  I guess some of them are still sung today, but the arrangements have changed a lot.  It was exciting for me since I wasn't even aware there was such an organization for women.  I started out singing tenor in a quartet called the Gad-a-bouts. The quartet members were Mac Taylor, Mary Reimer Peterson, Eethyle Ford and me. Because there were no arrangements for women's voices at that time, we sang the men's arrangements so I was in the clouds as far as the tenor voice was concerned. One of the most popular songs we sang was “Silver Dollar”.  We went to our first Regional competition in Phoenix which was judged by men judges because there were no women's judges at that time.  We placed 4th.  We were so proud of that accomplishment.

After the Gad-a-bouts disbanded I made the vocal change to bass and found it was more to my liking. One of the members, Mac Taylor, the bari in my old quartet, lived in El Cajon and felt that a chapter would be good for the area so she wanted to start a chapter there. Eethyle, Mary Reimer Peterson and I packed up and went to help Mac form the chorus there.  It was named the Singing Hills chorus.  Our chorus director was Gerry Reimer, husband of Mary.  He also coached our quartet. Although we continued to grow as a chapter, we were never very big in size, but we could sing a song with the best of them.  After Mac passed away, Eethyle and daughter Jan moved on to the San Diego chorus.  I stayed on with Singing Hills.  Mary also stayed with Singing Hills for a while and then resigned to be at home with family.  I sang in another quartet with Pattie Glendenning, Ann McGowan and Patsy Swafford.   We named ourselves The Savoire Faire and at a performance we were introduced as the "Savior Fairies" Boy, did we ever get a kick out of that and it's something we joke about to this day.  In another quartet I sang with Pattie, Patsy and a new tenor named Joan Bruner.  Pattie was the lead and Patsy was the bari (you know, the part that's left over!)  We named ourselves The Midas Touch.  Unfortunately we didn't see any gold, but we sure had a good time trying.  Sing in a quartet, it's an experience!

We had several directors in Singing Hills chorus, each one doing what they did best.  Gerry Reimer, Ann McGowan, Pat Vozza, who went on to become a queen of harmony.  She took us to small chorus contest and we won the regional small chorus award.  Sally Brumfield was another director and I also sang in a quartet with her. She sang tenor too!  Thank goodness....  She also took us to small chorus regionally.

I can't remember the details but in about 1985 or so, Singing Hills voted to disband.  Several of us decided to go to the San Diego chorus.  It was not too long after San Diego Chorus director Marvin Yerke’s passing that an upcoming new director by the name of Kim Bone took over. As many of you know, that turned out to be a gift that none of us could have imagined.  At that time San Diego was working on their music for International in Kansas City so my first International competition was with them.  What an experience!  Later on I had the opportunity to be in the front row for another International and I loved it.  I'm proud of the medals I've won while with San Diego Chorus.  We sang some great songs, worked really hard and had so much fun.  I retired from the chorus in 1995, shortly after competition.  It was the most wonderful time of my life and I enjoyed every one of those 40+ years. It is a part of my life I will never forget.  Once a Sweet Adeline, always a Sweet Adeline.  Open the refrigerator door (with the light on) and I'll do 20 minutes....WHAT A LIFE!