Growing up, I was the baby of the family, my immediate family as well as of all my cousins. Littte did I know I would become the baby of the Pittsburgh Chapter (Thanks for nothing, Rich). Well, in September, 1952,I came into this world at West Penn Hospital. I grew up with my older sister, Janet, in Rankin, PA, where I went through grade 7 and then shifted to St. Anselm's in Swissvale, from which I graduated from high school.

But, before I graduated from high school in 1970, I had long endured the music bug. I sang in chorus from grades 6 to 12 and played trumpet in grades 6 and 7. I even had my first barbershop experience in grade 9 with three fellow classmates. We had the derby hats and striped vests. Did a decent job at tenor, back then, with "East Side, West Side" and "Casey Would Waltz With The Strawberry Blond."

The highlight of my college career at Notre Dame was not my BS in Chemical Engineenng, but my four years in the Glee Club. I was reminded of barbershop by a quartet of upper classmen, who did "Rigoletto" and "Coney Island Baby."

In this issue
Topic	Page
Gary Corpora Bio	1
Calendar, Org., press block, BD's & Anniv.	2
Editor's page	3
Board Highlights + Gordon Lightfoot	4
Barbershop at Kennywood + We Perform	5
Kennywood photo montage	6    &    7
We Perform (cont.) + 2006 Int'l Convention	8
2006 Int'l Convention (cont.)	9
Jerome Kern + Songs We Sing	10
SAFARI so good + History Quiz	11
History Quiz Answers	12

I joined Westinghouse Nuclear right out of school in 1974 and still work there (well, I show up, anyway). Married my high school sweetheart, Louise Rihn, on 10/22/77, the day of a great Notre Dame victory over USC. My dear wife even gave me the score as she strolled down the aisle. Go Irish! Well, God blessed us with a son, Adam, in 1981 and a daughter, Lorraine, in 1983. Adam was married in Oct. 2005, and Lorraine was married in June, 2006. Boy, am I broke.

My introduction to barbershop was a bit of a fluke. Louise and I joined a card club at our church, and our game at Dave and Evie Welsh's parlor was memorable. Dave just asked, "Do you like Barbershop music?" "Yes," I said." "Got a favorite song?" "OK Coney island Baby." "Who would you. like to hear sing it?" "Say what??"

Well, Dave invited me to come to a meeting in the summer of 1994 (I just missed the convention!), Louise encouraged me, and the rest is history. Sure miss Dave.

The moral of my story is, Know when to hold em, Know when to fold 'em." And don't ever play cards with a barbershopper. [unless of course you are interested in barbershop.]

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