Golden Memories SWD Chapters
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WACO, TX.
Chorus on the Brazos by Charlie Barrett |
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Chorus on the Brazos, 1986
| In January 1985, James Taylor and Charlie
Barrett got together over a cup of coffee to discuss the possibility of
starting a barbershop chorus in the Waco area. Charlie had an old roster
of a previous chapter (Heart '0 Texas Chorus) that was dissolved in 1975.
We began a telephone survey to see if we could muster enough people to
create some barbershop excitement in the Waco vicinity. Sure enough we
recruited eight men to meet at Charlie's house and "bust a few". This process
went on until May of 1985. At that time we had about eleven men regularly
attending and had found a qualified director in none other than Doug Claybrook.
Doug did not have very much barbershop experience so we took him to a couple
of shows in Dallas-Fort Worth area Including the "Vocal Majority". This
really set him offi
In June of 1985 we formed a steering committee to form a chapter. Charles Barrett was elected to act as president of the steering committee. Kelly Johnson of Arlington did yeoman's work directing |
our efforts and securing the Arlington chapter
to be our sponsoring chapter. We organized a super guest night on Saturday
afternoon at McLennan Community College with the full support of the Arlington
chorus and their quartets. We had about 90 people to observe the festivities.
It was a roaring success. We secured a real good list of prospects.
We continued to push for members and to perform at every occasion to keep us in the public eye. It worked! On October 1, 1985 we filled in the licensing papers for International with 38 men signing up. Wow! In November, District President Julian White presented us our official charter. Our director, Douglas Claybrook gave us notice of his departure to other adventures. Lucky for us, an old experienced barbershopper volunteered to step in as director of our chorus. It was none other than Dr. Joe Brothers who was a certified harmony accuracy judge. Dr. Joe really grabbed the reins and the chorus immediately got a shot in the arm. We held our course and remained resolute in our |
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How It All Began Chapters Chapter Histories International Quartet Champions ChorusesAdministration
Contests and Conventions Registered Quartets Publications Recognitions In Conclusion