Part XVIII: "The Remarkable Sixty-Year Survival of Prof. Mahrt's St. Ann Choir”
50th and 44th Anniversary celebrations
The article in the middle of the slide was taken verbatim from a press release I sent out before the 50th anniversary and was printed in St. Thomas Aquinas Church bulletin. The “Valley Catholic” printed an excerpt from the same press release.
The poster on the left includes a drawing by Susan Altstatt from an earlier anniversary—which I Photoshopped to make the lettering circle the drawing and to change the number to 50.
The photos are from the celebration after the 50th anniversary Mass in the basement of Thomas House. Long-time choir member Lynn Toribara presented Prof. Mahrt with gifts from the choir, a book of choir memories and the latest model iPad.
44TH ANNIVERSARY
The photos are from the celebration after the 44th anniversary Mass in the garden between the church and Thomas House. The late Mary Fischer, who was a former choir member by the time I joined, ordered a strawberries and cream filled cake for the St. Ann Choir's 44th anniversary from an upscale Los Altos Hills bakery, It was the coolest cake I've ever seen, all in perfect taste. Besides the fresh strawberry decoration sparkling with sugar, it had a Gregorian chant Alleluia! And a Latin inscription:
Schola Sanctae Annae
Anno quadragesimo quarto
Ad multos annos!!
St. Ann Choir
Year Forty-four
To many years [more]!!
Photos in the slide show frequent celebrant Fr. Francisco Nahoe, O.F.M. Conv., blessing the cake, and Prof. Mahrt dispensing wine, smiling, and cutting the cake. Choir members and friends in the background include, Ginia Aidi (singer), Lalu Kiesling, Rosie O’Donnell, Erick Arenas (singer and grad student and now Ph.D. and music professor), and Nancy Bernard (singer). In the middle bottom photo, Mary Fischer is in the center, and Susan Weisberg (another long-time singer) is at the right.
