One of the highlights of my time in high school was my participation in choir. I LOVED choir. I loved choir so much that I missed lunch to take choir.
The reason I loved choir certainly had a lot to do with the fact that I enjoy singing, but it had way more to do with the fact that my teacher was Miss Sullivan. Miss Sullivan was brand new to teaching and just nine years older than me. She was exciting and cool and incredibly beautiful. She was also down to earth and goofy which made her that much more amazing.
I have so many memories surrounding my time in choir. I remember the field trips we took to sing in choral competitions. I remember the feeling of singing the Hallelujah Chorus. I remember the time Miss Sullivan spent working with me to record a demo tape for my Vassar application. She even convinced me to put on my rendition of "These Boots are Made for Walking," a song I sang solo in front of the whole school at a performance. I was pretty awkward back then, but Miss Sullivan gave me confidence. She encouraged me to be who I was, and she made school fun.
One of the best things about Miss Sullivan was the way she could create choral arrangements for pop songs. I think of her every time I hear "Fantasy." When my friend Mara and I were graduating seniors, she surprised us with an arrangement of one of our favorite Erasure songs, which we then got to perform in concert. I will never forget how special that made me feel.
This morning on Facebook, I got a notification that I was tagged in a photo. I clicked through to check it out and saw the above picture, taken during our choir trip to Boston. In the comments of that photo, I mentioned that I wondered where Miss Sullivan was now. About 10 minutes later, I got a message from a former classmate, informing me that Miss Sullivan passed away four years ago at the age of 40. Here's to you, Kate. You will not be forgotten.
How ironic. I've hooked up with loads of ppl from HS on Facebook. One of them posted a pic of me in chorus and I was remembering my teacher and how great she was. I wish I could find her.
Posted by: Randi | Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 05:57 PM