Thank you...

Singing is JOY!

As I start preparing for Thanksgiving, and the holidays to come, I am finding myself thinking of someone who I am thankful for. Someone I wish I had found the time to thank while he was still here among us.

Mr. William Mchugh.

I first met met Mr. Mchugh when I was in All County Chorus at Gates Chili Middle School. I was in 8th grade and he introduced himself to us because we would have the chance to continue on with him at the High School when we went into 9th grade.

He told us about the choir he had there. 200 kids! Awesome! Explained, he expected the best from everyone and he meant it! And then shook all our hands. Talked to each of us, and asked about our expectations for our future with the choir. Unbelievable!

It was the first thing I signed up for, and all I looked forward to all summer long....

The first day as we all took our seats. He asked for quiet, told us he expected us to be on time ready to go, to be clean and neat, No gum, No talking,  he wanted our total attention. For concert and trips girls were expected to purchase a white blouse, and navy skirt. Boys navy pants and a white shirt. He gave us a list of songs we would be working on. We were all called forward given a time for our VOICE LESSONS with him! Wow! Really? How cool. And sizes were taken and a number was assigned for a choir jacket for us each to use.

All this sounds boring, and tedious, but none of us had ever experienced a choir like this. Honestly!

And it gives you no idea as to the man who led it.

Mr. McHugh...
He was always smiling, and when he directed, you would swear he was transformed, the look on his face was like he was glimpsing heaven...How do I explain this? He made you feel special. Important to him, important to the choir. If he yelled at you, he made sure you understood, it was because you were letting yourself down and the choir, and he wasn't going to let you short change yourself  or the choir like that. He knew you were capable of more!

Now you have to understand. He did not have to yell often. Nobody wanted to let him down. We loved him!

At voice lessons he was so helpful and encouraging! He challenged you, vocally and musically, and humanly.
 I often left his voice lessons feeling like I was walking on air, unafraid to do anything! I was very, very shy. He showed me how to overcome that. Told me he believed in me. And made me believe it! And when the first voice recital was scheduled,
I signed up.
For the first time in my life I was not afraid to sing in front of people. And that was due in great part to Mr.McHugh.
When you sang he waited off stage. More excited than you. He was your biggest cheerleader. He would be directing you and waving his hands in glory as you reached the heights in your song, and you couldn't help but smile when you would see him out of the corner of our eye. When you were done he was waiting to hug you and tell you how well you did! How proud of you he was! Now he was like this with all of us! And when I say 200 kids I am not kidding! Not all of them signed up for everything but a lot of them did.

He must have gone home exhausted!

The choir sang at nursing homes, holiday concerts all over Rochester. All State and other competitions. We were always dressed impeccably in our uniforms we wanted him to be proud of us! And we gave 110% ! Because of him!

He knew all our names, remembered special things about us all. If he saw you in the hallway, unlike other teachers, he would stop ask how you were, tell you he couldn't wait to see you in choir that day and share something about the new music we were working on as it pertained to your section in the choir. For me at the time that was first Soprano. No one had ever treated me like this. It really was amazing!

I often wondered if he was the same way at home. How he had anything left to give at home? He gave so much to us. But I soon knew he was just as good and wonderful at home. Because, my uncle married one of his daughters and she was just as wonderful as him. Always smiling and laughing, full of JOY.

My husband knows one of his sons from work and he too is the same.

It takes someone very special to pass on such wonderful gifts. And he gave them freely and joyfully. Shared, cared and encouraged everyone and made you feel so important.

When I was in 10th grade we moved to Hilton. My one and only regret was having to leave him and the choir...

Sadly, Hilton's choir at the time had 9 people in it, including me. At first it was a shock! But my first day I could hear Mr McHugh in my head telling me how important each and everyone of us was. How in giving our all we made the choir special and suddenly it felt like a choir of 1000.

He taught me lessons I will never forget...

He gave me gifts I can never repay...

He was a teacher  like no other I have ever met, and was a man among men.

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to study under him, and to have had the pleasure of knowing him as a person.

Thank you, Mr McHugh.

Now I encourage all of you, not to wait. Did someone like this man ever change your life? Tell them now! Don't wait! You will regret it if you do. Share now, believe me you will be so much happier if you do.

Thankfulness!