Morgan Community Choir celebrates 25 years of singing

The Morgan Community Choir will reach a milestone in its history as they present their spring concert April 29, 2024. This concert will mark 25 years the choir has been in existence. Suzanne Carrigan always had a dream that Morgan needed a choir. Having been involved in choirs at Ogden High School, Weber State Close and the Ogden LDS Institute she had a love for music and knew what it offered to those who performed for those who would come to listen.

In 1995 Lee and Lois Manning moved to Morgan just down the road from the Carrigans. They became good friends and Suzanne found that Lois had a lifetime of musical involvement, teaching, singing, and accompanying. She talked choir with Lois and the dream began to take shape. The two ladies approached the city and county officials for their support and after receiving encouragement to move forward the word went out. The following notice went in the Morgan County News:

Come Join the Morgan 

Community Choir

The Morgan Community Choir is a group of city and county residents over the age of 18, who enjoy singing and performing quality music together. Their purpose is to provide the Morgan area with cultural enrichment, community pride and spirit, as well as developing associations with friends, neighbors and newcomers.

They meet regularly on Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m. A minimum of 70% attendance is required. A $20 yearly fee is charged to all members. 

A variety of music will be learned. Spring and winter concerts will be scheduled, besides other invitations to perform will be accepted.

For more information contact Lois Manning, or Suzanne Carrigan.

The city and county officials gave permission for the choir to practice in their building and the first rehearsal was Jan. 7, 1999, with 13 singers in attendance. The numbers soon grew to 23 and the first performance of the choir would be a Spring Concert held in the City and County Building Auditorium, Saturday, April 10, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. 

The evening of April 10 the auditorium of the county building was filled with friends, spouses, parents, and those who just enjoyed good music. This first program announced the beginning of the choir. The director was Lois Manning and the accompanist was Suzanne Carrigan. The choir members were:

Soprano

Gaylene Bateman

Amanda Bowen

Jeanne Fry

Michelle Manning

Tammy Pierce

Jaime Werner

Alto  

Sandra Carter

Mechel Hadley

Sylvia Lyon

Deanna Mecham

Helen Petersen

Lee Ann Schlager 

Elaine Thompson

Tenor   

Robert Fairchild

Steven Carrigan

LuRinda Peterson

George Garwood

Bass          

Richard Gilbert

James Manning

Leland Manning

Stan Stevens

Dan Thomson

Gene Watson

The choir took the summer off and the ladies worked to form the constitution and by-laws of the new organization. That fall the choir was officially organized and registered as a non-profit organization with the State of Utah and the IRS.  A choir board was created with three trustees to help oversee the choir functions. The board consists of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, public relations, music librarian, historian, and music conductor. The board would hold a minimum of two meetings a year. They would meet in the Carrigan’s home.

The choir would perform two concerts each year, preparing music in a fall session starting in September and ending in a Christmas concert in December. Then beginning again in February preparing music for a spring concert at the end of April. The choir would also accept invitations to perform at other events and occasions when the choir could meet the request.

The choir has had a firm feeling of patriotism, and love of country and community, that has prompted accepting many calls for Veterans Day school programs, singing at the 2001 dedication of the new Veterans Memorial, Fourth of July activities, Home Town Christmas, senior citizen performances, political dinners and gatherings. The choir has sung at funerals for choir members and for families of choir members.

Because of the associations with other choirs along the Wasatch front, Morgan choir director Lois Manning was able to arrange some special opportunities for the choir to sing. Some of those were: The Days of ’47 Celebration in Abravanal Hall at the Pops Concert 2001, Days of ’47 Early Sunrise Service in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in 2007, and the 2002 Winter Olympic Cultural Festival, in the Weber State Browning Auditorium.

The MCC organized a Choir Festival held in Morgan in 2007. Dr. Craig Jessop, director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was the guest conductor. The Salt Lake Symphonic Choir, George Welch conductor, and the Chorale Arts Society, with Sterling Poulson conductor, were invited to participate.  This activity was held also as a fundraiser for the Morgan Community Choir to help the young organization with funds to purchase sheet music for their choir library. The evening performance was sold out.

With the remodeling of the City and County building, the choir was able to move practice to Morgan Middle School. Another move came a few years later into the high school choir room. Concerts were also moved to the high school auditorium where there was more room to accommodate the size of the choir and the audience. The choir has appreciated so much the support of the city and county officials and the Morgan School District.

Lois would sing a wide variety of music, even teaching the choir to sing in foreign languages at times. She instilled in the choir members a love for good music whatever the source or genre.

The MCC has provided a place for other new music groups to perform in their concerts.

The Macato Children’s Choir, the Morgan Valley Children’s Choir, and the Morgan Valley Chamber Orchestra were each guests of the choir in their beginnings.

As part of the Christmas Concerts Lois and the board invited choir member Kevin Ovard to be the special guest Santa who made the yearly appearance a special delight for the children and the choir.

In 2018, at the spring concert, news writer Courtney Bergman wrote in the Morgan County News –“As the choir concert concluded, the choir bade a sad, yet grateful farewell to their conductor. This concert marked Lois Manning’s 20th year as conductor of the Morgan Community Choir and also served as her final performance as she announced her retirement at the conclusion. The choir and audience expressed their appreciation to her through a standing ovation.”

The next season the choir moved forward with Marilyn Lofgreen acting director and newly selected co-director Lanette Jensen. Both of these ladies have years of music experience and a deep love for good music and performing.

Today the choir is under the direction of Lanette Jensen and Kyle Palmer with Amiee Ferrin and Sharee Dickey as accompanists. The choir is still accepting new members who want to sing quality music and enjoy the family feeling of the choir at practices and performances. λ