Oxford Academy Central High School - Blackhawk Yearbook (Oxford, NY)

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We Honor Mrs. Carl Roehling To write something that is modest enough to please Mrs. Roehling and yet sufficient to satisfy the rest of us will not be easy. If you are seeking a person who is ever willing to accommodate with her talent and to deliver with meticulous skill--her very best. Mrs. Roehling is the personification of these virtues. She is very quiet but has an intensity of feeling for the matter at hand. In her youth she had the rare privilege of studying piano for ten years under Miss Zada Lee. an excel- lent teacher. Then followed instruction by Mr. Howard Blockway. who later became a teacher in the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. In the Carnegie Hall building are many studios where students go for music lessons. Here, voice teachers must have accompanists for their students; and here it was that Mrs. Roehling gained valuable experience. To quote her words; It doesn't matter how much talent anyone has. if he isn't willing to work and practice. After accompanying many different soloists in concert work, her really big chance came. It was the op- portunity of trying out among many other accompanists for the coveted honor of being Madame Homer's accompanist. If she could achieve this distinction, it would mean that she had been chosen to follow in the footsteps of the skilled musician who was retiring after having accompanied not only Madame Homer, who had sung in the premiere performance of the opera MADAME BUTTERFLY and had appeared with the great Enrico Caruso, but other greats,” including Madame Schumann-Heink, the distinguished German-American operatic contralto and Alma Gluck, the superb American soprano. Mrs. Roehling felt that her whole future hung in the balance ; she says that she didn't even write home about it, because she felt that it would be unwise to raise her family's hopes. But, as we know, success crowned her efforts. It was in Jamestown, New York,—in 1923—that they first appeared on the concert stage together. Before the performance, although Madame Homer had every confidence in her accompanist, it was not thus with the accompanist herself. She vividly recalls that she was “green with fright and felt positively ill. Later when Madam Homer sang a command performance in the East Room of the White House in Washington for President Coolidge, Mrs. Roehling accompanied her. She was with this noted American contralto for four seasons--until Mr. Roehling, another fine musician, came into her life; and they were married. After that, Mrs. Roehling had her own studio in New York where she coached various singers, often accompa- nying them in their concerts. Her summers were spent in Oxford, her home town. Now in so-called retirement here, she finds endless service she can and does freely give to Oxford soloists and the adult chorus. When the music students of the Academy take part in contests, they are very happy to realize they can call upon Mrs. Roehling to accompany them, because they feel absolute security with her at the piano. With them she has,journeyed to Syracuse, Ithaca, Binghamton. Norwich and Sidney. In her chuch she is active as choir mother of the youth choir. Nor can we omit saying that she does gray lady work among shut-ins. Our hearts are full of gratitude for what her presence here in Oxford means through works and inspiration. This year we are happy to show our respect and esteem to our own Mrs. Roehling by honoring her in our year- book, exactly fifty years after her graduation from Oxford Academy.

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Mrs. Dunker Mrs. Sextilia P. Dunker Your twelve years of devoted service in Oxford Academy are greatly appreciated by students, fac- ulty, and administration. We sincerely hope that your years of retirement will be pleasant and that you will look back upon your teaching days with fond memories. Mrs. Sturges Mrs. Vera Sturges We wish to express our sincere appreciation for the many students that you successfully guided along the paths of education. The fruits of your work, we are sure, will long be remembered. May your re- tirement be one of pleasure and happiness. 9