Schéry Collins
By Rick Morgan, historian – St. Thomas Episcopal Church
How does one properly recognize the 50 years of music, laughter, education and praise? Is there a special anthem or opus to recognize the dedication of an individual celebrating half a century as choir director and organist? These are the questions the members of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Abingdon, Virginia, try to answer as they celebrate longtime educator, organist, and choir director Schéry Collins on her 50 years of dedicated service Sunday, Oct. 29.
If you ask Collins, she is quick to say that she is not in need of celebration or adulation; she simply loves music and has loved sharing it with the members of St. Thomas Episcopal since 1973. But asking anyone other than Collins brings a unanimous call for a celebration of this humble woman whose presence lights every room she enters and whose love of music and joie de vivre add a lilting melody to the Abingdon community she calls home. So, members set about a unique way of honoring Collins and her contributions by commissioning “Make a Joyful Noise – The Schéry Collins Anthem,” which debuts at a special public performance and reception at 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 29 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church.
Renowned composer Benjamin Dawson was asked to compose “Make a Joyful Noise – The Schéry Collins Anthem.” Dawson, an accomplished violinist, was delighted to accept the challenge to honor Collins, an organist, flutist and former college professor. The composer didn’t have to travel out of his house to enlist the aid of cellist Bethany Dawson to take on the cello part he created.
Once the piece was written, outstanding organist Kenneth Miller agreed to lead the anthem. The St. Thomas choir welcomed the opportunity to participate in the premiere performance, and Collins herself has been tasked to play the flute for the first performance of the anthem in her honor. Conductor Glenn Patterson will be wielding the baton and marking the downbeat on this momentous occasion celebrating a lifetime of service to the church and community.
So how did St. Thomas attract Collins 50 years ago? In her own words, “My parents, Carsie and Edward Lodter, met when my father came to Milligan College to teach. My mother had grown up at Milligan, where her father taught mathematics for over 50 years. My mother enrolled in my father’s French class, and the rest is history. When I was five years old,” Collins says, “my parents moved to Johnson City and began lifelong teaching careers at East Tennessee State University.”
Music is, indeed, in the family DNA. Schéry recalls, “Music was my father’s passion and avocation, the same as mine,” she says. “My father, also an organist, went to the Methodist Church in Elizabethton in 1944 to help them get through the Easter season and ended up staying there for over 60 years.”
As for her own introduction to music, Collins says, “I began studying piano with my father at the age of 5. When I was in the sixth grade, I began playing the flute with Eugene Orner, who had come from Eastman School of Music to teach at ETSU. A few years later, he began taking me to symphony rehearsals and soon became principal flutist. At the time, the symphony was called the Kingsport Symphony, but we later changed our name to Symphony of the Mountains, so we could play in states other than Tennessee. I remained as principal flutist there for 60 years.”
When she wasn’t performing, Collins taught mathematics first at Emory & Henry College, but in 1970 when Virginia Highlands Community College opened, took a job there as mathematics professor and taught there for 43 years.
“After I’d been teaching at VHCC for a couple of years,” Collins says, “a colleague gave me a newspaper article advertising an organ position at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church. At the time I was still living in Johnson City, driving to teach in Abingdon. I came to an interview and met with St. Thomas members Dr. Atwell Motley and Francis Eller.” Before she left the interview, Collins says Dr. Motley told her she could have the job if she agreed to move to Abingdon. “You’re already driving there to teach five days a week, and Sunday will make the sixth,” Motley told her, before offering to rent her a house he owned to facilitate the move. “I’ve been at the church ever since,” Collins says with a smile.
Collins has worked with eight rectors at St. Thomas during her 50-year tenure. “I learned lots from each one of them,” she says. “When I took the job, the vestry did not want me to join the church since I was an employee. However, I love our church family, so eventually I made it happen so that I could join.”
She smiles thinking back through the years she’s spent enhancing the worship from the other side of the keyboard. “There have been many changes and additions to services we offer at church. We now have a beautiful Taizé service once a month – a lovely, quiet service of prayer, music and light. Most of all our services are now streamed which was definitely a ‘first’ for me.” And the musical DNA doesn’t end with Collins either, since her husband, David, also a former professor she met when both began teaching at VHCC when it opened in 1970, is an accomplished pianist. The pair were married in 1974 at St. Thomas Episcopal and blended their families to include five children and 11 grandchildren. Collins says, “David adds so much to our services by playing the piano when people are tuning in. We play the piano and organ together many times.”
When asked what advice she would offer to others who have a love of music, particularly parents with children who show an interest, Collins doesn’t miss a beat. “Get your children involved in music. Don’t let them quit their piano lessons or other instruments. It will help them with their other subjects. Later in life, they will thank you.”
And while she was initially reticent to have her milestone anniversary marked in such a public way, Collins is excited about the upcoming premiere and concert.
The theme of the anthem is based on Psalm 100, which encourages readers to “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.” Since Collins has been doing that for 50 years, it seems only fitting that “Make a Joyful Noise – The Schéry Collins Anthem,” includes a host of musicians gathering to do just that.
The premiere performance of “Make a Joyful Noise – The Schéry Collins Anthem,” is held at 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 29 at St Thomas Episcopal Church, with seating to begin at 2:30 p.m. A reception for Collins is held in the church hall following the concert and is catered by Jack’s 128 Pecan Restaurant.
