Fitzpatrick's love of music turned into choir director job

(Sentinel photo by Beverly Van Buskirk) Marlene Fitzpatrick is retiring as choir director and liturgist at St. James Catholic Church in Le Mars, a position she's held for 35 years. She plans to keep singing from the church balcony each Sunday. [Click to enlarge]

Sunday, she will be honored on her retirement after 35 years as choir director and liturgist at St. James Church. The open house will be held from 2-4 p.m. in the St. James parish hall.

Fitzpatrick's father, Bill Timmins, started singing in the choir at age 10 while living in Kingsley.

He moved his own family to Le Mars, just down the block from St. James, and continued singing in the choir there.

"I used to go to choir with him, I was about 9 years old," Fitzpatrick said. "I was just hanging around, singing in the choir."

She never quit.

Her love of music kept Fitzpatrick in the choir and also participating in Sweet Adelines, a women's music group in the community.

After the church choir director, a teacher at Gehlen Catholic, left in 1977, Fitzpatrick was approached about taking the job.

"I had no formal music training but I had a pretty good ear and I had sung with the Sweet Adelines," she said.

The organist, Gracie Ruden, also a Sweet Adeline member, convinced Fitzpatrick to give it a try.

"I said 'If you'll kinda help me out, I'll take it on,'" Fitzpatrick recalled.

She soon found she really liked it.

Throughout the years, she took vocal lessons and attended a number of conferences and workshops for choir directors.

"I just kind of flew by the seat of my pants - and a natural love of music," Fitzpatrick said.

Marlene and her husband Bill traveled to Ireland a couple of times, and following his retirement from the post office in 1988, Marlene took another step in her music training.

That step allowed her to spend a longer period of time in Ireland, something she'd always wanted to do.

"There was a school for liturgy in Ireland that a priest friend recommended to me," Fitzpatrick said.

She took a year sabbatical from her elementary teaching job at Gehlen Catholic and went to Carlow, England, where she studied at the Irish Institute of Pastoral Liturgy, earning a diploma in Pastoral Liturgy.

"There were priests and nuns there from Ireland, England, Scotland, Australia and Canada. It was a very interesting experience," she added.

She returned to her job as choir director and added liturgist to her title.

As liturgist, she headed the liturgy committee to plan services and liturgy for the seasons of the church year.

"I chaired that committee, and was director of music ministry, which means I chose most of the music and line up the organists and cantors for the weekly liturgies," she explained.

She combined the church position with her teaching fifth grade at Gehlen Catholic and later served as the elementary school librarian, retiring in 1992.

While at Gehlen, she also helped plan weekly school liturgies with the teachers and students.

"I really love the liturgy of the church. It's just very important to me, to be able to be a part of it and to help people pray," Fitzpatrick said.

That, she continued, is really the function of the choir.

"It's not to be performers but to help people in their prayer," she said.

The job, she added, has been very rewarding.

"I just felt it was a good way to serve the church," she said. "I fee if you have a gift, you owe it to give it back to God and that's what I've tried to do through the years."

She calls her choir members a wonderful group of people.

"They are so committed to what they do. It's volunteer, they don't get paid for it," she said.

Their commitment involves Wednesday night practices and Sunday morning services.

The Easter weekend is an especially busy one, with practice, services Thursday night, Friday afternoon and evening, and then back Easter morning, Fitzpatrick said.

"I always tell them 'bring your cots, we're going to be here for the weekend,'' she said with a smile.

One of the highlights of her years as choir director was in 2004 when the choir recorded a CD, "Singing the Seasons."

The 19 songs reflect the liturgical church year, starting with Advent and Christmas, and continuing through Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Ordinary Time.

"I was very strict about how they had to be at so many rehearsals before we did this," she said.

The recording was accomplished in about six hours on a Sunday afternoon, with the help of the audio technician.

"His studio made us sound really good, too," she said.

In addition to organ and piano, instruments such as oboe, flute, drums and guitar were used on the recording.

Her assistant director Tim Pick, who will take over the directing duties, has coordinated instrumentalists to accompany the choir occasionally.

Fitzpatrick counts a community effort in music as a high point in her directing years.

At that time, she was part of the group, Plymouth County Singers, which drew people of all ages into a music group. She recalls Glendon Petersen, choir director at First Baptist Church, thought would it be neat to get all the church choirs in town together for an evening of song.

"That's when we started a city-wide church choir festival," said Fitzpatrick.

The first few festivals, started about 15 years ago, were held at the Baptist Church and now rotate among the participating churches.

"I remember saying at one festival how wonderful it was that all denominations can praise God together in song and not worry about our differences as church communities," she said.

Another highlight of her time at St. James was a tenebrae service "Song of the Shadows," which the choir presented one year and a year later together with the church in Kingsley.

Pick plans to do that service in 2010.

Fitzpatrick will probably be in Florida when that is performed.

"That's one of the reasons I decided to retire. My brother and his wife do a fair amount of traveling, and they asked me to go with them," said Fitzpatrick who loves to travel.

"And then you get to a point where you just figure its time to hang it up," she said.

That doesn't mean Fitzpatrick was tired of directing.

"It hurt to give it up," she said.

When not traveling, she plans to sing in the choir and do cantoring work "as long as the old voice holds out" she laughed.

"My dad was a great singer, and he sang up until the time he was about 90," she added.

While the position includes a small salary, Fitzpatrick said money was never a big issue.

In the past she said, "In the past it's been that the church organist, choir director just did it for the glory of God," she said. "That's what we were told. I think if you really appreciate what is being done then the laborer is worth it's hire," Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick said her time as choir director and liturgist has been very rewarding.

"There's something about people being willing to come week after week and work and create a good sound. I think there are a lot of people out there who do it for the sheer love of doing it," she said.

She paused and thought for a moment about her years of service.

"I've had a really good time. I'm looking forward to just sitting there and singing in the choir," Fitzpatrick said. "I'm ready to sit back and enjoy it."