If There's a Will, There's a Way

Many years ago, my physician suggested that I think about joining a local men's choir that sings in German. He knew that I could speak German and had a modicum of musical talent. I followed his suggestion and ended up singing in the choir for many years.

During my active years with the choir, Willy was the president. For several years, I was social chairman. That position is responsible for coordinating many of the choirs events, including a Christmas concert, a spring concert and a summer picnic. With him being 100% German and me being 50% German, Willy and I had numerous arguments about how best to coordinate the events. We argued over the type of brats to serve. We argued over how much beer and wine to buy.

During my time of activity in the choir, many things were going on in my life. I had a job that required at least 60 hours of my time each week. I was a member of my church choir and also served as substitute organist. I met my future wife and became engaged. With so much going on, I had to begin to scale back on my discretionary time commitments. I decided to no longer be an active member of the German choir.

Some people thought that my decision was because my arguements with Willy wore me down. Willy and I argued - we never fought. I had the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time with Willy. We often met for lunch or for a beer (or both). Willy was much more than president of the German choir. He saw the choir as a means to get some guys with a common interest together. He took the singing seriously and demanded the same of the choir members. However, his skill as president went far beyond singing. He fostered ongoing friendship among all of the members of the choir and their families. I had many "Papas", "Mamas", "Schwestern" and "Bruedern". Willy was the benevolent patriarch.

Willy was amazingly brilliant. He could talk about anything - how air conditioning works, how to improve education, how to make lemonade, etc. He really knew what he was talking about. His brilliance came from his challenging background. He was born in Germany during the same time that Hitler was slowly coming to power. Willy was forced to join the Hitler Youth. Somehow, he survived a dishonorable discharge from this group. He was drafted into the army and served in a Panzer tank division. He later brought his family to the United States because he didn't want his children to have to face the same challenges he faced as a young person.

There are two "Willy" events that I will always remember. After a choir practice, we all went to the local German pub. Some of the older German guys would recall their service during World War II. Many were very proud of their service. At one of these post-practice meetings, one of the younger members was in awe of the war stories being told. He asked Willy, "When did you know that the war was over for Germany?" Without a pause, Willy replied, "When they drafted me."

I had not been active in the German choir for a couple of years when my wife and I were married. I had lost touch with everyone in the choir, including Willy. Our wedding was not a huge affair - we had about 150 people at the reception. We didn't invite too many people outside of family and close friends. I was very nervous prior to our wedding ceremony. I wasn't worried about marrying my wife. I was nervous because I made the decision that I would play a difficult piece of organ music just prior to marching down the aisle. Once I made it through playing, I hade a huge sense of relief. The ceremony went fine. When my wife and I turned around at the end of the service to march out, the first person I saw was Willy - dressed "to the nines" and smiling. We didn't invite Willy. However, he made the effort to find out when and where our wedding ceremony would take place and he made the effort to be there. I was very touched that he came.

At the end of all of our concerts, the German choir would sing a song called "Wiedersehen". Before we sang that song, Willy always made it a point to remind the audience that "Auf Wiedersen" does not translate as "good bye". Willy broke it down: "auf" means "until", "wieder" means "again" and "sehen" means "to see". Willy said that "Auf Wiedersehen" means "until we see each other again".

After a lengthy illness, Willy passed away on Monday, October 13. Auf Wiedersehen, mein Freund!