Tom Burtch
San Francisco, CA
25 Jun 2010 |
John was a member of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus from October, 1986 until October, 2001 for a total of 38 concert seasons. I first met John when he was president of the Seattle Men's Chorus in 1983 when the Seattle group performed in Washington DC prior to the "Come Out and Sing Together" festival at Lincoln Center in New York. I was thrilled to have John join SFGMC in 1986, one year after I moved to San Francisco and joined SFGMC. As mentioned in the obituary, he was much more than a singing member. John was SFGMC Board President when I was on the board of the Golden Gate Choral Foundation which was the fundraising arm of the Chorus. I remember one of our meetings (which were always dinner parties) when he regaled us on the whole concept of chat rooms on AOL (which was the only real internet provider in those days). He last sang as a member of the Baritone section. The Chorus refers to these members who are no longer able to sing with the group as members of the "Fifth Section." They are listed Chorus programs and on the group's website: https://www.sfgmc.org/about_fifth.shtml |
