Prayer Meetings

  Uncle Jay Sang Tenor

 

by

Madelyn Shields

      My Uncle Jay is an extremely talented person and when you meet him you don't forget him. He has that kind of effect on you. He is handsome, intelligent, loving, kind and just an all around good guy. He is musically talented too, playing the flat top guitar, steel guitar, bass, saxophone, among other instruments and he could yodel! He is an amazing person.
      So this is where my story begins....The year was around 1948.  Karen, my sister and I were very small; Karen six and me...I would have been four and Uncle Jay was in his teens.  Jay is my Mother's only sibling and is ten years younger than Mother so that made him about eleven years older than me; like an older brother. Karen and I thought he was the Stuff! ( still do).
       Our church was called The Upper Room, because it was on a second floor of an old Hotel Building in Jackson, Michigan. It was clean and neat and had enclosed steps  going up the side  into the "sanctuary." We had great services in that humble place where we came together to worship God. Jay played his guitar and the people would sing those old hymns and the spirit of God would absolutely descend into the sanctuary. Jay just had that way about him.  Life was good.
     As I said, Jay was in his teens and he sang tenor in a trio with a young man named Carl Lagow and  another young man name Harold Scurlock. Those three boys would sing and practice and practice and sing....they just had fun in general. Laughing at their silly mistakes, they would rearrange the song or fix a part, working to make the song just right for church. Jay strived to make the music as perfect as he could for the church services.
      They would sing "Salvation Has Been Brought Down, I Won't Have to Cross Jordan Alone, and the Ninety and Nine, doing all the parts and repeats. Jay, being the tenor, would do a lot of the parts that repeated or had to fit in between the other words just right, hitting the beat perfectly and Jay could sing his part just right. They would tell of that little lost sheep in the song and Jesus going out to look for him and I would cry because the little lamb was lost. I could see Jesus putting His hands up to His mouth and calling "Here Sheep." Oh what a thrilling thing it was that Jesus would find the lost lamb.  Their voices would blend in harmony as they sang the beautiful story. I would  listen to them and think how wonderful it was that they could sing like that and, of course, Jay was the best one.
     But the song I loved the very best was "Dry Bones." They would sing about the story of Ezekiel in that dry bone yard and I could visualize those bones everywhere, just lying there in the dirt. Jay, Carl, and Harold would practice this song and really had fun putting those bones together. They would start to sing "the foot bone connected to the leg bone" and  Jay would say something witty. They would break out laughing and cut-up and I would think that Jay was hilariously funny. Then Jay would play a hand clapping rhythm called "Ham bone," and I was a captive audience. Jay was a great entertainer with his wit and charm.
     To two little girls, Uncle Jay made the trio special and "big time." He could raise the rafters with that tenor voice of his and his guitar music was so beautiful, hitting all the special chords and notes. He taught us that you could have fun even practicing music and still make it spectacular. That life was good and a smile could make sunshine out of a cloudy day.
     Jay is very special to Karen and me. He was and is a big part of our lives. Jay taught us so many wonderful ideals about life in general... we learned that you just keep on going when life hits a sour note, keep practicing, make it fun, see the funny side of the situation and smile on because everything was going to be alright.  Jay taught us that those dry bones will come together one step at and time and that you can sing and dance in the process.
      Jay is a giant of a man in all thing considered....honesty, integrity, humor, wit, commitment, dedication, love, and kindness, on and on. He is our tough Uncle and will stand up for us anytime...teaching us that to be flexible and forgiving in the best way to be.
      We love Jay, We love Jay We love Jay.....

I included the "Dry Bones" song just the way that the Upper Room Trio sang it. Enjoy!!!

E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Oh hear the word of the Lord.

(Tune ascends up in half steps, as in music.)

The foot bone con-nected to the (pause) leg-.bone,
The leg bone connected to the (') knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the (') thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the (') back bone,
The back bone connected to the (') neck bone
The neck bone connected to the (') head bone
Oh hear the word of the Lord!

Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun'
Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun'
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun'
Oh hear the word of the Lord.

(Tune descends down in half steps and we retrace the body.)

The head-bone connected to the neck-bone,
the neck-bone connected to the back-bone
the backbone connected to the thigh-bone
the thighbone connected to the kee-bone
the kneebone connected to the leg bone
the leg bone connected to the foot bone
Oh hear the word of the Lord.