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June 2008 InCider Press Page 3 |
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I was born and raised in Massachusetts. The family went to Christ Church, the Episcopal Church in Andover. The church had a boys’- men’s choir. My dad, David L. Darling, Sr. involved my brother, Marshall, and me in the choir. We practiced every Thursday night. We also earned a small amount of money each month by being faithful choir members. Therefore, I have been singing since the 1950s. And, that’s a long time. My brother and I went away to a private school during our high school years. Darrow School is still in operation. Darrow is a unique school. It occupies part of a Shaker community on the side of a mountain near Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Both of us sang in the chorus and sang in a barbershop quartet. At Darrow School all the boys had to participate in sports, hand-to-work, and extra curricular activities such as chorus. This four year experience was very important in my maturation process. After graduating from high school, I went on to college. I met Carol while at the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst. Carol and I got married in August of 1969 and then we graduated the following May. I did not restart my singing hobby till 1975. By then, we had been in the Peace Corp, our first child was born, I had earned another degree from U. Mass in Agricultural Economics, and we were living in West Lafayette, Indiana. I had a job at Purdue University and was working on a rural development project in the four counties surrounding Terre Haute. Carol and I joined a Methodist church and I began to sing in the choir. Five years later, we moved to Columbus, Ohio so that I could work on another degree. Then we moved on to Kansas in 1983. I was hired to be the Extension specialist specializing in economic development. I retired from that job in 2005. I sing in the choir at the First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. After fifty years I should be really good at this hobby.♪ |
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Meet Member David Darling |
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I sincerely appreciate the efforts of all the committee chairs and everyone who worked on show committees. Their contribution of time and talent has resulted in an efficiently run show, a better product for our audience, and a financial profit that will allow the chapter to meet our goals throughout the year. Committee chairs have turned in after action reports which will provide insight into improvements in administrative process for the 2009 show. This information will be distributed to 2009 committee chairs as they go about their work next year. I would invite all chapter members to begin thinking about which aspect of show administration they want to be involved with next year. The 2008 show was successful with a significant profit and also an increase in our audience. Thanks to the efforts of Ken Lang and Don Thomson, we performed an entertaining show. Our show profit this year is $15,560. We had total income of $29,835 and expenses of $14,275. Just two years ago our profit was only $6,809 so we are definitely moving in the right direction. The Board approved a ticket price increase last year of $3 per ticket and our audience continues to grow. We received $11,160 for our ticket sales. You can see that our ticket sale revenue does not pay the bills. Program advertising is how we make our profit. We increased our advertising sales by about $5,000 this year to a total of $18,675. I want to thank all the members who spent time soliciting advertisers for our show. The biggest expense of putting on the show is our use of McCain Auditorium. That charge is $5,487. Other significant expenses are the headliner quartet - $3,609, advertising - $2,323, and printing the show program - $1,518. The show attendance was 456 for the afternoon show and 642 for the evening show. This totals 1098, or approximately 100 more show attendees than 2007. Of the 1,098 tickets, 429 are attributed to vouchers from advertising sales and vouchers distributed to Bergman elementary and service clubs for sale, 110 from McCain box office sales, 230 from the show mailer and 329 from member sales. We have the potential to increase our member sales. Perhaps we can set a goal of each member selling 10 tickets next year. We offer an excellent entertainment product to the public. Let’s work to entertain even more people in 2009.♪ |
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Spring show wrap up By Jim Lindquist Show Chairman |
