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UnityChurch
New Member - More than 50 posts
87 Posts
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 Posted - 04/07/2009 : 8:44:01 PM
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REMEMBERING POP
Richard Hill
I was one of the few who always called him Lawrence. He was a universally loved school custodian when I first came to teach in Easton. Then I learned of his music. The Oliver Ames High School Band of those days was a “toot and a whistle” conducted by Don Amirault, who lived up on Central Street. I recall a Christmas party there in which Pop and his brass choir suddenly materialized on the front lawn and serenaded us. On another cold December eve, we were with the brass group that caroled on the front lawn of Unity Close for Mr. and Mrs. Parker.
Born in Easton, Lawrence Gurney learned trumpet in high school. He liked to tell how Anna C. Ames, the governor’s widow, had a gymnasium and band room (now used for the Ames Free Library) built opposite the new high school—the Anna C. Ames Gymnasium. She hired members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who came by train three days a week to teach in rooms behind the gym. She bought instruments for the students in Paris and had the players fitted for uniforms by a Boston tailor. Pop told how, on graduation from high school, several players formed the Anna C. Ames Band that played summer concerts in front of Oakes Ames Hall. He recalled the flooring sections being brought by wagon and set over the second landing of the hall steps. Later, a bandstand was built in front of the Rockery.
Pop played in that band under Walter Smith, a famous cornetist, whose portrait is displayed in the railroad station headquarters of the Easton Historical Society, a gift from the late Robert King. Pop was advised to take up bass to have a second instrument “when the chops went.” As a bass player, he was soon in great demand. Never an instrument for the masses, the bass is rare; and good players are nearly impossible to find. Thus Pop found himself rehearsing with the New England Conservatory Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society, the Old Stoughton Music Society Orchestra, and symphony orchestras in Plymouth, Weymouth, and Brockton.
In 1938, he married Olive, a long-time member of the Unity Church choir and music committee. He recalled singing as a boy in the Unity Church Choir. “My voice changed in the early twenties when Virgil Thomson was director. I remember he had a shock of red hair.” He sang under Thomson and his successors. Olive was a soprano soloist. Pop was a Russian bass with that deep, rich tone. His vocal technique was perfect — breathing, diction, and delivery an example for all. His very presence made the choir better, and his presence was a foregone conclusion. He was always on time (and an hour early when the fall clocks changed) and never missed a Sunday until he died. He was of that generation to which loyalty and stewardship were inbred. My grandfather and father stressed it by example, never speaking of it. So it was with Pop. He was loyal because that was the way it was supposed to be. No sermons, no questions. Present and on time.
There are countless stories about Pop, his kindness, his personal favors. The unnumbered musicians he began in their careers, the trips to All State, the doughnuts in the old school administration office, the Unity Church Orchestra, the Christ
mas caroling, the Swinging Seniors, the drives to Weymouth and Plymouth.
My regret is having arrived too late in his life. I loved to have him sing solo in “We Gather Together.” I used anthems from the old Concord collection that favored his deep voice. With Ed White reflecting that loyalty, they were a perfect team--Ed’s humor resulting in Pop’s wry one liners.
I recall Pop with our son, Tim, encouraging him and eventually selling Tim his big old five stringed bass that found its way through Tanglewood, Romania, Latvia, Russia, New England Conservatory, and the SAC Headquarters Band in Nebraska.
Pop Gurney gave us music. His music survives in us, in the successful careers of his daughter, Pat, and his granddaughter, Stephanie.
We are the sum of all our yesterdays. At Unity Church it is well to recall those days and what they still mean to us and to share these recollections that further enrich our present. Pop Gurney’s trumpet still sounds for me and for us all.
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oldnative
Junior Member - More than 100 posts
127 Posts
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Posted - 04/08/2009 : 12:03:27 PM
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| I've been friends with Pat Gurney Baker since our kindergarten days. I was so pleased to read the wonderful tribute written by Mr. Hill about her father, Mr. Lawrence Gurney. One of my first memories of hearing any real "classical" music was through the open front room windows of the Center Street home of Mr. Gurney as he and a student played The Flight of the Bumblebees. The Gurney family have, indeed, brought much joy to Easton through their musical talents and dedication to teaching! |
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Remembering Pop
