Berna Holcomb keeps thousands of sheets of music organized at the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew (SsAM) in downtown Wilmington. These are the sheets of printed music the choir uses each Sunday and for special services. At some services, each choir member will have as many as 10 pieces of music in their folders. Sometimes, she helps the music director, David Christopher, put the music into those folders. It is when each service is over that her real work begins. She collects all that music and puts each piece back in its place in the music room. She makes a point of saying that she could not do her work without the active cooperation of the music director and the choir members.
Berna is one organized person. Perhaps teaching grade school for 40 years prepared her for this, including ten years as a reading specialist. Paper, we suppose, is easier to organize than children.
Berna grew up in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, before it consolidated with St. Matthew’s in 1996. She sang in the junior choir, then moved up to the adult choir until she was kicked out for erratic attendance. She rejoined after she became pregnant with her first child. Eventually, she moved her membership to the Cathedral Church of Saint John, later moving to SsAM.
Click here to see all the recent member photos by Danny Schweers.
