A large crowd gathered at Broad Ripple High School on the evening of Saturday, September 1, 2007. The guest of honor was Gene Poston, BRHS music director from 1954 through 1980.

Bill "Speed" Schumacher, class of 1970, was the emcee for the program. Speed recalled many high school memories of being a member of Golden Singers in the late sixties. He then introduced the Golden Singers and the stage quickly filled with alumni from the fifties through the seventies. They sang "How Lovely" from Brahms Requiem Mass. Other rousing performances during the evening included the men's octet singing "Ride the Chariot" and a barbershop "quartet" (really about ten members) singing "Lida Rose".

Between the performances, two local news BRHS alumni served as roving reporters in the audience. Leslie Olsen and Tracey Horth Krueger announced topics such as: Who in the audience met their spouse at BRHS and are still married? (Hey, that includes me) and Which alumni are still involved in music today? (Hey, that doesn't include me). Leslie and Tracey worked the wireless mics through the audience to conduct the interviews.

One Golden Singer alum shared a moving recollection of how he had moved to BRHS when his family relocated to Indianapolis and Mr. Poston changed his life. "Mr. Poston, you don't know what an effect you had on my life. I was a lost puppy. You graciously received me into the Glee Club. Then something opened up in [Golden Singers]. I had a place, you gave me a home - you gave me one. You gave of yourself. I want to thank you for not only the contribution you made to my life but to the thousands of kids in the program." The auditorium was filled with the roar of applause.

Mr. Poston then addressed the audience. "Dear friends and honored guests, I am grateful, overjoyed and extremely humbled by your presence here and the events of this evening."

Poston recalled each of the music teachers that worked with him over the years at Broad Ripple and pointed out how each of them "made me look good".

It was announced that the newly renovated auditorium at BRHS was renamed "The Gene R. Poston Auditorium". It was pointed out how unusual it is for Indianapolis Public Schools to dedicate a facility to someone still living. It was obvious from the hundreds of Mr. Poston's students that gathered for this tribute that he was an important part of their education and their lives.

Another announcement was for the creation of the Gene Poston foundation that will help fund music efforts at BRHS. We will have information on the foundation in a future issue. Visit www.goldensingers.com to check for the latest news.