February 2024

Happy New Year, Volunteers!

Let’s begin 2024 with a big thank you to SLSO staff for hosting Winter Heat for our volunteers. Special thanks to SLSO President and CEO Marie-Hélène Bernard for updating us on the progress of the Powell Hall renovation and sharing previews of next season’s programming. Thanks also Thomas Jöstlein and his sons Klaus and Max for providing inspiring musical entertainment. 

It was a fun event in a nice new venue to kick off the new year, giving us an opportunity to socialize, catch up with one another and to welcome new members. We all enjoyed it and appreciate the SLSO’s hospitality for recognizing the SVA and for our close collaboration and partnership. 

In January, Todd and I had our first experience as shuttle bus hosts to 50+ patrons from Plaza Frontenac to UMSL’s Touhill Performing Arts Center for a coffee concert. Not only did we enjoy talking with the shuttle riders, we also heard many unsolicited compliments on the convenience and ease of using the shuttle buses.  Two of our guests who were first-time users of the service, said not only would they be back to use it again, but they would be bringing their friends! 

Thank you, SLSO, for offering this important service to our patrons. To those of you who have not taken advantage of it, consider giving it a try. It is easy, convenient, prompt, and provides “bus-to-door” service, which is especially appealing during St. Louis winters. You may even want to consider volunteering to be a shuttle host, which includes easy transportation to a concert and a ticket! To volunteer please contact Sharongay or Don Pearline at SVAAmbassador@SLSO.org.  

Many of you reading News & Notes have been volunteering to serve the SLSO for a while.  Thank you for your service. If you have not been actively volunteering this season, it is not too late to sign up for a volunteer role that interests you.  

There are many ways to be involved in the SVA, and we welcome any time you will share with us. Our volunteer activities are organized into three areas: Education, Philanthropy and Stewardship, and SVA Membership, and there are many committees and teams on which to serve. We welcome whatever volunteer interests and skills you bring – hospitality, music, business skills, technology, education, writing, photography, leadership, and more. We even have volunteer jobs that may be completed from the convenience of your home. 

To find the right activity for you, please contact Elizabeth Hahn or Connie Wepfer of our membership committee to discuss opportunities. You may email them at SVANewandProspective@SLSO.org.  

We also have several social events each season that are open to all our members:  

Please join us. The more involved we are and the more people we know, the more gratifying volunteering becomes!  

We hope to see you soon.

Warm regards, 
Debbie 

“Hey Jim…what do you do with all those hours we enter?” 

I tell stories with data. A visualization is simply a way to show people what the numbers are telling us. Most people can understand a picture better than a spreadsheet full of numbers. I take the numbers and paint a picture that allows the viewer to understand the data quickly and easily.   

I encourage everyone to watch Brené Brown’s Ted Talk on Vulnerability, Brené Brown–Vulnerabity Ted Talk. Brené says, “Maybe stories are just data with a soul.” I love that. 

One example, if I look at where the SLSO musicians are from, I could make a list of their countries, states, cities and very few people would look at it. But, if I visualize it, then you can see that SLSO musicians are from all over the world in one glimpse. Asako Kuboki is from Japan, 6412 miles away. We have two Romanian violinists and a cellist from Alaska! Click the “SLSO Musician Origin” link, and you’ll see a map like the one below. Then hover with your mouse over the flight paths and you can see who it is, where they are from and how far away their home is. If you enlarge the map, you’ll see more detailed resolution of the paths. 

SLSO Musician Origin 

We have a Tableau website that anyone can explore located here: SLSO Tableau 

There are visuals where you can explore the data we collect. 

Your volunteer hours over the past several years: SVA Member Hours 

Committee volunteers and hours: Committee Hours 

Where do SVA members live by zip code? Zip code map 

Who lives in my zip code? Zip code name list 

What schools in my Missouri Senate district does the SLSO impact? Mo Senate map 

What about my Missouri Representative? Mo Rep map 

And there’s more! You can explore any subject you desire…do a search on Public Tableau and there are thousands of results. Public Tableau Search 

On Classical Music: Classical Composer Timeline 

On Beethoven: Beethoven Compositions 

Film Composers: Top Film Composers 

I encourage you to explore the Public Tableau site and if you have any questions on how to navigate, print, export to excel, send to a Powerpoint…let me know. Enjoy!

The SVA is enthusiastic about supporting the SLSO’s campaign to expand and renovate Powell Hall, and we appreciate the opportunity to participate early in this initiative before it is announced to the public.  
  
The SVA is working with Kristin Lamprecht, SLSO Senior Director, Campaign and Stewardship, to organize a campaign internal to the SVA to collectively make a gift to the SLSO in the name of the SVA. Several SVA members have made donations, and we are well on the way to achieving our goal for a named gift. 

Thank you to Janice & Steve Seele, who generously hosted a series of Salon Events in their home to brief SVA members on the campaign and how they can participate. These were held in October and November, and turned out to be quite successful.  
  
If you would like to help keep up our momentum and join the SVA in reaching our goal of making a named gift, please contact Kristin Lamprecht at KristinL@slso.org, or Elaine Wichmer at ElaineW@slso.org. 

To stay up to date on the renovation progress, check out the Powell Hall Expansion page of the SLSO Stories website! 

Cocktails and Conversation:
We hope you enjoyed our first two Cocktail and Conversations featuring Erik Harris, SLSO Principal Bass and Shannon Wood, SLSO Principal Timpanist. 

Please mark your calendars now for this season’s third and final Cocktails and Conversation on Tuesday, April 16. We’re proud to have Kevin McBeth, Director of IN UNISON Chorus, as our special guest. As always, we invite you to join us for a fun-filled zoom hour from 5-6 pm. We look forward to seeing you and being together once again!   

See you on Zoom! 

Marilyn Humiston — Co-team Lead 
Phyllis Traub — Co-team Lead 

The New and Prospective Committee is very pleased to introduce our newest SVA members: 

The Committee also staffed several recruiting events in November: two SLSO open rehearsals and the Greater St. Louis Volunteer Fair held at Opera Theatre St. Louis.  We have two more SLSO open rehearsal opportunities coming up: 

If you are interested in volunteering at one (or more!) of the open rehearsals this year, please contact SVANewandProspective@slso.org for more information. 

As always, if you have any ideas on how to recruit new SVA members, please contact us at SVANewandProspective@slso.org. We would love to hear from you! 

Elizabeth Hahn, Chair 
Connie Wepfer, Vice-Chair 

10 members of the Pick and Choose Committee, including a brand-new member of SVA, assisted Santa at the Mercy Holiday Concerts. The photo op with Santa was enjoyed by all as our “elves” kept order and had the line moving seamlessly. Thank you everyone. 

For more information about future opportunities, contact P&C chair Sue Propper at SVAOneandDone@slso.org

The Meetings and Events Committee created stand-out nametags for new SVA members attending Winter Heat, the recent thank you event from SLSO, allowing veteran members to identify the many new SVA members who joined over the past several months, sparking conversations and new relationships.  

The Winter Membership Brunch, scheduled for March 9, 2024, brings with it another unique way to gather, renewing longstanding friendships and welcoming new members during this year when we are spread thinly between venues. As always, we will experience a superb musical program and a yet-to-be announced additional speaker. We will gather on March 9 at the centrally located Forest Park Golf Course (The Probstein Golf Course), a popular venue in past years. Be alert for an email announcement coming in February.  

Also add June 7, 2024, to your calendar for the Spring Membership Luncheon. 

Details for the March Brunch meeting: 
Date:  March 9, 2024 
Location:  Forest Park Golf Course (The Norman K. Probstein Golf Course) 
6141 Lagoon Dr. 
St. Louis, Mo 63112 
See you on March 9! 

Kathy Norwood, Chair 
Dianna Barron, Vice-Chair 

As you may already know, our big 100th SVA Anniversary is coming up in 2025. Nancy Malvin, with assistance from others, has been working on an SVA History Project. The first step was to conduct a series of interviews with past SVA Presidents and other long-term members. It is now time for those interviews to be transcribed, and we need help to listen to the recordings and then type the dialogue. The work will be done from your home with your computer, and Nancy will provide a computer-generated transcript to be used as a starting point. 
 
If you’re interested, and able to type, please contact Nancy at the address below for details of the project. Hopefully your fingers are nimble, and you are ready to help with this assignment. Nancy will be available to help you get started and answer any questions. Her email address is SVAHistory@slso.org. 

Kathryn Snodgrass continues to receive requests and sends cards in sympathy or with well wishes. Anyone in the SVA membership is encouraged to contact Kathryn at SVAEngagement@slso.org, requesting written recognition of a fellow volunteer’s needs or celebrations. 

Kathryn Snodgrass, Team Lead 

Education:
Message from the VP of Education and Community Programs

Have you ever fantasized about what you would do if you won the lottery, the REALLY BIG one? What would you do if you were handed the prize of a lifetime? Well, in 2025, as part of the Powell Hall renovation, the Education Department of the SLSO will take possession of approximately 20,000 square feet of space to host their fondest educational project ideas. The stellar staff, under the direction of Maureen Byrne, is currently planning how to best utilize their new space to continue the SLSO’s mission of bringing music not only to young ears, but also to all ears. 

So where does the Symphony Volunteer Association come in? EVERYWHERE! Every initiative the Education Team has begun testing in preparation for their move-in day has included an increased need for volunteers. The team is in the process of offering St. Louis educators new opportunities, and families new experiences, to introduce future patrons to the power of music. Who knows? Perhaps that kindergartener who takes the first tour of the renovated and expanded Powell Hall will one day be a member of the SVA! Please consider answering one of the all-calls from the various chairs/vice-chairs/team leads of Education and Community Programs, and being onboard when those new opportunities arise. 

Suzanne Seibel, Education VP 

The Coffee Concert committee has been busy. Our amazing volunteers made patrons feel welcome and wanted. The concerts have been going amazingly well! 

The staff, Kelsey Templeton and Madison Vian, are as always more than helpful and so prepared for us. They are a great team for us to have backing us. The Touhill staff and concessions contractor are also prepared, keeping coffee urns filled and everything stocked.   

Of the half dozen Coffee Concerts so far, one of the most special performances was the December 1st concert. The Touhill was decorated beautifully; they even provided a grand piano and pianists for entertainment. The patrons and volunteers alike enjoyed this added touch.  We’re past the half-way point with the Coffee Concerts series, and I’m happy to report everything is running smoothly at the new venue. The New Year is off to a great start! 

For further information about SVA Coffee Concert activities please contact Group Leaders Milly Neff and Doug Neff (SVACoffeeConcerts@slso.org).   

Doug Neff, Co-Lead 
Milly Simon, Co-Lead 

The ETM representatives on the “ETM Re-Imagining Committee” have met with Sara Ruddy of the SLSO three times now and are truly “brainstorming” ideas for the future of this program. Our next step is to plan and begin “listening sessions” with a variety of teachers, students, and community representatives. Those meetings should provide another large pool of thoughts/ideas on how Express the Music can be more meaningful for all students, not just those junior- and senior-high school students who are fortunate enough to attend schools with excellent music and writing programs. We realize the program may need to incorporate some flexibility in order to continue to broaden the reach of students participating in ETM. We’re also generating ideas that will offer our SVA volunteers interesting opportunities to help. 

We have lots of listening and planning to go … Sara is keeping us on track and moving along.  If you know of a community representative who you feel would be a valuable participant in the “re-imagining” process, please let me know. 

Lynda Lieberman, Chair 
Paula Hertel, Vice-Chair 

Classroom teachers are busy having their students create 2D artwork inspired by Roussel’s The Spider’s Feast. The deadline for on-line submission of the virtual work was Wednesday, January 17th. The judging of the art (file photo, left) occurred at the end of January and our Top 100 finalists’ artwork will be due to the SLSO offices in Grandel by February 23rd. This year, in addition to our returning judges, we welcome two new judges — Olivia Mendelson from the Kemper Museum and Jennifer Fisher from UMSL Fine Arts Education Department.  

The artworks will be inventoried on March 4th, 10am-1pm, with framing and mapping on March 18th, 11am-2pm. Please join us in the Grandel Conference room for either of these events. The Awards Ceremony will be held at the Missouri Botanical Gardens on Sunday, April 7^th, from 11:30am-1pm. The attending families will be offered free admission to the Garden following the ceremony. Beginning April 8th, the artwork will be exhibited at the MOBOT Butterfly House and one additional community location. 

For more information, contact PTM chair Beth Rogers at SVApicturethemusic@SLSO.org. 

Beth Rogers, Chair 
Sue Darcy, Vice-Chair 

The Instrument Playground Committee helped with the Family Concert on February 3rd with hands-on activities for the families to enjoy before the concert. On February 6th, 7th, and 8th, IP facilitated music activities for the Tiny Tunes concerts at the Sheldon. 

Watch your email for announcements of activities for the Spring season. 

Karen Nichols, Chair 

If you were lucky enough to attend one of January’s concerts led by Leonard Slatkin, you might have noticed that the “Donor Spotlight” page featured our own YO Team Lead Stephanie Randall. As one member noted, “It was a wonderful article because it not only put a very …  well-earned spotlight on Stephanie, but also on her talented son, Charles, a YO bassoonist. It also highlighted the role of the SVA and Stephanie’s focus on the YO. It was, indeed, great public relations for the SVA.

Kudos to Stephanie and a special thank you to the SLSO for their recognition of her and a job well done!

In other YO news, the YO’s Cycle II performance on January 20th at UMSL Touhill was an exciting side-by-side performance of the YO with their professional SLSO counterparts. Leonard Slatkin conducted.

The YO and SLSO performed:  

Johannes Brahms Academic Festival Overture

Aaron Copland Lincoln Portrait featuring narrator Kevin McBeth, Director of SLSO’s IN UNISON Chorus.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini: Symphonic Fantasy after Dante

The YO musicians and their bios can be found at: https://www.slso.org/en/edu/youth-orchestra/yo-musicians/.

For further information about Youth Orchestra and volunteering, please contact SVA Team Lead Stephanie Randall (SVAYouthOrchestra@slso.org). 

Education Concert Hosts were back in action on October 24 and 25, welcoming elementary school students from across our region to a performance of “A Zoo Called Earth” at The Touhill. Our intrepid crew guided more than 4,000 children arriving on over 100 buses in and out of the facility with smiles and enthusiasm, under nearly ideal weather conditions.  The children’s cheers and applause for the “Can Can” at the close of the concert rival the largest audiences at Powell Hall! 

Look for our report about the Tiny Tunes Concerts held at The Sheldon on February 6-8.  

For information about Education Hosts, please contact Team Lead Steve Seele (SVAEduAmbassadors@slso.org).

Tiny Tunes at The Sheldon

Over 2,000 preschool and kindergarten children, accompanied by teachers and parents, played along with the SLSO at Tiny Tunes concerts at The Sheldon over four days in early February.  In addition to the 30 minute interactive concert featuring tunes from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, pre-concert activities allowed the children to hop, skip, and glide their way through an obstacle path, practice their conducting skills, and have a hands-on musical learning experience with a variety of simple instruments.  Attendance at this event was in such demand that Stephane Deneve himself made an appearance to assist the children with their baton movements.

This fabulous experience for our youngest audiences wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of nearly three dozen SVA volunteers, who greeted each bus or carload of children and guided them through the pre-concert activities, before joining them in the auditorium for the concert.  With two concerts each morning over three successive days, the logistics of moving hundreds of youngsters throughout The Sheldon was a challenge, but when the enthusiasm of SVA volunteers met the carefully prepared plans of the SLSO Staff, everyone was up to the task.

Steve Seele
Education Hosts

Advocacy

Wake up from your winter slumber all you Arts Advocates! The Missouri Legislature returned to Jeff City for its 2024 session in early January. A major piece of legislation will be the budget for the 2025 Fiscal Year. We want to ensure that the Arts receive at least as much, if not more, funding than they did last year. So, start your on-line research (mo.gov) of the Senators and House members on the Appropriations and Budget Committees. 

Arts Advocacy Week was February 5 through 9, 2024. As usual, the SLSO provided a robust contingent for meetings in Jeff City, led by Advocacy Chair Mike Grayson.

Join the Advocacy Team! Contact: SVAAdvocacy@slso.org.

                       Arts have an economic impact!

Mike Grayson, Chair

Ambassadors

With the first half of the year behind us, and the rest of the season to go, we have a good list of Ambassador volunteers for shuttle hosts and valet greeters! These are the primary tasks of the Ambassador Committee for this year, and most likely to be continued for 2024.  

We still have open spots to be filled and there will likely be a need for substitutes. But we are pleased that several new SVA members this year, along with existing members, have stepped up to provide their support for this role. Austin Tao, Michael Sanchez, Fran Glucroft, Ruben Sanchez, Denise Wilson, Margie and Steve Knapp have helped fill in the spots, especially for the late-scheduled holiday concerts. This in no way is meant to ignore our valued and experienced members. They are very accommodating and dependable and when we send out an SOS, they answer! Not only do they greet patrons, but they provide assistance and information to the new host for the role. Our relationship with Kelsey and the SLSO support staff has been extraordinary. They have always followed up on our requests and needs.  

Donald continually updates and sends to the committee the detailed list of the concert dates showing the volunteers who have signed up, and when there is an opening. We believe that it will be a good idea to send this spreadsheet to all the SVA members. It may be that other SVA members, who did not initially sign-up for shuttle hosting, did not know what the Ambassadors did at that time and may be encouraged to do so now!   

The value in greeting, welcoming patrons, and sharing information has been very rewarding. The responses we have received from those who take the shuttles have been overwhelmingly positive! They are so appreciative of the service and value we provide. Not only does this encourage their continued support of the SLSO, but they value the personal touch they receive from us as Ambassadors! 

For more information, contact Ambassadors at  SVAAmbassador@SLSO.org.

Sharongay Pearline, Chair
Donald Pearline, Vice-Chair

Discovery Committee

The start of the SLSO’s 2023/24 season also marked the beginning of the Discovery Committee’s monthly meetings. Among the many topics discussed was the 2022/23 success of the SVA’s outreach efforts to the IN UNISON and SLSO Choruses through the delivery of home-baked cookies, which were presented to the choruses at their December and January rehearsals. This was so well received that the committee decided to undertake the project once again for both the IN UNISON Chorus and the SLSO Chorus. Volunteers from the Discovery Committee, Executive Committee, and more, baked and packed hundreds of cookies, some of which were made with a custom SVA holiday cookie press. Cookies were delivered to each chorus before their concert or rehearsal. Chorus members were delighted with the thoughtful gift and expressed their appreciation for the SVA’s generosity. The goals of the effort were to show our appreciation to the talented choruses and introduce them to the SVA in hopes they will join the SVA.  Who better to communicate the joy of the SLSO than our Choir members?

The Committee has also been exploring ways to continue to attract new volunteers over the next two years while we are out of Powell Hall. Emphasis is placed on helping these new members get involved quickly by becoming active participants on committees currently in need of more volunteer help. Discovery Committee members have been reviewing the demographic data compiled and updated by Jim Moore and coordinating it with the New and Prospective Committee. By closely examining the data, we identified a need to encourage new members to consider leadership positions, which strengthens their commitment to the SVA and increases their active participation lifespan. 

Kent McNeil, Chair
Janice Selle, Vice-Chair

Trivia Night

Trivia Night returned on February 3, when trivia buffs (and SLSO supporters) were led on a journey through time with our favorite trivia night hosts, Mixtape Trivia.

If you’ve been to the SVA’s trivia night before, you know how much fun it was to spend a few hours laughing, singing, and trying to help your table answer 100 trivia questions tailor-made for our trivia night. In addition to the great trivia, we also had a fantastic collection of silent auction items, a special raffle item, and other opportunities to help support our St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and its education programs.

At this writing, a complete Trivia Night report is not yet ready. Stay tuned for the whole story in the May, 2024, issue of News and Notes.

Karen Dirks

Karen Dirks, mother of SLSO Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks, and a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s viola section from 1997 until 2013 died in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 25, 2023, at the age of 76 following a long illness.

Karen was born in San Diego, California in 1947, and grew up in a house filled with music. Her mother was a cellist with the San Diego Symphony; her father, who taught high school English literature, built a pipe organ in their home; and her brother Emory played classical and blues guitar.

As a violinist in the San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra, she met her future husband, cellist Douglas Dirks, when she was eleven and he was fourteen. At the age of 17, Karen began her professional career in the first violin section of the San Diego Symphony in the same month that she graduated from high school. She frequently shared the stage with her mother and later her husband, who were often stand partners in the cello section. Karen’s musical endeavors put her through college, and she earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from San Diego State University.

For 32 years, Karen performed as a professional musician in San Diego, as associate concertmaster and then principal viola of the San Diego Symphony and concertmaster of the San Diego Opera Orchestra. She performed in the Sun River Music Festival and was principal viola of the New Hampshire Music Festival. Karen appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, Music of the Baroque and the New Hampshire Music Festival.

At the age of 49 in 1997, Karen was invited by music director Daniel Barenboim to join the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a member of the viola section, a position she would hold for nearly 17 years. For five of those years, she performed alongside her daughter Jelena, who was a permanent substitute in the CSO’s oboe section before being appointed principal oboe of the St. Louis Symphony in 2013.

Upon her retirement from the CSO in 2013, Karen and Doug relocated to St. Louis, where they quickly joined the SVA and became ardent participants in our Instrument Playground program. While music was her central form of artistic expression, her life was filled with arts and crafts of all sorts. She was a talented weaver, knitter, quilter and seamstress, having sewn her own and her daughter’s wedding dresses. Her Scandinavian heritage sparked her love of the outdoors, including skiing, hiking, kayaking and extensive gardening. Having trained Shetland Sheepdogs for competition, she was never without a canine companion for long.

Some of her greatest joys were in the sharing of her passion and knowledge in music and the arts, and she served on the faculty of DePaul University; taught privately; and worked with violinists, violists and other musicians who joined major orchestras across the country.

Karen is survived by her husband Douglas, and her children Olin and Jelena.

Bill Whiston

Stanley William Whitson, Jr.—Bill—was born in 1941, in Norwalk, CT.  At age 2, he moved to Nebraska, his parents’ home state and grew up in Central City.

In his youth, Bill was active in the Busy Beavers 4H Club, where he learned to show champion beef steers and earned top honors in bread-baking at the Nebraska State Fair. He graduated from Central City High School in 1959 where he excelled in four sports: football, basketball, baseball, and track. Bill was named to the 1958 Nebraska Class B All-State Football Team, but he also found time for serving as first chair trombone and soloist in the band and for playing the comic lead in school musicals—Brigadoon, Oklahoma, and Annie Get Your Gun. In the summers he worked in the fields around Central City detasseling corn, helping with show cattle, and moving irrigation pipes.

After high school. Bill attended Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln where he majored in biology and chemistry, and wrote for the school newspaper, The Wesleyan. He was elected to the Beta Beta Biology Honor Society and graduated with the Class of 1963. Most important, it was at Nebraska Wesleyan that he met and became good friends with the future love of his life, Marcia Dillon. The two met in an American History class and later worked side by side when he became sports editor and she the editor-in-chief of The Wesleyan. They got to know each other better as they walked the final layouts of each week’s edition across campus to the printer. Bill and Marcia married December 19, 1965, when Bill was pursuing his master’s degree in Zoology at the University of Kansas. 

Bill continued his pursuit of knowledge and began bone research at the University of Arkansas Medical Center, Little Rock, earning a PhD in Anatomy followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah Bone Research Laboratory. 

Their son Kyle was born in Little Rock in 1968 and their daughter Andrea was born in Salt Lake City in 1971.

Later that year, Bill was hired as the first junior faculty member of the new Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine and moved his family to St. Louis. At the dental school, he taught gross anatomy, oral biology, histology, and physiology, and developed a comprehensive pre-graduation senior review seminar. As a professor, he taught multi-generational families of dentists in Illinois and the St. Louis area. Following a sabbatical year at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., Bill began development of the Bovine Bone Cell Culture system and later patented a refined version of the BBCC procedures.

It took Bill years to retire from the dental school. In Fall 2009 after 39 years he concluded his full-time teaching responsibilities and laboratory research, due in part to the neuropathy side effects from colon cancer treatment. However, he was continually urged to return to teach “just one more class” through 2018. His final semester was in the spring of 2020 semester during the Covid pandemic, a total of 47 years of service to the university, including multiple terms on the Graduate Research Council and President of the SIU-Edwardsville Faculty Assembly

At Duchesne Elementary School, Bill first began as PTA president when Kyle was in kindergarten, and later he served on the Ferguson-Florissant School District Advisory Committee. As a science volunteer, he brought anatomy models to teach special classes at elementary schools and even at his grandson’s pre-kindergarten class. Bill and Marcia also spearheaded Project Graduation at McCluer High School, the first all-night alcohol-free party for graduating high school seniors in the North St. Louis Metropolitan area.

In retirement, Bill and Marcia remained a team, making possible educational and cultural opportunities and experiences for many. Their 15 years as volunteers for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra included working with Picture the Music, Express the Music, the Legislative Advocacy Committee, Symphony Ambassadors, and Coffee Concert hosts. He and Marcia also continued their long-term support of many St. Louis organizations along the way to guarantee access for all to important educational and cultural institutions. These include the St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri Historical Society, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the St. Louis Science Center, Forest Park Forever, and St. Louis Public Radio.

Bill and Marcia were also passionate about everyone’s right to vote. Since 2000, they participated in and then organized their own campaign to help people register to vote or to update their voter information, knocking on more than three hundred doors every two years.  They never told anyone how to vote but wanted them to exercise their right to participate in elections.

Bill died suddenly and unexpectedly on October 5, 2023.  He is survived by his wife, Marcia, son Kyle Whitson and his wife Michelle, daughter Andrea Tegenkamp and her husband Tony, his six grandchildren–Whit, Will, and Quinn Tegenkamp and Tanner, Tyler and Jake Whitson–all of St. Louis, his siblings, Mary Greenwald and Rick Whitson, and his cherished extended family, as well as two granddogs, Gus and Frankie. 

Karen Weaver

Karen Ann Weaver, age 65, of Webster Groves, Missouri passed away on Friday, August 11, 2023. Karen was an active member of the SVA who loved the SLSO, involved in PTM and other educational programs.  She was the beloved wife of Mark Weaver, loving mother of Eric (Kristen) Weaver and David (fiance Kristine Viar) Weaver; dear grandmother of Finley Weaver; dear sister of James (Colleen), Grib, Jane (Tim) Mark, Sherry (Tom) Myers, and Timothy (Mary) Grib; daughter of the late Raymond and Mary Lou (nee Anderson) Grib.

Dan Gogel

Daniel Joseph Gogel Jr., suddenly passed away on Friday, December 29, 2023, at the age of 80.

Dan was born on July 24th, 1943, in St. Louis, MO. He joined The United States Marine Corps in 1964. He proudly served as Private in the 9th Marine Corps District for three terms while attending the University of Hawaii. He majored in Music Theory. He was a Bandsman, a talented trumpet player, artist, and entrepreneur.

Dan was an ardent supporter and staunch worker for the SVA’s Gypsy Caravan for many years, earning admiration from staff and volunteers alike.

Daniel (Dan) is survived by his beloved wife of fifty-three years, Bonni (nee Obermoeller); his five children, Tabitha (Paul) Dreher, Michelle (Randall and Andrea) Piper, Daniel Gogel III (Lyndsay Gray), Trisha Bray (Scott Bray), and Erika (Tellee) Warren, loving grandfather (Papa) of Benjamin, Harrison, Isabelle, Christian, Alexander, Madison, Madden, Marek, Liam and Sullivan.  

Your General Board consists of the Executive Committee; Committee Chairs and Vice-Chairs, who fall under one of the three VPs; and Team Leads, whose groups take on recurring tasks within certain committees.

All these leaders are available, via their “official” SLSO emails, to welcome you into their committees/teams, answer questions, and generally provide resources to enrich your SVA experience. All Execs, Chairs and Team Leads have SLSO emails, as listed below. Vice-Chairs do not have SLSO emails, but are listed below for completeness.

Exec Committee

Membership Committees

Education Committees

Philanthropy & Stewardship Committees

Team Leads