Singing group memories

This morning my friend Kati posted some lyrics on FB from a Dallas Holm song.  I decided to go to Rhapsody and listen to some Dallas Holm.  Oh. My. Word.  Talk about being taken BACK!!  In the 80's we had a group called The Freedom Singers who sang a number of Dallas Holm songs, including Hey, I'm a Believer Now and Rise Again.  I posted on FB about the memories those songs brought to me, which led to a fun thread of comments from former group members.  One comment was about the itchy blue dresses we girls wore, which made me think about a picture we had in those dresses that I should post.  So here goes!

But before I post that picture, I must post another.  Long before there was the group called The Freedom Singers, there was the group called The Witmer Trio.  We sisters sang acappella from the time we were in elementary school until I married Dick and he began accompanying us with his guitar.  Here was our Mennonite hippie look in 1975:  me, Barb, and Doris with Dick, the cool guitar player.  Please notice his plaid double knit  pants!  I think I made them.  The only time I ever made a pair of pants.

Eventually we added Don, a bass guitar player, to our group, and I played a portable keyboard.  We even made two records!  

Then my sister Barb got too busy being a dairy farmer's wife, and Doris and I were having too many babies, so we called it quits. 

But before long Dick and I were itching to start a group again.  Bass player Don was still available, and we pulled Dick's brother Steve and a girl named Nancy together.  The first place we sang the guest preacher said that we sang with such freedom we should be called The Freedom Singers.  And The Freedom Singers we became. 

Nancy got married after about a year and moved further away, so we pulled in another girl named Linda.  She stuck with us for several years, and it was she who reminisced today about our itchy blue dresses. 

And now, The Freedom Singers in the itchy blue dresses and matching ties: Steve, Linda, me, Dick, and Don.

After a few years Linda got married and moved away, and by that time my sister Doris thought she was done having babies and was available to sing again.  Our children, Steve's children, and Doris's children were all within the same age range, and we even put them on the stage for a song or two every place we went. 

Here's a picture from that era.  It must have been after 1985 when I finally got contacts for the first time. And Dick had been told his eyes had improved and he didn't need glasses or contacts, lucky guy.

We sang together until the summer of 1987.  At that point Don had become a long distance truck driver and wasn't always available, and Dick and I had been called to lead the worship at Grace Community Fellowship, which required a bigger time commitment. 

I wish I had some way to post some of our songs.  They're all on cassette tapes, and not the greatest quality either. But just indulge me and let me pat my own back a little when I say, "We were GOOD!"