My mother graduated from Holy Names Academy (RCC) in Tampa, Florida. Her favorite nun was named Sister Ethelbert. One day when I was about two years old we met Sister Ethelbert while walking on a street in downtown Tampa. Sister Ethelbert exacted a promise from my mother that she would send the baby (me) to the convent when I was school age. Mother was not a Catholic (other than having been baptized one as an infant), but she promised to do this. So when I was twelve years old, she put me in Ursuline Academy in Dallas as a boarding student.
I attended Catholic schools as a year round boarder for several years, at Ursuline Academy in both Dallas and New Orleans, then St. Joseph's Academy in Jackson, Mississippi. Those were the years that formed my spiritual and moral beliefs and attitudes. My parents weren't religious. They prayed a little, but did not attend church. At the convent the nuns were astounded that I, a non-Catholic, with so little religious background, consistently made the highest grades in all the religion classes. (You throw a dry sponge into a puddle of water, and it quickly sops it up!) Same thing with me. I just soaked it all up. I didn't make the highest grades in every subject, but I learned lots of discipline that has stayed with me throughout my life. We were taught manners, study habits, academics, and spiritual formation, but few "street smarts"! I did get an award each year for being the most generous student, which led to a habit of trying to please others, and being taken advantage of by some con-men in later years. A special award pin was given at the end of each year with the motto "Serviam". Those who received this pin were designated "an Ursuline girl." I still have mine.
I began piano lessons when I was eight years old, and won many contests in the coming years. My maternal great-aunt, Lucy Parent, was my first teacher. I loved practicing and would forget time. Playing always relieved stress or boredom. At twelve I began to play organ during Mass, leading the hymns and giving intonations for chant. I accompanied all the glee clubs and operettas throughout high school and graduated with high honors. Then I began a long educational career, attending many universities, studying first pre-med and liberal arts at the University of Texas in 1948-50, then music at Tyler Junior College, Florida State University, and Southern Methodist University. I started majoring in piano, then added pipe organ, my greatest love. The latter became the love of my life for many years. I had wonderful teachers - at Florida State University Ramona Cruikshank Beard for organ and Mary Winslow, chairman of the piano department. At SMU I studied organ with Dora Poteet Barclay, a student of Marcel Dupre. My piano teachers were Paul Vellucci and Alfred Mouledous, a student of Walter Gieseking. Next I studied with Helen Hewitt, Assoc, Professor of Musicology and Organ, then with Heinz Umlauff, Hugo Penzien, and Helmut Walcha in Germany. I later became a minister of music, played organ at many large churches, directed multiple choirs, and chose the liturgy and hymns for the services. It was great fun playing cantatas and concerti with Dallas Symphony players. I also attended the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, to learn more about liturgy.
Later I studied orthodoxy for three years in a private school that turned out to be a "seminary mill" headed by a pseudo-bishop who falsely claimed to be canonical. He gained my trust through deceptive fraud and stole all my assets through a clever scam. His name is Edward Vaisvilas, Jr. I tried to get him prosecuted, but he hid behind "freedom of religion" - the first amendment to the Constitution. More about "Father Vice" later.
UPDATE: Ed Vaisvilas died on July 30, 1998 at age 42. He was a drug addict with at least seven DEA charges against him. No autopsy was done, in spite of the fact he died at home at an early age. The medical examiner did not sign the death certificate, and no autopsy was done.
After two years of pre-med at the University of Texas, I was accepted by Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, but my father refused to co-sign my student loan, saying medicine was not a "proper career" for a girl. (In those days (1950) a student could not qualify for a loan without a co-signer, so I switched my major to music.) The usual careers for women in those days were elementary school teacher, secretary, nurse, governess, maid, waitress, mother, or housewife. The Patristic tradition had always ruled out intellectual pursuits for women.
I majored in both piano and organ at first, but by my senior year I had decided to concentrate on organ performance. I graduated from Southern Methodist University with high honors and departmental distinction, receiving a BA, BM, and MM. My dad joked, "Well, they gave you the third degree and then let you go!" (Lawyer talk.) I also received lifelong all-level teaching certification in both music and elementary education. In addition to some public school teaching, I also taught at SMU, Tarrant County Junior College (Fort Worth), and the University of North Texas (Denton), as well as for the education offices in Kaiserslautern, Germany and Sembach Air Force Base (Germany).
In the late 1950's I had opened two piano and organ studios in Dallas, and played organ for two medium sized churches, all at the same time. One was Holy Cross Episcopal (super high church, with gregorian chant in Latin). The other one was the First Presbyterian Church in Garland, a fairly distant commute.I had 58 private students, mostly piano, but about a dozen organ students. Later I was organist for some very large churches with seating for about 1500 people. Many of the services were broadcast on radio or television. Some of the churches I played for in Dallas were Lovers Lane Methodist, Oak Cliff Methodist, East Dallas Christian, First Presbyterian, First Church of Christ Scientist, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral, Christ the King Roman Catholic Church, St. Paul Evangelical and Reformed, First Congregational, St. Mark's School of Texas (Episcopal), St. Cecelia's (RC), Highland Park Presbyterian, and many others.
