Published on: Wednesday, December 19, 2012

By Mary McHale

Singing senior, you too can be an Idol!

Calling all talented senior singers! Audition for the 2013 Prince George’s Senior Idol Contest to be held April 3.

Auditions will be at three locations, all between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.: Monday, Jan. 7, at the Laurel-Beltsville Senior Activity Center, 7120 Contee Road, Laurel; Tuesday, Jan. 8, at the Camp Springs Senior Activity Center, 6420 Allentown Road, Camp Springs; and Wednesday, Jan. 9, at the Prince George’s Ballroom, 2411 Pinebrook Ave., Landover.

For Idol guidelines and to reserve an audition time, call 301-446-3400 or TTY 301-446-3402.

Neighbors

Speaking of singing seniors, on Nov. 30, I attended “Celebrating Gifts and Talents,” featuring the Senior Performing Arts Troupe, at the Camp Springs Senior Activity Center. The large and very talented cast of singers, dancers, actors and musicians included Yvonne Garvin and Jeanette S. Hite, both from Skyline. Percell Thomas was originator and director. It was delightful.

Stan Holmes, of Skyline, took his granddaughters MaKyla, 6, and Ma’Leyah, 2, and nephew Jordan, 9, on a 5.5-hour family Christmas tour, on foot. They started with a picnic at the Tidal Basin, trekked on to the Willard Hotel, the National Christmas Tree, past the Canadian Embassy to the Capitol Christmas Tree and ended at the Botanical Gardens, taking pictures of Christmas trees all the way. 

Sister Rezan, of Skyline, has returned from a Daughters of St. Anne conference in Kenya. Last week I watched the amazing videos she took on safari.  

The Emmanuel Baptist Church Music Ministry’s musical drama “Come See The Lamb” played to a packed house last Sunday. The production had four drama directors, three dance instructors, 14 support crew, nine dancers, 30 singers (including Skyline’s own Shirley Holmes), 10 musicians and 20 cast members, all directed by Rev. Christopher Nichols of Nic’Leon Music School in Clinton. They also performed Friday night at St. Elizabeths Hospital.

New Year’s Eve retreat

Loyola on the Potomac is hosting a New Year’s Retreat beginning with dinner at 6 p.m. on Dec. 31, followed by a reflection on “Faith in What is and What is to Come,” Mass at 11 p.m., New Year’s Celebration at midnight, an overnight in a private room, and brunch at 11 a.m. on Jan. 1. The fee is $95. The Retreat House is at 9270 Loyola Retreat Road in Faulkner. For reservations, call 301-392-0800. I plan to be there.

Jerry and Jean, 70 years ago

Seventy years ago, Dec. 23, 1942, Gerald Glaubitz and Jean Quapp were married in Lincoln, Neb. He was 21 and she only 17; he had to get permission from her folks. Jerry was on Navy leave from the USS San Francisco, which a year earlier had been anchored at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked and forced us into World War II.

Jerry and Jean moved to Morningside in 1947. Jerry went on to become Morningside’s first chief of police, Maryland’s longest-serving mayor, and president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors. He died April 26, 2005. Jean still has that house in Morningside but currently lives in Owings. Happy anniversary, Jerry and Jean.

He loved John Wayne movies

Leroy Mark Chamberlain, 75, a retired security guard and collector of old movies, died Dec. 11 in the house he shared with his sisters on Morgan Road in Morningside.

He was born Aug. 28, 1937, in Washington, one of the eight children of Maye and Arthur Chamberlain. He lived in the District for years before moving to Suitland and Deale and, about 15 years ago, to Morningside.

One of his first jobs was as an usher at the Highland Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. That was probably the beginning of his love of vintage movies, especially westerns and old mob films. According to his sister Sandra, you could ask him anything about old films — he knew it all.

Survivors include his daughter Angela Chamberlain, sisters Sandra Mickey and Brenda Ball (another sister, Lois Gardner, died last Jan. 2), and nephew Sam Chamberlain. Services were at Kalas with burial at Cedar Hill Cemetery.

Milestones

Happy birthday to Evelyn McKeown, Dec. 21; Timothy Flaherty and former Morningside Mayor Irving Robinson, Dec. 22; Paul Ford and Russ Kyser, Dec. 23; Kendall Lanehart, former Morningside Mayor Ken Miller, Dec. 24; Holly Jean Nichols, Samantha Bowie, Christine Mucker and Loretta Hooe, Dec. 25; Jeffrey Norton and Michael Nichols, Dec. 26; Virginia Simms, Carolyn Jeffcoat and Kirra Starr Mears, Dec. 27.

Happy anniversary to Pastor and Mrs. Kelvin McCune, their 27th on Dec. 21; and Nola and Bruce Thomas, their 35th on Dec. 27.