Ron Wentzel
Choir Director

In high school, Ron determined that music was his forte, and he attended the American Conservatory (Chicago) to obtain a degree in musical composition, as well as one in music education. He moved on to Roosevelt University for a Master’s degree in music education. "I had a really wonderful teacher at Roosevelt: Karal Jariac, conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra until the Russians drove him out." Said Ron, "Jariac was a man of the highest power in his own city. In Chicago, he had to start as a humble music theory teacher."

Ron had only six months’ experience playing the organ, but he kept applying until a church hired him. He worked as both organist and choir director through about 1988. Then a combination of carpal tunnel syndrome and diabetes required a reconsideration of his musical emphasis.

"I never realized until I stopped playing the organ how much I was missing by not paying full attention to the choir. Wednesday night the choir and I ‘sweat it out at rehearsal.’ Then we really look forward to Sunday mornings. . . . Working with the choir is a real joy.They're willing to try anything. I say, ‘Let’s jump!’ They say, ‘How high?’"

Ron became a member of First Unitarian in 1992. "I’m still a Christian at heart," he explains. "I believe in Jesus Christ. But regardless of what religious group I work with, I’m part of that group. But I have to be careful with choral music. "

"My politics have always been more than liberal. In high school I was one of the local school communists. And back then if you believed in socialized medicine, you had to be ready to be run out of town. But society’s values have changed, so they’re willing to do more for people. At the collection we took up for Hondurans this morning, I was thinking about the kids here in America who are starving and their parents."

"I remembered what Beth said about the theory of the supersignificance of peers in child development. It’s fact, the first three years of child development have little to do with peers. Parents are the huggers, the kissers, the readers, the music players, the listeners for those first three years."

"Child brains are ‘wired’ for specific kinds of nurturing to occur at specific times. If the children don’t receive that nurture when they need it, they’ll never again have the opportunity to develop. They’ll suffer and so will society."

"Betty (we’ve been married for 33 years) and I are proud of our two sons, Luther and Parker. As soon as we brought each of them home from the hospital, we gave them just the right nutrition, physical, and educational nurture they needed. They’ve developed so well. . . . We consider them our greatest achievement."

Ron hails from Chicago, and his favorite composers are J. S. Bach and Mozart. "Tom Weisflog is such a wonderful accompanist. He knows what I want before I know I want it. I’ve learned so much from him. Final touches - - - - - retards. Holding back for a note."

A couple of finishing notes. Ron is a murder mystery fan, and the family owns an African Gray Parrot for whom they have a long-term commitment to cleaning up the bird's shredded newspaper in their dining room.