I don\u2019t know about you, but Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays.\u00a0I think I like it because it is uniquely an American holiday.\u00a0Many of you remember all the wonderful Thanksgiving traditions growing up as a child in school and at home.\u00a0Cutting papier m\u00e2ch\u00e9 turkeys out of construction paper, using your hand to trace a turkey, gathering with family, cooking a turkey and all the fixings, going outside to play football with the cousins, or staying inside to prepare for the big meal.\u00a0These are all warm memories that are nice to recall and, hopefully, still shared with friends and family.<\/p>\n
Thanksgiving is also special because it has its origin in who thanks was given to.\u00a0People can try to rewrite history all they want, but I believe and want to believe that history is true.\u00a0Those who settled our country were thankful to their Creator God for providing for them through exceptionally difficult times.<\/p>\n
When I hear the song \u201cCome, Ye Thankful People, Come,\u201d I picture Pilgrims gathering for worship and thanking God for their bountiful harvest, which they knew could sustain them.\u00a0We have it way too easy today.\u00a0We have little want and don\u2019t know what it would have been like in the early years of our country\u2019s founding.\u00a0That, however, doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t be thankful for what we have and for the blessings from above.\u00a0\u00a0This is what Thanksgiving is all about.<\/p>\n
This popular harvest festival hymn was even written by a minister named Henry Alford and was published in 1844.\u00a0Alford was actually born in London and came from a line of Anglican priests.\u00a0He was inspired with the words from two of Christ\u2019s parables: Matthew 13:24-30 (the wheat and the tares) and Mark 4:26-29 (the story of the seed springing up without the sower knowing of it.)<\/p>\n
As with much of our music in America (see \u201cAmerica\u201d, \u201cMy Country \u2018Tis of Thee\u201d) it came from Europe — in this case England.\u00a0It has become one of the top three Thanksgiving songs associated with our holiday.\u00a0It is probably the first one that comes to your mind.<\/p>\n
There are many things to be thankful for.\u00a0In my world of music, I have been blessed with a lovely and talented wife who plays piano.\u00a0We have been blessed with three talented children who still love to create good quality music as young adults.\u00a0I have been blessed to have had good music teachers who inspired me and made me love music.\u00a0In high school, I had Jay Hall as a band director and Larry Schaufelberger as my choir director.\u00a0In college, I was fortunate to have had Mark S. Kelly as director of bands at Bowling Green State University.\u00a0I think much of my musical sense is from the inspiration he created in me.<\/p>\n
I mention this because he is on my mind today as I write this column.\u00a0Mr. Kelly, or \u201cChief\u201d, as we admirably called him, just passed away yesterday (Tuesday).\u00a0Chief lived a long and effectual life.\u00a0He touched so many lives in the world of music especially and will be sorely missed.<\/p>\n
Of course, some of you know one of his daughters, Karen Kelly, who taught many years as assistant director of bands at Van Wert High School.\u00a0I doubt I would be writing this column today if it were not for Mr. Kelly.\u00a0I am feeling very thankful today for having him in my life and making me into the musician I have become.<\/p>\n
So, come, ye thankful people, come and raise your song of harvest home.\u00a0We enter a wonderful season of Christmas shows and concerts at the Niswonger PAC.\u00a0I look so forward to seeing you at one or more of our five events this Christmas season.\u00a0May you all have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.\u00a0May you be surrounded with love and family, lots of bountiful food, and may God bless you as we enter the season of His son\u2019s birthday celebration!<\/p>\n
FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t know about you, but Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays.\u00a0I think I like it because it is uniquely an American holiday.\u00a0Many of you remember all the wonderful Thanksgiving traditions growing up as a child in school and at home.\u00a0Cutting papier m\u00e2ch\u00e9 turkeys out of construction paper, using your hand to trace […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 12:52:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}