The Vocal Coach
01 Mar 2010
A Tribute To Friends Who Have Helped Me Over The Years
I have thought and thought about what to write in my forthcoming articles. After much prayer and thinking, I have decided to pay tribute, or give thanks where thanks is due, to the many people who have helped me through the years. I want to start as near the beginning of my journey as I can. I will be, for the next few months, writing about the many people who have been responsible for my having such a wonderful life of singing for the Lord. I am convinced that none of us who have had this privilege would ever have accomplished what we did without a lot of help along the way.
I would like to start with my Dad and Mom who encouraged me to sing and had me standing up in front of the congregation singing at the Bible College my dad attended back in 1948. I learned a couple of songs that they taught me and every few weeks the chapel leader would ask me to sing during chapel, to the students, at Peniel Bible College. I was in the 4th and 5th grade, during the two years that we spent there from 1948 to the Spring of 1950. I was so small that they would have me stand on a chair to sing so everyone could see me, and I could read the words to the songs from the book that I placed on the pulpit. When camp meeting came around in 1949 I was asked to sing in the choir during camp meeting. I stood on a chair to sing in the choir , and sang with the soprano section , becaus at the time my voice was very high.. A big thanks to my Dad and Mom for their encouragement and patience. By the way, my mom and dad sang duets together for the chapel services also. My dad was left handed and played the guitar for them to sing with. He was very unique, in that he was a self taught guitar player, and he played a guitar that was strung for a right handed player. He played the guitar upside down. Instead of starting at the top of the strings and strumming down, he started at the bottom of the strings and strummed upwards. That way he could play anyone’s guitar. It was very interesting to watch.
During this time, my 5th grade teacher was teaching us to sing some patriotic songs for a gathering that was going to take place on the square, by the courthouse, in Stanton, Ky. , where Peniel Bible College was located, and where we lived. She asked if anyone in the room could sing harmony. Then she proceeded to show us what that was. Well, I picked it up immediately, and showed her I could do it. She was very happy about that, and I got to sing the harmony parts on the few songs that we sung on the courthouse square. My 5th grade teacher’s name was Miss Daisy . I never did know her last name. But I sure do remember her showing us how to sing harmony. That was the earliest beginnings of my singing in front of people, and the first time that I ever sang harmony.
When I was 14 years old, I was living in Evansville, Indiana , attending Calvary Temple Assembly of God Church. The pastor’s son, Ron Vibbert and I were best friends. We are actually 1 year apart in age. Ron was fifteen. One Sunday afternoon there was a quartet singing at the Agoga Tabernacle in Evansville. Ron and I decided to go, because both of us had become interested in Southern Gospel Music after hearing a record or two. This was the first time I ever saw J. D. Sumner . He was real young at the time, and singing bass for the Sunshine Boys Quartet. They were wonderful. Ron and I both got bit by the quartet bug that very day. I didn’t get to meet J.D. Sumner that day, but I wanted to for years. Then in 1971 I got to work for him in “ J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet ”. I will tell the story about how I got the job in a later article.
Ron and I found two fellows that were attending Calvary Temple to sing with us Bob Rich, (baritone), and Glen Snodgrass (bass) . We got together and practiced. Since Ron was the pastor’s son we sang for his dad and he invited us to sing during the following Sunday evening service. By the way, none of us were real big in stature yet, because we were all very young, but we all had big feet. I was about 4ft 9in, and the smallest of the crew . I wore a size 10 ½ shoe. The bass singer wore a 12, Ron wore a 10 ½ and Bob wore a 9. I say that so you can understand how the pastor introduced us. We had not decided on a name for our group. We had only practiced once, and didn’t know that we would ever sing more than that one time. Since we had no name, Pastor Vibbert introduced us as “ The Big Footed Four ”. Of course he did that, to break the ice for us, and he was prone to be a little comical at times. Brother Glen didn’t sing with us very long, because he had to work and didn’t have time. Another fellow named Dalton Welch took Glen’s place. We then started singing in almost every service at our church. By this time we had found a name. Pastor Vibbert had a Sunday morning radio program each week named “ Echoes of Calvary ” we became regulars on that Sunday morning program, and the pastor named us “ The Echoes of Calvary Quartet ”. I have said all of that to name several people who were instrumental in my beginning in gospel music.
The real point I want to make is that my friend Ron Vibbert didn’t know what an impact he would have on my singing. But, I credit him for saying the one thing to me that made a major difference in the way that I sang then and I still live by it today. It was very simple, and it happened during one of our first two or three practice sessions. I was trying to sing as pretty as I could , but I wasn’t singing out enough . We had just started to sing a song and I had to take the lead, I was trying to sing pretty tenor. Ron stopped the whole thing and said to me “BILL SING OUT, YOU ARE SINGING TOO SOFT”. I said back “I am just trying to sing pretty”. Ron then ask me to sing it louder and pretty. At that point I got it!
Ron, I thank you for being who you are, for the major difference that you made in my singing. I would also like to thank Bob Rich for helping me learn how to sing harmony better . He and his family were all excellent harmony singers. When God called me into the preaching ministry in 1976, Bob was one of my greatest helps. He and I not only spent time talking about God and the ministry, but Bob also helped me schedule services in some churches where he had ministered. Thanks Bro. Bob you were and still are a tremendous blessing to my life . I would like to thank each one of the people that I have mentioned above for the contribution that they made to help me follow the calling and hone the skills that God had given me. Each one had a special part of making me who I am today, both in a spiritual way and in a musical way. Pastor Vibbert was the greatest preacher I have ever heard . Each one of these men, have ministered to others in his own way. Ron went on to become an excellent school teacher, and counselor. He’s retired today and still singing with his own trio in Evansville, Indiana and the tristate area. Bob went into evangelistic ministry when he was seventeen years old, he traveled many years, and today he pastors a really wonderful church in the Madisonville, Ky. area. Pastor Vibbert has gone home to be with the Lord. Dalton Welch, pastored in different churches in the Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky area until he retired. Glen Snodgrass pastored in Indiana, Illinois, and is retired in Mobile, Al. Today. Every one of these men have made an impact on the Kingdom of God through their different callings. What a blessing it was to start off singing with such a dedicated and called group of men. That is why I wanted to start my tribute series with talking about these guys, Miss Daisy, and my Mom and Dad. All of these people begun the shaping of who I am today through their efforts and ministry into my life. By the way, I am still growing. God shows me new things every day about my life, and I still hear important things from other singers that help me along the way.
Next month, I will continue the tribute series. In this series of tributes, I will talk about Smitty Gatlin, J.D. Sumner, Donnie Sumner, Elvis Presley, Ed Hill, Charles Novell and many others. I feel that it is important to let people know that their friendships and ministry to you had an impact on your life.
To all of you who have taken time to read this, you are also having an impact on my life, may God richly bless each of you.
Remember Psalm 118:6 “The Lord is on My Side” He is on your side also. Don’t forget it.
In Christian Love,
Bill Baize
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Bill, I met you at Charles Novells school and you and your wife were so kind and helped me greatly. God bless you.
Written: 03/01/2010 
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