Fenno, Carol and all,
I went upstairs to find my Fenno buttons and found that I still have four of them. I wore them on each coat while at school, and certainly for every concert, so it was important to have a few extra. I have them out and about the house tonight.
Many others have done such an eloquent job at recounting specifics from Yale – the tours, the concerts, the rehearsals, the “who wrote this?” we would hear from you as we sang yet another of your tasteful modulations in a piece you composed! I wanted to recount something more recent to me, the “Fenno-fest” from March 2004 where you came to Washington, DC to conduct a group of alumni as you had done repeatedly over the years. I hadn’t been singing extensively since I left Yale, other than coming back for reunions and singing dinners, but came along excitedly. It had been 17 years since singing at Yale, and a while since I had seen you last, and you looked older. However, as you got us to warm up and rehearse the music we were to sing that Sunday, and in your usual wonderful way chastised us when we couldn’t quite get a piece or two the first time through, the years melted away from you and from us. You had that same exuberance and excitement that we all knew and loved so well, and that’s what we all saw the rest of the weekend. Following that wonderful experience, I found a local choir in which to start singing. Clay Kaufman got me involved in the YGCA again, and I started singing a capella with Clay and a few other brave and gallant bandoleros here in DC. So even as a an alum you got me singing again, doing something I had missed for a long time. We think warm wishes for all of you from DC, and I think how those years would still melt away if we were able to get you to conduct us all once more.
Marty Brennan, ’87
Martin J. Brennan, III
Vice President and Managing Director Management Solutions
Washington Consulting, an Alion Company
Suite 450, Spring Hill Drive, Vienna, VA 22182
Office 703-752-7626 Mobile 703-587-7454 Fax 703-752-7678
mbrennan@washingtonconsulting.com
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