Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Our hope is for Peggy, Winnie, and Audrey and the family he leaves behind to have a great celebration of Dick's life for while he was surely one of the most eccentric persons I've known, he was a friend ti the core with a huge heart and when he sang I heard music and not just a voice. His thoughtfulness and his beautiful singing meant so much to me. He passed just about the time we have an annual visit over the phone, a real joy each time we've had opportunity to get "caught up." When I was looking for a bass/baritone singer for Second Congregational Church, Greenwich in 1963,(the first time in my life to hire any year around singers for a choir ever) Sergius Kagen at Juilliard said let me introduce you to Richard Kuelling who at Juillard was easily the finest young bass-baritone I've ever heard sing!!! Subsequently we invited Dick to our one room apartment in Hastings Hall at Union Seminary for dinner.....and he and Gene Nyquist (Dick's agent we were told) were our first guest ever for dinner in our marriage! Silk Suits, Silk Handkerchiefs in their Lapels, and sweet smell! We discovered that evening that Dick and my wife share the same birthdate, September 29, The Feast of St. Michael's and All Angels. That was truly a memorable evening for Leslie and me. Yes, he joined our staff!!! During the years that followed at Second Cong. there were the evenings way into the nights where we and some singers in the Second Cong. Choir gathered for dinner at his parent's Brownstone in Brooklyn. We loved those delicious dinners with many courses and each with a different stunning wine choice served in beautiful Beadamire Glasses along with Chateau Y Quem (Dick's from favorite vintage year of course!!!) Dessert Wine! Making music each week for five years with Richard was a total joy and memories flood my mind of the gift he's been to me over these years. We had our Verdi Sundays, our Rossini Sundays, our Mahler Sundays, and so on, and they were wonderful!!! On our thirteth wedding anniversary Dick sent us framed enlarged photos of Leslie and me he had taken in the 60's up at his parent's farm, the one loaded with gorgeous wild flowers over acres and acres! That was twenty years ago. We were so pleased with his thoughtfulness in that gesture. I added this prayer on Face Book for him this Monday evening: Richard (Dick) be received by the hosts of Choirs of Angels and welcomed by Lazarus, once a poor pauper, into the Holy City, Jerusalem, City of Peace, where the beauty of the Presence of Jesus Christ bathes your face and give you eternal rest Ages unto Ages. Amen The Peace of Christ fill all your hearts and minds as you gather to give thanks for Dick Kuelling, his life and his work. THE SONG IS ENDED BUT THE MELODY LINGERS ON!!! ...George and Leslie Mims
