There'll Always Be A Judson

I apologize to all who read my blog and aren't Judson girls. You may not appreciate this post quite as much but it might give a little insight to a Judson alumnea's life. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera to Irene Jordan's tribute at The Club last Saturday. However, even if I had I would have had to use Melissa's computer. For some reason my computer will not allow me to upload pictures. I did it without any help on Melissa's computer...just like I had been trying(unsuccessfully)on mine. If anyone has any tips feel free to enlighten me.

So, the afternoon with Irene Jordan was very entertaining. We attended a luncheon, hosted by the Birmingham Judson alumnae Association to honor the lifetime achievement of Irene Jordan. I wish that all of my Judson friends would value the knowledge and culture that we can gain from the women who have gone before us. But, let me get off of my soapbox and start at the beginning. I picked Melissa up and proceeded to follow the mapquest directions. Maquest is stupid. The only thing that the mapquest directions accomplished was to enable Melissa the once in a lifetime opportunity to see Vulcan and all his glory. We ended up starting over and following Mrs. Eugenia's directions. I guess I should have just trusted her to begin with. Mrs. Eugenia suggested that we valet park. I have never valet parked in my life but since we were late I figured that I would follow the little guy in the white jacket who was waving his hand at us a hard as he could. He was a funny little guy. It is kind of strange just handing your keys over to someone you don't know at all. Not that I think he was going to take a joy ride in the Malibu or anything but it made me very self conscience about how trashy my car is at the moment. Anyway, in true Judson fashion, the luncheon was off to a late start. We had a minute to mingle before finding our way back to our back corner of the room. For some reason I had the urge to say, "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." I did refrain though. Melissa and I were on our best behavior and we tried to brush up on our etiquette that The Judson afforded us. O.K.,Let me explain who Irene Jordan is. She is a Judson graduate who went on to become a Metropolitan Opera Star. She might be one of the most famous Judson graduates. She has returned to Judson on many occasions to help raise money for the school. She did a benefit concert to help raise money to build the second Jewett Hall after the first burned.

To begin the luncheon they recognized all of the people who came from all over the state, Ms. Jordan's family, board of trustees, all the regulars. Then they recognized members of the Judson choir who sang at Carnegie Hall. Well...wouldn't you know what I was the only one who was technically a member of the choir at that time. As I stood up I slowly pulled Melissa up with me. Even though she was not a member of the choir she still sang with us and that was good enough for me. I quickly sat back down but that was not the last time that Melissa and I would be the center of attention. More on that later.

The highlight of the day was when Ms. Irene Jordan herself sang Sweet Little Jesus Boy. It was great. She then decided to play the piano while she sang the second because she did not have time to properly practice with the pianist, who I do believe was about 100 years old. Now, let me just explain that Irene Jordan is almost 90 years old. If she sings that beautifully now, I would have loved to hear her in her prime. She was just amazing. She spoke without a mic even and we all heard her just fine. She was very amusing. I think I got a glimpse of me when I get that old because her stories rather resembled Marie stories. More than one time she said, "now how did I get on that subject, that wasn't what I was talking about." She was great. If you ever get a change to see her please take the chance. This was like the Golden Club banquet for one woman. I am going to go on the record now and say that at least one of the MeeMaws better do something in their lifetime so we can have a tribute to you. We ended the afternoon by singing There'll always be a Judson. They did not print the words so it was rather amusing to hear people trying to sing a song they did not know. It took Melissa and Me through the first verse to really remember it but then it was obvious that we are really the only people who did. So, we sang a little louder hoping that the older Judson ladies around us would be able to sing along with us. No, that didn't really help. It just caused all of Irene Jordan's family that was around us to watch us and smile. After it was over we were applauded on our singing abilities and I am sure there were some comments in there about Carnegie Hall. I don't really remember because I was too embarrassed. Mee-Maws...I carried on the tradition. Even by ourselves we are public spectacles.

After it was over I was chatting with Caroline Reich and Mrs. Potts about what a success it was. We discussed having another luncheon in the fall. Caroline would like Wayne Flint to come speak but she said that you have to book him way in advance. You know me, and my one tract mind, I quickly voiced my opinion for the next tribute luncheon. My suggestion was to honor a past missionary or missionaries who went to Judson. I know there are a lot out there but we just don't hear about them very much. Maybe we can call it the Ann Judson award or something and present it to a great missionary graduate from Judson every year. So, I do expect all of the Mee-maws to attend the next luncheon.