Claude Schmitz, who sang, acted and directed musicians and founded a famous choir, died on Oct. 9 at a care center in Littleton. He was 92.
Fifteen former Choral-Aires will sing at his memorial Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Macy Allnutt Chapel in Greeley.
“He was an excellent musician, who taught us not just to play technically correct but how to give an emotional effect to the music,” said Monty Otto, who had been a student of Schmitz’s and later was head of music at Arvada West High School.
“Claude never lost his temper,” Otto said. “He just had to raise his left eyebrow” and you immediately corrected yourself, he said.
Schmitz, who spent much of his music career at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, also sang for several years in the Denver Grand Opera, the Central City Opera and the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey before going to Greeley.
He taught and was chairman of the music department at UNC, where he had earned his degrees.
But he may be best known for founding the Choral-Aires, a 32-member choir that sang for American troops along the demilitarized zone in Korea as well as in Japan, Guam and Okinawa.
Schmitz never knew how the choir received a formal invitation from then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, said Schmitz’s daughter Natalie Hill of Littleton.
He may have heard the choir during a Colorado visit or may have heard about it from someone else, said Hill.
But the choir made two trips to the area, flying in cold, drafty military planes. The women wore red satin dresses and the men wore red vests, Hill said.
In one trip, going to the area where they would sing, they were escorted by armored vehicles in front of and behind their bus.
Another time, they were flying from Denver to Tokyo, “which in those days was like going to Mars,” said Hill. An engine fell off the plane and they made an unscheduled stop in Salt Lake City.
The choir sang throughout the state, “but they’ll never forget those trips,” said Hill.
“Claude was self-effacing, always willing to give credit to others,” said Howard Skinner, former longtime director of choral activities at UNC.
Claude Schmitz was born in Denver on April 24, 1919.
He married Anna Slevin on Jan. 15, 1945. She died in 2001.
He taught at UNC from 1949 until 1983 and was chairman of the voice department from 1967 until 1982.
In addition to his daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Beth Capron Parenteau, and four grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
Other Deaths
Tom Keith, 64, a longtime sound-effects man who was the source of creaking doors, clucking chickens and more on “A Prairie Home Companion,” died of a heart attack at his home Sunday, the show’s host, Garrison Keillor, said Monday
Keillor remembered Keith as “one of radio’s great clowns.”
“He was serious about silliness and worked hard to get a moo exactly right and the cluck too, and the woof. His whinny was amazing — noble, vulnerable, articulate. He did bagpipes, helicopters, mortars, common drunks, caribou (and elands and elk and wapiti), garbage trucks backing up, handsaws and hammers, and a beautiful vocalization of a man falling from a great height into piranha-infested waters,” Keillor said.
Keith had performed with Keillor since 1976, when Keillor hosted a morning show on Minnesota Public Radio. Keith worked as a board operator but began appearing more and more in skits Keillor produced.
The Associated Press
