It’s About Time
For anyone, including all the every-day barbershoppers out there, the intensity and hard work experienced along the path to greatness and an International Championship is beyond the imagination. One cannot begin to understand the hours and hours required in just one year’s preparation. When that effort is multiplied by many years of competition, it becomes unfathomable.
Such was the life of Jim Potts, who sang with the New Tradition Barbershop Chorus from Northbrook, Illinois for 12 years, from the time he joined in 1989 (after the chorus had already earned several medals) until 2001 when he retired to Florida. During that 12 year period, New Tradition garnered three more bronze, eight silver, and the coveted gold won in Nashville. Hmmm! Sounds like a perfectly "timed" number to me. Jim and his wife, Joy, had been pondering that very thought and felt there should be a way of putting those medals on display as a clock.
That is where Ron Hesketh entered the picture. Ron and his wife, Joyce, retired to Florida in 2004 and ended up in the same town and church choir as the Potts. One thing led to another, and Jim, Ron, and two other men decided to form a senior quartet. When the name "Senior Moment" was declined by the Society, they settled on the name "Try to Remember." What does this have to do with a clock, you may ask. That will be explained later in this story.
Joy approached Ron with the prospect of making a clock as a surprise for Jim’s 80th birthday at Christmas time, and he said he would be glad to do it. Ron had to search for a single piece of wood that would be wide enough to handle the medals. After surfing the internet he found that Mr. Dan Rose of Arizona Desert Mesquite had the perfect fit for what was needed, a 13"-wide piece of mesquite wood with fantastic graining and color. Then Jim’s wife, Joy, had to sneak a couple of medals out of the house without Jim’s knowledge so a pattern could be made.
After hours of drilling, sawing, hand-shaping, routing, sanding, and finishing with tung oil, it came time to mount the medals. All were placed and hand-fitted so they were flush with the surface, with the three bronze representing the 3, 6, and 9 positions, the eight silver medals representing the other numbers and a space for the gold at 12 o’clock.
Since Jim’s gold medal was always conspicuously hung by his chorus picture, it was left out of the clock until Jim opened his present on Christmas Eve when he was able to add the ‘piece de resistance.’
As one might expect, Jim was ecstatic with the result. What really added to the surprise was the tune heard when the clock chimed on the hour. It seems that one of the songs included in the six-chime movement is "Try to Remember." How ironic and timely.
Now you know The Rest of the Story.
Have a similar project in mind ...?
Ron may be contacted @ joyron1@earthlink.net
Phone #: 352-382-4518
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Making the Clock ...
Engineering the Clock and Medal placement plans begin to take shape.
Fitting the first medal. ( Measure Twice ..., Drill Once ! )
The Finished Clock with the Medals in place.
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