Choral-Aires voices sing like they did in the past

At 91, Claude Schmitz hasn’t forgotten the meaning of the
word humble.

“I didn’t do it,” he said with a laugh.

But ask any one of the two-dozen former students he had at
Colorado State College, now the University of Northern Colorado,
and they’ll tell you he did it all.

Friday, they got to tell Schmitz in person just how much he
meant to them during their time on the Choral-Aires chorus.

“I first heard this group at Tachikawa Air Force Base in (Tokyo)
Japan,” Mike Weiker said. “I was so overwhelmed by what I heard, I
said, ‘That’s where I’m going.’ Thank you Claude.”

One year later in 1959, when Weiker was out of the military,
that’s exactly what he did.

As part of UNC’s homecoming festivities, the Choral-Aires
members, most of whom are in their 70s now, came home for their own
reunion, playing for the Class of 1960 Reunion in the Panorama Room
in the University Center, honoring Schmitz and paying tribute to
the six members who have died.