By Alma Gaul
MOLINE, IA — More than 200 people, young and old, crowded into a banquet room Sunday at the Quad-City Botanical Center in Rock Island to say formal goodbyes to Kermit Wells, who is retiring after 40 years as director of the Moline Boys Choir.
Wells, 76, took over on a “temporary” basis in 1973 at the retirement of choir founder Frederick Swanson and stayed until his final spring concert in April.
A table at one end of the room was loaded with 50 scrapbooks of memorabilia and pictures taken over the years, including the high times when the group was bigger and toured nationally and even internationally. Labels included “1972 South Pacific,” “1979 New York City” and “1999 Colorado Tour.”
The choir was founded in 1948 and is a unique Quad-City tradition. Most people’s exposure to it is likely at the annual Lighting of the Commons holiday event attended by thousands at the John Deere Commons in downtown Moline.
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