Index

Bonnie Burgess-Wiedeman

Christmas Traditions

As a young girl growing up in Sarasota, for several years in the late 1950s, our family would attend the presentation of the Messiah at Christmastime, which was then performed at the First Baptist Church downtown by the Sarasota Choral Society. My great-grandfather, A. B. Edwards, the first mayor of the incorporated City of Sarasota and affectionately known as Mr. Sarasota, would accompany us. He was quite elderly then, well into his 80s, and did not drive anymore, so we would get dressed in our Sunday best – my father, my mother and my three younger sisters – and pick him up at his house on Roberts Point Road on Siesta Key. He would come out to the car dressed in his best dress hat and Sunday suit and topped off with his signature bow tie. His hair was snow white as was his well-trimmed mustache. He walked with a cane and never moved very quickly, just shuffled along.

As we arrived at the church, it was probably the closest I will ever know what it is like to be treated like royalty when he was with us because as we would stop to drop him off at the front of the church, old friends and local officials would gather round to say hello and help escort him inside. He was well loved and well respected by so many people. He never met a stranger and so many people would stop him or come over to say hello, that we had to get there early enough so people could pay their respects.

We would walk down the center aisle all the way up to the very front pew, which was reserved for him and his family. Dr. Julia. Rohr was the choir director then and would always acknowledge him. I remember how hard it was for me and my three sisters, all of us under ten years of age, to sit still through the entire performance. I always knew the end was near when we stood for the Hallelujah Chorus, which came to be my favorite part of the afternoon.

My great-grandfather passed away in 1969 and while he continued going to the office until he was around 90 years of age, he eventually was unable to attend the performance of the Messiah much after the early 1960s and passed away at the age of 94.

In keeping with tradition, my parents and I still occasionally attend and very much look forward to the annual event and as the Hallelujah Chorus begins, it brings tears to my eyes remembering what special times those were for my family as we celebrated the holidays together and the pleasure it brought to my grandfather and still brings to the community to this day. Now as a grown woman, well into my 50s and with grown children of my own, I treasure each moment of the performance, especially the Hallelujah Chorus.

Written in 2007 by Bonnie Burgess-Wiedeman