Coming Out of the Dark
The Chorale That Helped a Son Find His Father
Something extraordinary happened yesterday, and I am still carrying it with me. The Turtle Creek Chorale has given this city so many gifts, but yesterday it gave someone a moment of truth he had been waiting his whole life to feel.
I had a copy of Breath! on the table in the TBRU Marketplace. It is the book created for the Chorales twenty fifth anniversary, filled with every name that shaped those first decades.
A first timer at TBRU (Texas Bear Round Up), visiting from Oklahoma City, stopped when he saw it. He told me that while going through his father’s estate, he found a single record showing that his father had once played piano with the Chorale. He had always suspected his father was gay, but they never discussed it either way.
was one of those quiet suspicions that families carry without ever speaking aloud.
I told him we could find out. At the time this book was printed in 2004, the Chorale had lost some 100 members to the plaque of AIDS. I opened the book to the inside cover where every member from those twenty-five years is listed. He leaned in, searching line by line, almost afraid to hope.
Then he saw it. His father’s name.
His finger suddenly froze along the back inside cover; he closed the book gently and pulled it into his chest like something precious he had been missing for years. He held it in a tight bear hug, eyes shining, right on the edge of tears. I joined him, because I have a strict rule that no one cries alone in my presence. It felt like watching a door open inside someone. A door he thought would stay locked forever.
We shared that moment of revelation together, which is something I never expected for my very first vendor market for the Dallas history brand that I’m creating.
We’ve exchanged info and I’m reaching out to the members of the Turtle Creek Chorale to see if there are any active members that would have worked with Keith Whitmore.
If you have any memories of Keith, it would be the honor of my life to introduce you to his son, who also plays piano and is also a proud gay man.
I am determined to help connect him with his father on a plane that couldn’t happen in the living years.
It is stories like this that I wish to uncover as part of my work on Dallas Rediscovered. I’m still evolving the ideas on how I want to run this endeavor. I respond to history that I can see and touch. Proximity is of utmost importance to me, and I plan to procure things that will help me tell the story of Dallas! One story at a time.
While in my possession, I will undergo conservation efforts to protect the artifacts from decay and at times rescue them from the brink. In most cases, once I’ve told their story I no longer need the item, so to help keep me from becoming a hoarder, I plan to release those items back into circulation as rejuvenated works of art. I don’t intend to push a sales angle on anyone, but if a piece speaks to you reach out to me privately and we can work out the terms of transfer.