i love morris: "June 19" has special ring to it!

Friday, June 19, 2026

"June 19" has special ring to it!

Oh my, look at what the calendar tells me this morning. It is June 19 which for many people is significant because of "Juneteenth." I strongly doubt that our top leaders in the Federal government will say much about the holiday. I would guess they'd prefer it does not exist. Same for MLK Day.

I actually question the existence of MLK Day myself. A holiday to memorialize a person who worked to get basic rights for a class of people who should have had those rights all along? Seems to me mostly a source of shame. Today of course we live in a rainbow culture that is not broken down as "whites" and "blacks." I heard the term "Negro" when I was growing up.

But hey, June 19 has significance for my own family. It is my late father's birthday. He came into the world in the summer of 1916, the youngest of five sons of Martin and Carrie Williams of Glenwood, so close to Morris. The country boy became quite the city person as he grew into adulthood. In the 1950s he directed the prestigious Apollo Male Chorus of Minneapolis.

A stereotype has appeared to grow about my father, that he was almost totally focused on directing men-only groups. He of course was proficient in directing basically anything. In UMM's early times, there was a "concert choir" but not billed as such. Back then the term was "mixed chorus," because it seemed all names needed a gender reference.

Ralph E. Williams
My late father's birthday is today, 6/19.

Dad did a lot for UMM's visibility by directing the UMM men's chorus. Please do not assume that was a narrow specialty for him. He directed the original UMM orchestra in the institution's earliest days. They put out a vinyl record album just like the men's chorus. I have had the album sleeves on display at the Morris Public Library.

I encourage you to check out my new post on my "Morris of Course" blog. It includes an image of the newspaper item from when UMM presented its first-ever music concert. It was in early November of 1960. It had to be right at the time of the presidential election: JFK vs. Richard Nixon. As I remind readers in my post, the Minnesota Twins were not yet in existence. That would come in 1961. The Vikings too! Imagine life in Minnesota without either.

Here is the link to my blog post and thanks for reading!

https://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2026/06/umm-music-debuted-with-flourish-in-1960.html

I am running some photos this summer from my personal archives. There is more to come on Dad and his exciting exploits with his UMM vocalists. Trips to two World's Fairs! Governor Elmer Andersen was excited about our men's chorus. Nothing like getting attention from the governor himself when you're trying to "sell" a new institution like UMM.

I remember watching basketball at the "P.E. Annex," now razed of course. I remember going to an upper floor of the building now known as "multi-ethnic" and looking to the south to see UMM football played at "P.E. Miller Field." All of the music and theater was at Edson Auditorium and I thought it worked fine there.

I was always an "outcast" in the eyes of the most rigid "academic" types at UMM, the wine-and-cheese party folks. They felt my parents indulged me too much. They were right but why get mad at me for that?

Someone should have seen to it that I got prescribed some "behavior meds." Never happened. And once I reached junior high I began hitting roadblocks in academics.

I had almost forgotten the term "new math," then I came upon it again recently. And as I suspected, the "new math" was concocted out of the Cold War that created so much misery for my generation. I was shamed by my academic struggles to where I sort of retreated inward and just survived. Technically I did survive. The school would not have wanted to lose the state aid money for me being there.

I developed social anxiety disorder. I should have kept attending my father's concerts regularly. But I was made to feel like I was such a "loser" in school. Well, maybe I had below-average intelligence. I still should have been allowed to have some self-esteem.

After I had worked for the Morris newspaper for several years, I could not contain my dislike for the public school teachers. They were an absolute pain in the butt, dull and humorless to go with their most obvious annoyances. I think this was a problem all over but it was worse in Morris. Someone told me that our superintendent Fred Switzer had to "answer to the intelligentsia" in Morris, primarily because of UMM's presence here.

Oh but here's the good news: I sense a much different attitude emanating from UMM today. The old pretentious wine-and-cheese academic crowd has receded. UMM faculty seem sincere and friendly with everyone now. And I am impressed about how each UMM sports event is preceded by an announcement about how fan behavior has to be courteous toward all, or you'll be asked to leave. I used to wonder why campus security did not intervene when lousy and disruptive behavior showed itself.

And I will state again that Chancellor Jack Imholte went along with much of the offending behavior. I know from some remarks he made at a reception at his house once. The reception was on the eve of an important football game. Some opposing players were present. After they left, Imholte commented on how those guys "had trouble putting a sentence together."

It was just an informal reception. And besides, those guys were our guests. At least I could see that.

So on a positive note, let me emphasize that over the past year or two I get overall very good vibes from our campus and its people. Makes me all that more comfortable as the spokesman for the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund to benefit music at UMM. I could feel downcast at the "death" of symphonic winds which was once such a showcase. But I cannot feel glum.

Everyone who sponsors a fund like this for UMM is assured that even if the institution closes, the money will be applied with value somewhere within the U. In my case, I'd be happy if the fund went to benefit music at the Twin Cities campus. That's where my father spent his undergraduate years. He also got his Master's from the Twin Cities campus. In the '50s he taught music at the U of M-St. Paul School of Agriculture, the "School of Ag." These were my preschool years and I really do remember them well.

Here in Morris we had our own "School of Agriculture." Such institutions reached the end of the road. The Morris community felt angst. We worked hard to get a branch of the U here. And we succeeded. Now we feel some worry about our future.

Well, good luck to chancellor Mike Rodriguez. I have faith in him. Now let's enjoy the rest of the summer.