By JANET HART LEONARD
From the Hart
On Thursday night, Sept. 29, Heaven heard the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.
Tucked in the basement choir room at the Noblesville First United Methodist Church were a few dozen voices, singing in the present, but remembering the past.
We were celebrating and honoring our junior high and high school music teacher, Mrs. Jane McFarland.
Let me tell you about this Noblesville High School legend, although there are not enough words to give her the praise and recognition she deserves. If you had her for a music teacher or choir director … you know.
Mrs. McFarland returned to Noblesville to spend an evening with her students – students with whom she shared her gifts of music from 1964 to 1971. She was and continues to be one of a kind.
Looking quite amazing for being 99 years young, Mrs. McFarland entered the choir room with the applause of those of us who once upon a time sang, “Up Harper’s Creek,” “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
She retired from teaching at the Parkview Christian Academy in Waco, Texas, at the age of 98. No, that was not a typo. Seventy years of Choral Conducting.
For three hours on Thursday night, music filled that choir room, along with a lot of love. There were accolades as Mrs. McFarland was given a plaque declaring Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, Mrs. Jane McFarland Day in Noblesville, so said the Honorable Mayor Chris Jensen.
Robert McFarland, her world-renowned opera singer son, along with Jim McGee brought us all together for an evening of harmony and celebration.
Sitting on the edge of our chairs (as we were taught) were those of us in our 60s and 70s, but for a few hours we were back in high school, and we were her students. We knew to keep our eyes on her … and we did.
Near the end of the evening, we stood to sing the song that I believe Heaven heard the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. For a few moments, we were transported back to the gymnasium of the old high school where along with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra the Noblesville High School Choirs presented the Messiah. That was big-time stuff back in the day. And her students never forgot.
Mrs. McFarland has touched the lives as well as the hearts of so many students in all those 70 years. A TV station in Texas told her story a few years back when they visited her in the high school classroom where she was still teaching.
As we sang the Hallelujah Chorus, I could just imagine God quieting Heaven with a soft “shhh” and turning His face to shine upon us and saying, “I’ve never heard that song sung any sweeter than that!” A few angels might have said, “Amen.”
Thank you, Mrs. McFarland, for sharing your gift of music as well as your faith with us. We were certainly blessed.
Janet Hart Leonard can be contacted at janethartleonard@gmail.com or followed on Facebook or Instagram (@janethartleonard). Visit janethartleonard.com.