Press Release:
The Maine Music Society
July 20, 2022
Connie Hitchcock, Marketing co-chair
For immediate release
Maine Music Society elects 2022-2024 Officers
The Maine Music Society is pleased to welcome Randi Cornelio and Linda Nickerson to its Board of Directors. Each brings a unique knowledge and diverse experiences to help the Board meet its goals.
Lewiston – The Maine Music Society Board of Directors is pleased to announce its new officers who will lead the non-profit organization through its 32nd and 33rd seasons. Re-elected for another 2-year term at its June meeting were Chair Richard O’Brien, Treasurer Gil LaPointe and Secretary Susan Trask. Board member Sheryl Whitmore was elected Vice Chair, replacing retiring David Blocher.
Chair Richard O’Brien is a local attorney, who has practiced with the firm of Linnell, Choate & Webber for the past 40 years. Over the years, Rick has served in various capacities for a number of municipal and non-governmental organizations. He joined the MMS Board in 2017. Artistically, Rick has been singing in the tenor section of the MMS Chorale for the past seven years as well as in the Society’s Chamber Singers. He also sings in his church choir, has been a member of the cast for the fall musical with The Theater at Monmouth for many years, and is a devoted bluegrass mandolinist.
Rick has lived for many years in Winthrop with his wife Ellen, with whom he celebrates 45 years of marriage this summer. His children are grown, and have careers that vary from woodworking craftsman, to attorney, to craft brewer.
Vice Chair Sheryl Whitmore is a retired librarian who served as the library director for Lisbon for seven years and as reference librarian for the Lewiston Public Library for twelve years. She has also worked as a substitute teacher, a manufacturing assistant at Thos Moser, and is a former organist/choir director for the Minot Methodist Church.
Currently she is an active member of both the MMS chorale and the MMS Chamber Singers, an Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice volunteer visitor and hospice choir member, and belongs to the Women Giving Back organization.
Her hobbies include singing, creating beautiful art quilts, kayaking, hiking, biking, and reading.
Now residing in Auburn, Sheryl was born in Blue Hill and has been a Mainer all her life. She and her husband, Jonathan, have two sons and five grandchildren.
Treasurer Gilbert J. LaPointe is a native of Lewiston, graduating from St. Dominic High School in 1968. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts/Lowell in 1972 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in June 1972 where his specialty was Communications and Computer Systems. He has both an MS in Systems Management and an MBA from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Shortly after his retirement as Lieutenant Colonel in January 1995, Gil converted a life-long woodworking hobby into a woodworking business from 1996 – 2002. He has also been active in the community, serving as Chairman of the Basilica Restoration Committee from 2002-2007 and as business manager for the various Catholic churches in Lewiston, retiring from that in 2014. Having attended MMS concerts since his Air Force retirement, Gil did not hesitate to accept the invitation to join the MMS Board in 2015 and has been its treasurer since 2016. He lives with his wife Connie in Auburn.
Secretary Susan Trask has been singing alto with the Maine Music Society Chorale since its inception. She is also a member of the Chamber Singers and is President of the Chorale. In addition, she is noted for writing the music notes that are shared with audiences as part of our spring pop concerts.
Susan lives in Auburn with her husband Woody who also sings with the Chorale. She is retired from a career as a teacher and literary coach in the Auburn schools. In her retirement, she volunteered with Androscoggin Home Health Care and Hospice, serving in patient support in homes and at Hospice House. She co-founded and directed Androscoggin Harmony, the hospice choir, from which she recently retired.
When she is not involved with her various singing activities, she loves sewing, reading, word puzzles, sailing and kayaking.
The Maine Music Society [MMS] is a music-performing non-profit located in central Maine organized to support the artistic and educational activities of the auditioned, volunteer singers of the MMS Chorale and the MMS Chamber Singers. MMS offers quality performances to the public through excellent imaginative programming under the directorship of Dr. Richard Nickerson.
For more information please visit www.mainemusicsociety.org, call 207-333-3386 or like us on Facebook.
Press Release:
The Maine Music Society
July 20, 2022
Connie Hitchcock, Marketing co-chair
For immediate release
David Blocher Honored by MMS for 16 years of Service
The Maine Music Society is pleased to welcome Randi Cornelio and Linda Nickerson to its Board of Directors. Each brings a unique knowledge and diverse experiences to help the Board meet its goals.
At their June 21st meeting, the Maine Music Society Board of Directors presented outgoing Board Member and past Chair David Blocher with a Certificate of Appreciation and personal gift for his distinctive contributions to the organization from 2006 to 2022.
He served as Vice President from 2008 to 2009 and as President from 2009 to 2014. He set up and managed social media accounts, acted as a liaison to Arts and Culture LA, and worked diligently on the Marketing and Fundraising committees. He has been a committed financial supporter and has researched creative ways to grow the endowment. He has enthusiastically and eloquently communicated and supported the activities and importance of the Maine Music Society at Chamber of Commerce events and to the general public throughout his tenure as both a singer and a board member.
David Blocher is a baritone who has been singing with the Maine Music Society Chorale for the past thirty years.
David is retired from careers in software development and information technology management. He lives in Brunswick with his wife, artist Helen Warren. David’s hobbies include opera, wildlife and figuring out how things work. He is a volunteer at Androscoggin Home Healthcare and Hospice where he sings in the Androscoggin Harmony hospice choir and visits hospice patients in their homes.
The Maine Music Society [MMS] is a music-performing non-profit located in central Maine organized to support the artistic and educational activities of the auditioned, volunteer singers of the MMS Chorale and the MMS Chamber Singers. MMS offers quality performances to the public through excellent imaginative programming under the directorship of Dr. Richard Nickerson.
For more information please visit www.mainemusicsociety.org, call 207-333-3386 or like us on Facebook.
Press Release:
The Maine Music Society
March 3, 2022
Contacts: Randi Cornelio, Board Member, randic78@gmail.com ,Linda Nickerson, Board Member, lindanickerson22@gmail.com
For immediate release
Cornelio and Nickerson Join Maine Music Society Board
The Maine Music Society is pleased to welcome Randi Cornelio and Linda Nickerson to its Board of Directors. Each brings a unique knowledge and diverse experiences to help the Board meet its goals.
Randi Cornelio is a corporate accountant with Continuum Health Services following her employment in computer operations at C.H. Bass & Co. Her extensive volunteer history includes serving meals to children at Lewiston’s Root Cellar, mission trips to Nigeria, Romania and Ecuador all to interact with and to help provide facilities for orphaned girls and street children. She was also a Board member for The Foundation of Hope & Grace that was started to help vulnerable children and whose mission evolved to focus on child human trafficking victims both here and abroad. She is the current treasurer of Christian Community Church of Turner and works with Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child.
Her background in all matters financial and in technical and creative computer programs makes her a valuable asset to Maine Music Society’s all-volunteer Board. Randi commented that she wants “to help raise awareness of MMS’ existence and wants others to know that music is still alive in our community whether they are looking for something to participate in or come listen to.” Randi resides in Turner.
Linda Nickerson is a senior administrative/executive assistant at Unum and previously worked for many years at Nalco Water an Ecolab Company as business support manager and district and regional administrative sales support. She is a graduate of the University of Maine with a degree in education.
Linda was a long-time member of the North Windham Union Church, UCC where she served on many boards and committees that included the Music with a Mission concert series. She was publicity manager and webmaster for both the concert series and the church for several years and enjoyed her work as chair of Christian Education, teaching Sunday School and leading junior and senior high youth groups.
She was a member of the church’s senior choir and sang for eight years in the Portland Symphony’s Magic of Christmas Chorus serving for her last two years as section leader. Her love of music combined with the professional and personal skills honed through many years of church and community volunteerism will assist in meeting the goals and mission for MMS. She looks forward to being involved in the board’s marketing committee to enhance and highlight MMS’s presence in the greater Lewiston-Auburn community. Linda states, “I want to share my skills to help keep MMS thriving and growing and to provide choral music opportunities to people of all ages who have a love of music.” Linda and her husband Rick reside in Windham.
The Maine Music Society is a nonprofit music-performing organization that serves the communities of Central Maine through imaginative and artistically excellent public performances. It supports the MMS Chorale, the MMS Chamber Singers and the MMS Orchestra. For more information and tickets to performances, visit Maine Music Society
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