Baldwinite celebrates 50 years of singing

Lynn Smith honored by Sweet Adelines

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It’s been an exciting year for all of the members of Baldwin’s Greater Nassau Chorus, but maybe no one has felt more proud this year than Baldwin’s very own Lynn Smith. This past November, Smith was honored at the Sweet Adelines International (SAI) Competition in Baltimore, Maryland, with a medal honoring her golden anniversary as an SAI member. “Fifty years!” laughed Smith with her beautiful smile. “I can’t believe I’ve been singing and performing for 50 years!”

Smith attended Baldwin High School, where she met her husband of 55 years, Ritter. The sweethearts married and decided to settle in their hometown. She had two children and Ritter went on to teach at BHS for 32 years. At 24, with a young baby at home, Smith went to see her sister, Phyllis, compete with an SAI chorus at Carnegie Hall and the rest, as they say, is history. “It was very different at that time, for a woman to do something like that for herself but I have a very understanding husband,” she said. “Plus, who could resist it? Watching a female chorus singing magnificent a cappella harmony, I fell in love with the whole thing. I knew it was for me. I love to sing.”

With her sunny personality and beautiful voice, Smith had found her passion. She became enthralled with her new hobby, becoming part of a worldwide organization that brought women together to sing and compete, and perform the thrilling sounds of a cappella barbershop harmony. In 1977, her quartet, “Strawberry Sunshine,” won their SAI Regional Competition and went on to compete at the International Competition in London. In 1991, Smith met GNC’s Master Director Harriette Walters when they sang together in a quartet, then followed her to Greater Nassau Chorus. It was a “big decision,” Smith said. “I was leaving the SAI chorus that I was in, but the sound of GNC, the warmth of the women, and having Harriette for a director clinched it for me.”

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