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The Flat Hat's retrospective on Pappy's twenty-nine years as director of the Choir and Chorus. April 19, 1974. THE FLAT HAT VOLUME 63, NO. 22 COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1974 (photo) Rees Photo PAPPY'S LAST ENCORE Twenty-Nine Years with Carl Fehr By Jim Rees FLAT HAT Editor-in-Chief He was little late for his interview, atleast 10 or 15 minutes, but on this particular Easter Sun- day morning, 'Pappy" Fehr decided he would sleep in a few extra minutes. The 67-year-old director of the College choir and chorus usually "wakes up the sun" hopping out of bed around six every morning. And it is indeed a rarity to catch "Pappy" Fehr arriving late for anything. "They call me O T Fehr," he explained, "Because I'm always on time. Long ago I learned that it's better to be an hour early than a minute late." Carl A. Fehr, who will retire this June after 29 years as chancellor professor of music at the College, has developed a rapport with choir members that is unique in the free-spirit seventies. He is a demanding perfectionist, a strict disciplinarian and at times a tradition-oriented dictator who simply won't take "no" for an answer. Yet Fehr is admired, respected and endeared by possibly more students than any other single individual on the College cam- pus. At this very moment, Fehr and a select group of 40 choir members are touring the state, making the traditional spring goodwill mission that brings widespread recognition to the College but leaves 40 students exhausted, hoarse and behind in their studies. Many baffled onlookers ask the unavoidable question: "Is it really worth the effort?" The letters that flow in from around the nation and the enthusias- tic response of the choir members dictates the equally inevitable answer, a most definite "yes." It is of course, the last tour "Pappy" will lead, culminating with the regular campus concerts sche- duled for the first three nights in May. On the fol- lowing night, former choir members from all over the nation are returning to the colonial capitol to pay tribute to the master at an appropriately titled "Fehr-well Fest." For "Pappy," a long-established "institution" at the second-oldest college in the nation, it will no doubt be a heartwarming yet somewhat melan- cholic occasion. Since he started playing the church organ at the age of 13, Fehr has been intimately (continued on page 2)