A Life of Music

On Saturday, April 13, 1968, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Sherman of Park Avenue, announced the engagement of their Donna in the New York Times.

“Plans have been made for a wedding this spring,” the announcement said.

Donna Sherman was a professional singer who graduated from the Brearley School, attended Vassar College, the Aspen Music School, and the Yale Summer Music School.

She was engaged to Donald Alan Ewer of Toronto, who was a director and actor in theater and television in Canada and the U.S., according to the Times announcement.

I know all of this thanks to the Times’ online archive, the TimesMachine, which can transport you to different eras and lives with a few clicks.

I’m researching material for a novel and I’ve found the website invaluable in bringing the past to life and turning history into breaking news.

The one drawback, however, is that I tend to get distracted by the old articles, announcements, and even the advertisements.

The front page of this particular edition features stories about the Vietnam War, violent protests in West Berlin, racial unrest sparked by the assassination of Martin Luthor King Jr. a few weeks earlier.

An article on page two tells the story of a Calcutta nun named Mother Teresa.

Meanwhile, on page three, the British American House on Madison Avenue ran an ad proclaiming “There’s a fresh wind blowing” with images of the NewRhu Gurru Medipation Suit “for sublime meditation or active participation.”

“It’s today’s dialog and basic melody! And YOU belong,” the copy proclaims. “For festive occasions, scenes, happenings.”

The Graduate, Madigan, and Bedazzled were some of the movies people were going to see back then, when there was no Netflix, no streaming, and no DVDs.

Time Travel

I’ve seen plenty wedding and engagement announcements in my TimesMachine travels and I usually I keep on clicking.

Why should I read about an enagement that was announced a generation ago?

But I was drawn to Donna Sherma because she was a singer and I wanted to know more about her.

What had she done since that announcement in 1968? What had her life been like? And what was she doing now?

So I googled her name and learned that she had taught voice the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto from 1980 until 2013 and died two weeks after her retirement following a brief battle with cancer.

I was stunned. One moment I was reading about a young woman's wedding plans and the next moment I was reading about her passing.

“Sherman’s infectious enthusiasm was well-known among every serious voice student in the city — and boosted the morale of many a flagging spirit in this highly competitive field,” a story on the classical music news site Ludwig Van said.

The story’s comments section was filled with heartfelt testimonials about her life and achievements, including one from a woman who had met her in a production at Community Opera Inc. and had attended her wedding.

I was amazed at how one person had inspired so many others and I found myself wishing I could’ve met this woman.

Now I hope I’m not overstepping my bounds here by writing about this woman.

I was just so impressed by all that she had accomplished that I felt compelled to share my thoughts.

There’s a poem called "The Dash" by Linda Ellis that talks about the dash on the tombstone that marks the date of our birth to the date of our death.

“For it matters not, how much we own, the cars... the house... the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash,” the poem says.

It sounds like Donna Sherman spent her dash well and she should inspire us all to do the same.