As anyone who has followed the hundreds of columns I have written over
the years will agree, Miss Louise S. Baird, the vocal music teacher at
Hamilton High School during Judy Britton Glover and Tom Glover's
attraction to this incredible lady has left an indelible impression on
both our lives. Those of us who were privileged to have been in her
music classes as choral singers will agree that we not only learned how
to sing in 8 part harmony, we also learned about the cultural and
theological aspect of living. After we graduated together in 1951, my
dear wife Judy and I maintained almost daily contact with Miss Baird, or
as she was known to her very closest friends, "Ouise" pronounced
"Weeze." At the time of our graduation in 1951 Miss Baird was caring for
her aging mother and it was that summer that she passed away, leaving
Ouise alone and very lonely. Judy and I loved being with her as she
taught us the wisdom of the ages as seen in the 5 or 6 scrapbooks that
she kept with notable quotations from the likes of Helen Steiner Rice,
Kahlil Gibran and other deep thinkers. She also had a delightful piano
in her Hamilton Avenue apartment and would always sit down and play our
favorite musical pieces. Judy's was "Traumeri," and mine was the
"Moonlight Sonata." To be honest, Ouise is largely responsible for the
man I have become. She has left me with memories of some of her quotes
which she said every man should live by. Three of them are alive and
well in my lesson on living: "Greatness is Humble," "The true test of a
man's character is what he would do if he would never be found out,"
"Though you travel the world over in search of the beautiful, you must
carry it with you or you find it not," and this gem from Keats: "A thing
of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases. It will never
pass into nothingness."
