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Remembering RWCCO Benefactor, John Purcell

In the early years of the Roberts Wesleyan College Community Orchestra, funding was difficult to obtain. They needed money to stabilize the organization.  A major event, involving world-renowned American opera singer and soprano, Renée Fleming, really helped to get momentum going.  John Purcell played a pivotal role in that fundraiser at Eastman Theatre.  Unfortunately, John passed away on April 8, 2017 at the age of 73.  Marylou Ognibene was a member of the RWCCO Board and tells the behind-the-scenes story of this key moment in the RWCCO’s history:  

“As best as I can remember...I sat on the Roberts Wesleyan College-Community Orchestra Board during its fledgling years. I believe it was in the late eighties, early nineties.  We needed money to fund a ‘chair’ to get the orchestra up and running.  Renée Fleming, a Churchville-Chili High School and Eastman School of Music alumna, agreed to do a benefit concert to be held at the Eastman Theatre.  All we had to do was come up with $5,000.00 to rent the venue...no small order for the College.  

John Purcell and I worked for Rochester Telephone, which became Frontier. In fact, I was one of John's training supervisors when he first came to the phone company after graduating from LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York.  (The board knew that baked food sales were not an option.) I happened to run into John at the RPO one evening, and we chatted about ‘old times.’  A few weeks passed, when out of the blue, I thought OMG, John might be able to help us nail down that money.  John was a vice-president at Frontier at the time.  I called him and explained our situation.  I gave him the name of Edna Claunch, who was the past-president of the Board.  John asked me to have Edna call him.  

Edna called me later on to tell me how wonderfully John responded to our request. His answer to her was, ‘Sounds like you need an angel!’  It turns out that John was our angel, and the concert was a huge sellout success.  I'm not sure if the money came from John personally, or if Frontier actually funded it, but that gift made all the difference in the world to the RWCCO.  

The rest is history. Those were very exciting times for everyone involved. The Board worked hard and well together, and made music come to the ‘West Side!’”  

We at Roberts want to thank John Purcell for his generous support, along with the many other benefactors who gave in both small and large ways to help make the RWCCO possible.

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