Oscar Zarnke

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-302822
• Residence: 1921, Erbsville, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Lutheran

Notes:

Oscar Zarnke: 8 decades a tenor, and still singing
Church singer has climbed his last stair up the loft at St. John's

There are only 16 steps up to the organ loft at St. John's Lutheran Church in Waterloo.

Not an imposing staircase as they go, but Oscar Zarnke has climbed them at least twice a week for choir rehearsals and Sunday services, ever since the imposing stone edifice on Willow Street rose from the ashes of a devastating 1959 fire. In the previous church building, choristers had to climb two sets of stairs to practice and sing. Oscar did that too.

In fact, Oscar has faithfully climbed church stairs - hundreds of thousands of them \emdash ever since 1933 when he first joined the St. John's choir as a 14-year-old boy soprano whose voice quickly matured into a mellow and robust tenor. Now, some 8,800 climbs later, perhaps the longest church tenor career in local history is at an end.

The resonant voice that Oscar was once told "could take you places" if he went professional (he didn't) can still make the church rafters ring, but after more than eight decades he admits, "It's my knees that can't do it anymore." So a few days after his 98th birthday last November, Oscar reluctantly gave his notice to current music director and church organist, Mark Himmelman.

Himmelman, who has been at St. John's since 2012, is the last of an estimated dozen music directors (and two-dozen ministers) who have worked with Zarnke over the years and been impressed by his humble dedication and unflagging talent.

He recalls, "At my first rehearsal with the choir I had the pleasure of meeting Oscar and it soon became evident that I was in the presence of an extraordinary individual … He always put his heart and soul into the choir, whether it was taking extra time to work on an anthem, or gracing all of us with a solo. His devotion, witty sense of humour, and kindness of heart have been such a blessing to the music ministry of St. John's."

With just a little more time on his hands these days, Oscar was happy to reminisce in his sunny Luther Village apartment about his long life and the music that has run through it like a strong connecting thread.

Born in 1919 in a stone farmhouse on what later became Columbia Street West, Oscar grew up as the middle of three siblings; sister Dorothy (an accomplished contralto who often soloed with the Dominion Life Choir) was 16 years his senior and brother Fred seven years younger. The family belonged to St. John's Lutheran even then, and all the children were baptized there.

Oscar has vivid memories of reaching his teen years just as the Great Depression hit and how hard life became for farming families. Parents often had to supplement farming with any extra work to be found.

The Zarnke's made ends meet by selling some of their milk to a local dairy, and for a while Oscar's father drove a rural mail route in a Model T Ford van that often doubled as family transportation to church and school.

Since there wasn't much social life for country kids in those days, they made their own pastimes. For Oscar, it was singing.

He isn't sure exactly how or when it began, but "I would yodel out in the fields" or while herding the family cows down the roadside so they could eat free grass from the ditches. He enjoyed the tuneful results and no one discouraged him because "it didn't cost anything."

Despite the hardships of the Dirty 30s, Oscar not only did his bit on the family farm but also completed a three-year vocational program at Kitchener Collegiate Institute that equipped him with the basics to become an electrician, the first of several skilled careers he held.

The KCI cafeteria sold soup for five cents a bowl but the price was beyond the family budget, so "I went there every day all those years with either summer sausage or apple butter sandwiches … boy, I got so tired of them!"

At 21 Oscar was called up for service with the Royal Canadian Air Force and spent Second World War as a ground radar mechanic, trained or stationed in Hamilton, Clinton, North Sydney N.S. and Gander, N.L. He took his love of singing with him and beside entertaining fellow servicemen, learned to play a mean game of badminton. "We were so isolated, especially in Gander; you had to do something to keep up your spirits."

After four years Oscar was discharged early from the RCAF to return to the family farm (a wartime "essential occupation") and help out younger brother Fred, who'd been working 16-hour days after their father's untimely death.

For the next few years, Oscar kept on with farm work while shyly "chasing after" Reta, the love of his life. They'd met in Sunday school as children, but "it took me 15 years to get her interested because I didn't have much confidence … only when I was singing."

But the couple finally did connect and were married in 1944 when Oscar was 25. Gifted with a plot of land at 132 Columbia, he pooled his many hands-on skills into designing and building a new home, while doing paid work and raising a family \emdash three sons, then five grandchildren, a third great-grandchild born in January 2018 \emdash and singing in St. John's choir every week.

In the midst of settling down to a busy family and working life, Oscar decided it was time to get a little more serious with his music and in the late 1940s took lessons with local organist and music teacher Harry Urstadt. He already knew how to read music \emdash "I just picked it up as I went" \emdash and the exposure to a wider range of composers and styles soon gave him the momentum and confidence to take on more challenging pieces.

Although he's nearly always sung sacred music for its deep connection with his Lutheran faith, Oscar's listening preferences run to "golden oldies" of earlier eras like Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, or Lawrence Welk. A few years ago, he recorded some of his popular and sacred favourites on a private CD aptly titled Just in Time.

And now he's toying with the idea of doing another.

After all, "I'm only 98, so why not keep singing? … Music has given me such a good life!"

Finch, P. (2018). Oscar Zarnke: 8 decades a tenor, and still singing. WaterlooChronicle.ca. Retrieved 7 April 2018, from https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/community-story/8314450-oscar-zarnke-8-decades-a-tenor-and-still-singing/

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-302819
• Occupation: 1921, Erbsville, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer, own farm
• Residence: 1921, Erbsville, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Lutheran

Charles — Clara. Clara was born 1895, , Ontario, Canada; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Clara Zarnke
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-302820
• Residence: 1921, Erbsville, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Lutheran