Advertisements ad

December 21, 2008

More than a music director — for 60 years

By Alicja Pozywio

STAFF WRITER

Robert Shack, 81, has never counted the number of Masses in which he has participated. Being a parish music director for 60 years, playing one Mass every day and at least three every Sunday would make the number over 31,000 Masses he’s been a part of in his adult life.

Shack, who started his job at St. Thecla Parish in 1948, has worked with four pastors, experienced economic and political ups and downs and participated in the Mass in Latin then in English and then again in Latin.

Despite his grey hair, he maintains a youthful spirit. His coworkers joke that for a long time they were convinced that Shack didn’t own a car because they always saw him biking to church in the morning and then biking back home. He even uses his bike for light shopping.

Shack, who marks his 60th anniversary as music director on Christmas Day, started this, his only job, while still in college.

“In 1948, Father Dampts, who was then St. Thecla’s pastor, asked me if I would like to be a regular organist and a music director. I told him that my friend and I had planned a bicycle trip through Europe for the whole summer,” Shack said.

The pastor must have seen a lot of potential in the young musician because he was willing to wait for Shack to come back from Europe and play music at St. Thecla.

“We planned to start on Christmas 1948. I remember I came on Monday morning after Christmas and I had to sing, but I had never sung before, so I was a little shaky,” he said. “When I opened my mouth, I guess it was acceptable because I have kept on going from 1948 until today.”

A second home

It didn’t take long for St. Thecla to become a second home for Shack. He got married, baptized his four sons and buried his wife right there.

“We got married on Thursday morning because we didn’t want to make such a big deal of it,” Shack said. “But the pastor got two priests to celebrate a Solemn High Mass. I remember, we were kneeling in front of the altar, and then the two priests walked out. My wife turned to me and asked: ‘So, what do we do now?’” remembers Shack.

Husband and wife were not only great soul mates, but also a brilliant team. “My wife, who was in my choir, was a both a good singer and a good musician. Together we started the children’s choir,” said Shack.

Shack continues to conduct the children’s choir. He also takes care of the adult choir and everything that involves music at St. Thecla.

“He reads music like we read the newspaper. But he is very broad-minded and tolerant with a great variety of musical styles,” said Father Kenneth Budzikowski, the current pastor of St. Thecla Parish. “Whenever he works with other musicians he meets them at their level. Sometimes people bring their own music and singers for occasions like funerals. They put the music in front of him, and you would think that they had played together forever.”

A remarkable person

What makes Shack a remarkable person are his character and his passion for traveling and music, the pastor said. “He doesn’t go just to Wisconsin, but to China, France, Russia and many different places,” Budzikowski said.

He even biked through Europe. Everyone in the parish and the neighborhood knows him. “I don’t think there is a generation in this neighborhood that either the parent or the children had not had piano lessons from him. He is an institution,” said Michelle Bukowski, the parish secretary.

Shack said he believes that his continuous involvement with music deepened his faith.

Bukowski was not mistaken when she said: “His faith keeps him moving along. He is a man, who really loves life.”

There will be a tribute to Shack at the 5 p.m. Mass Dec. 27 at St. Thecla Parish with a reception following.