"Mother Has Come With Her Beautiful Song"
In Memory of Sister R. Mildred Barker (1897-1990)
©Photo by Gail Hall
I had the great pleasure and honor of knowing Sister Ruth Mildred Barker for over 15 years. We both shared a deep love of Shaker music,
and she was always happy to sing for me.
I believe she was the greatest modern day Shaker singer.
She also wrote wonderful poems.
Sister Mildred helped to popularize many Shaker songs and hymns over the years, including "Mother" ( aka "At Manchester in England)" by Elder Richard McNemar);
"The Shakers" (Elder Richard McNemar); "Blended Together" (Elder Joseph Holden);
"We Must Be Meek"; and her favorite song,
"Mother Has Come With Her Beautiful Song" (Sister Paulina Springer).
She had a special fondness for Maine Shaker music and such Shaker authors as: Eldress Mary Ann Gillespie ("Redeeming Love")
and
Elder Otis Sawyer ("Lead Me On To Greater Victory").
I had the great pleasure of interviewing Sister Mildred in 1980. A portion of that interview and another interview with Sister Mildred made by
Bill Randle (the Cleveland disc jockey who introduced Elvis Presley on national TV)
are available on this 2 CD set:
Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers (Rounder Select 0471/72)
Sister Mildred was born in Providence, Rhode Island on February 3,1897. She entered the Shaker life on July 7, 1903 (known as her "Shaker birthday"). She became a covenant member in 1918. She lived first at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine, then moved to Sabbathday Lake after Alfred closed in 1931. Her interest in Shaker music continued as she taught other Believers the songs and hymns she had learned as a young girl at Alfred. She had an incredible memory for remembering Shaker music from her youth.
I had the great pleasure of introducing Sister Mildred to the distinguished composer Aaron Copland in 1974. It was the first and only time they met
[ see Aaron Copland Meets The Shakers ].
In 1983, she received a Heritage Fellowship Award
from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC.
I knew she had been ill so I wasn't entirely surprised when Sister Mildred passed on into the spirit world. She died on January 25, 1990. At her funeral service, I remember the complete loss felt by so many of her friends and especially
her Family of Believers at Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
For that sad ocassion, I composed a memorial hymn based on one of Sister Mildred's most moving poems titled "A Prayer" (reprinted in the Love is Little songbook).
The final stanza of her poem reads:
"I am so small alone, and weak,
Defeat I often see;
But by the strength of Thy right hand,
A conqueror I'll be."
For me, Sister Mildred will always remain "a conqueror" -- not just for her strong dedication and honesty but also for her simple humility... not just her kind-heartedness but also her spirituality... and not just her friendly smile but also her inspired singing.
She was as close to a saint as I have ever met.
I feel blessed to have known her.
--Roger Hall,
25 January 2000 (10th anniversary of Sister Mildred's passing)
Sister Mildred Barker may be heard singing and speaking on this Rounder CD:
Early Shaker Spirituals
As a young girl, Sister Mildred lived at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine, where Elder Joseph Brackett had earlier written the best known Shaker song, "Simple Gifts." She mentioned that Shaker Elder and his song in an article in The Shaker Quarterly in 1967. That same year she was captured in this widely admired photo from a national magazine:
Sister Mildred Barker in 1967
(photograph by John Loengard, LIFE Magazine)
Sister Mildred Barker is interviewed and sings on a disc titled,
"Celestial Praises - Music by the Shakers" listed at the
American Music Recordings Collection
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