Tonight was a once in a lifetime opportunity to pay tribute to two remarkable friends and pioneers of our Montgomery Chinese Branch. Past branch president Patrick Shen orchestrated the planning and execution of the musical concert to remember Sid and Mary Foulger, our second branch president and the longest serving and oldest Young Women's President in our branch and just maybe throughout the whole church. After Elder Eyring's welcome, Sister Liu, our sister missionary from Mainland China, offered the invocation. Eva Yang, our branch's first missionary, emceed tonight's event.
Representing the Foulger family, President Bryant Foulger spoke and described his parents as part of the greatest generation which ever lived on this earth. He felt proud to be a son of Sid and Mary Foulger. One of the personal anecdotes he shared was about his mother serving as Young Women's President during a youth car wash at the Potomac Chapel to raise money for Girl's Camp. He drove up to get his car washed, and there his mother was washing cars and ready to wash his car. What a marvelous example of dedication! He also reminisced on his experiences with his father taking him to deliver turkeys to ward members before Thanksgiving when his father served as bishop of the Chevy Chase Ward.
Fanya Lin, who graduated from Weber State University and now is a graduate student at The Julliard School, favored us with four favorite musical pieces of the Foulgers, including Brother Foulger's beloved Debussy's "Clair de Lune." Brad Mortensen, Vice President of University Advancement at Weber State University, delivered his remarks and thanked the Foulgers for their generosity in establishing the Sid and Mary Foulger School of Music at Weber State University, where Brother Foulger attended college. Then Shi-Hwa Wang and Yu-Jane Wang, professors at Weber State University, played in perfect harmony the violin and piano, respectively. They performed four numbers, including a selection from "Fiddler on the Roof."
We then viewed a video clip about the Foulger Music Festival. Allison Eldredge, director of the Foulger Music Festival, introduced this festival. She shared her remembrances of the Foulgers as loving people who enjoyed good music. Many times when they visited the Foulgers, they would be invited to play their favorite songs in their home. At Brother Foulger's request, her mother taught Brother Foulger how to play "Clair de Lune." Thereafter, he could be found playing his favorite song on a piano after concerts and in his home. Allison and her mother, Yoshie Akimoto, played two Russian pieces that Brother Foulger really loved.
At the conclusion, all five performers came out for a standing ovation. They five cute girls delivered flowers to each performer, to Elder and Sister Eyring, to Brad Mortensen, and to Eva Yang.
Thanks to Patrick Shen for a lot of work in organizing this event and to Eva Yang for emceeing the concert. Those who attended were treated to a special tribute to two wonderful friends.
Sid and Mary Foulger loved music. They loved giving. They loved their family. They loved the branch. They loved all people. We love them and thank them for their legacy, love, and wonderful example. Thank you, Sid and Mary.
