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For 62 years, music minister Clara Ponzillo was a constant at Assumption/St. Paul parish in Mechanicville.

"I was in church more than at home," she mused.

Through three parish mergers and countless priest changes, she was there, directing a junior choir and playing the organ or piano at hundreds of baptisms, weddings and anniversary celebrations and funerals - some, for the same people.

"I played for their marriages, their 50th wedding anniversaries and sometimes their deaths, too," she told The Evangelist.

But Christmas Mass was Mrs. Ponzillo's finale as music minister at Assumption/St. Paul.

"The Christmas-music liturgy is my favorite and I decided that's when I wanted to retire," she declared. "I'll miss being a part of it. It's been my life. I was dedicated and I was thankful I could do it."

The transition from Mrs. Ponzillo to a new music director has been challenging, said Rev. David Mickiewicz, who became pastor of Assumption/St. Paul and St. Peter's in Stillwater in August.

"For more than 60 years, she continued to grow, change and roll with the punches and hung in there," he remarked.

Father Mickiewicz said that Mrs. Ponzillo's faithfulness to her parish and the liturgy shows the importance of respecting the elderly, who have so much experience and knowledge to share with younger generations.

Encore, encore
Mrs. Ponzillo told The Evangelist she decided to step down because she will be 94 years old in May. It had become tiring to perform at several Masses a weekend at Assumption/St. Paul, which merged in 1977, and the church it will merge with later this year, St. Peter the Apostle in Stillwater. (The merged parish will have another new name.)

Mrs. Ponzillo's love of music came from her mother and her elementary school music teacher, who exposed her to hymns. For Easter, the music minister loved to play "Before the Dawn;" at Christmas, it was "Hodie Christus Natus Est" ("This Day, Christ is Born"). She also enjoys Italian hymns and psalms.

As for secular music, Mrs. Ponzillo said that classical is her favorite but she appreciates other genres - except rock.

In between her music ministry, she worked at her parents' grocery store, Sgambatti's in Mechanicville, and married Frank Ponzillo, a Mechanicville police officer. They had two daughters who had three grandchildren before he died in 2002.

The couple were married for 61 years. Mr. Ponzillo was an usher for the parish and walked the public school children down to the church for religious education classes every week, Mrs. Ponzillo recalled.

Carrying on
Such extended involvement with their parish resulted in many stories, from the time birds invaded the choir loft to the time a bird got stuck in an organ pipe and the priest had to remove it.

Mrs. Ponzillo directed as many as 60 student singers in the junior choir and said she let people who couldn't carry a tune very well join because she didn't like to say no: "Sometimes, they just didn't sing."

Music ministry "was her calling and vocation. She never thought of it as a job," said Mrs. Ponzillo's daughter, Liz Day, a teacher at the Mechanicville middle school. "She served the people of the church and shared in their events and holidays."

On the other hand, Mrs. Ponzillo admitted that she now enjoys having Saturdays off and not having to leave family dinners to perform at church occasions.

Reflecting on church music and the people who sing it, she said the music is simpler now and people do sing more than they did when she was younger. She remembered choir members having to go into the pews and encourage people to sing.

"Being a part of everything was the best part," said the new retiree. "I did it with my whole heart and soul."

(02/10/11) [[In-content Ad]]

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