by Allen Cheney
But very wise was he.
And then one day
A magic day
He passed my way.
While we spoke of many things
Fools and kings
This he said to me.
Fred’s voice joined Winnie’s, giving breath to the notes and the dreams and to all things meaningful between them. As they delivered the ending message in perfect harmony, together, they were sharing their story, their truth. Their song.
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.1
Epilogue
The troupe’s first official Spring Show was such a tremendous success, the waiting list jumped to three hundred students. In hopes of reaching more kids than the maximum that could squeeze into the rehearsal space, Fred started an award-winning competition group during one of his high school class periods, recruiting his friend Frances to help him coach the newly created Show Stoppers. Students who were not able to take part in his high school music class, his literary meets, Troupe, or Show Stoppers were encouraged to join their church choirs. And on top of all that, Fred continued giving private voice lessons, determined to mentor as many young musicians as time would allow.
Through the years Fred and Winnie would lead the troupe on many trips to New York City and beyond, having been declared “official ambassadors of good will for the state of Georgia” by Governor Jimmy Carter. The students would perform for numerous national and international audiences, including the Kiwanis International Convention, an Atlanta Falcons game, a packed Shea Stadium, and the always-energizing Disney World. They also continued accepting invitations from dignitaries, singing for members of the British Parliament in London and at the White House as guests of President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter.
After several years of operation under the umbrella of the Thomasville First United Methodist Church, the group outgrew the fellowship hall, and the supportive community came together to offer the old television station for an unbelievable rental fee of only eighteen dollars per year. Volunteers gathered to paint the space, creating what would come to be known for decades as the Troupe Building, serving the group’s needs until a storm damaged the building beyond repair. At that time, funds were raised to erect a state-of-the-art facility across the street from the town’s famed rose gardens. The structure was named the Fred Allen Building in honor of the town’s beloved music man, with Winnie Langley Allen Hall dedicated to his dear partner who had worked side by side with Fred through rehearsals and productions from the start. The two-million-dollar facility was paid in full with community donations by the time the ribbon was cut.
For forty-four years Fred shaped many a soul—and saved some too—as he devoted his life “like a minister without a pulpit.” From the start, all were welcome at Troupe. County teens sang beside city teens, public school students danced with private school peers, and athletes who once laughed at the idea of dancing and singing onstage discovered a whole new side of themselves.
While this kind of open-minded acceptance may be a more common occurrence now, it was nearly unheard of in the early 1970s when Fred and Winnie arrived in a newly integrated southern town, drawing young people to the stage and challenging them to expand their own understanding of themselves.
It was no small goal to bring these diverse pockets of the community together for a united cause, especially bridged through music and the dramatic arts. But with brave determination, Winnie’s undying loyalty, and a wave of support from Thomasville’s finest, Fred did the unthinkable. He brought the power of Broadway, Union, and Juilliard to a small Georgia community where most of the youth had never heard a show tune, much less performed opera. In time the Spring Show added a second performance to accommodate the growing crowds, becoming an annual sold-out Mother’s Day weekend tradition. Then a Christmas show was added, providing a cherished holiday activity for the community’s families. Through the years the shows improved steadily, developing into top-notch, professional-level productions with dazzling lighting displays, intricately choreographed dance numbers, and artistic set designs.
The Langleys never missed a show, always offering full support. The Allens, however, never saw the Troupe perform. Fred had learned, in time, to forgive them, but after realizing the extent of his childhood trauma, he remained reluctant to allow them access to his life again.
Frances eventually joined the board of directors, leading all five of her sons through the Troupe program and remaining Fred’s most trusted friend. Coach Jim Hughes not only saw his football team through to a national championship, he continued to attend literary meets and helped critique the one-act plays alongside his old friend and fellow teacher. Tom and Janice Faircloth, along with many others, became ardent champions of the troupe, devoting personal time and resources to support the organization’s efforts year after year. Allison declined numerous opportunities to continue her career in show business, choosing instead to become a devoted wife and mother of three in Thomasville, where she remained intimately and loyally involved in the troupe alongside Fred and Winnie, contributing to music selection, set design, choreography, and helping to produce the overall show until her father’s official retirement. In the end, students like Paul, Laura, Cliff, and countless others went on to lead productive, healthy lives, with many of them crediting the Allens for much of their success.
Today Fred has retired from the group that he and Winnie lovingly cultivated for more than four decades, having passed it on to new directors who have incorporated their own unique visions and styles. With him went a particular brand of magic, musicianship, and creative passion rarely seen in one person. Though it exists in a different form from Fred Allen’s music and drama troupe, the group remains a point of pride for the community of Thomasville, serving as a powerful creative outlet for yet another generation who gather in the building still named after their original music man.
In 1935, when Fred Allen entered this world, he was called cursed, an unwanted kind of special child. Since then he has been called a creative genius, a musical prodigy, and an artistic wonder. Today he is best known as a composer and teacher who has helped lead countless young people to success through the magic of music. And because I’m one of the luckiest souls alive, my brothers and I get to know him as our grandfather, a man who has shared life lessons with me as we come together at the piano as well as in his garden, the way Papa Noah once did with him.
Above all else, Fred Allen has come to be known as a mentor. And through his selfless servant leadership, Fred’s legacy has become much like a powerful crescendo. Year by year, his life has gained a loudness of spirit and intensity of purpose, broadening its reach with every passing moment. And now, as I look back at his tremendously positive impact, I have learned to answer not only who is Fred Allen, but why he is the man he is today. After hearing from countless students who crossed my grandfather’s path, poring through decades of his personal journals, enjoying seemingly endless days and nights of deep conversation with both of my grandparents, and reading powerful, heartfelt letters from those whose lives he has touched, the message is clear. Not only has Fred overcome all odds to live with his heart wide open, he has shown us the value of a meaningful life, a life of purpose. A life that, as his old friend Pippin would say, is “something more than long.”1
A Note from Fred Allen
What can any man say about his own life? I lived it. At times I flourished, and at other times, I simply survived, but through it all, I lived the best I knew how. Just like everyone else. While grateful and humbled for kind recognition, I don’t think I’ve done anything more noteworthy than any other individual who has shared a moment of their own time to help another.
I hope that my life has helped others in some small way and at times encouraged young people to reach beyond their own understanding of themselves. As for my own dreams and ambitions, sure, I’ve had them. We all do. I’ve tried to help my students realize that dreams are worth pursuing if you
’re willing to put discipline and accountability behind them. And they are reachable, especially if you never tell yourself that you can’t. Dreams are like rays of light piercing the night, shining to illuminate our way forward in the darkness of the world around us. Such goes the fragility of dreams that if we allow our hearts and minds to fear our perceived limitations, we lose trust in the light before us.
Of the life lessons I’ve hoped to share with my students, the most important to me are these:
1.Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.
2.Strive to make wise choices and guard against a cynical attitude.
3.Be cheerful to everyone, and it will surprise you how many times a stranger will become a friend.
4.Enjoy the good times life brings and be at peace with the world around you.
5.Trust in God and pray to him, thanking him for your blessings.
6.Strive to be happy and never forget the world is a beautiful place.
The greatest blessing of my life has been my family. Their love and support have given me the pride and joy that I wish for the world. With them by my side, my life has been a discovery. A trust. A faith, with my heart continually daring my feet to take another step into the unknown. To anyone who’s afraid of not knowing what’s next, I say that’s what life is for! Be your best and have faith that life is unfolding before you just as God intended.
Perhaps if I had more carefully sketched and diligently followed a map for my own life, I would have wandered a simpler, kinder, even more prosperous path, but by the grace of God, I’ve run, stumbled, skipped, fallen, laughed, cried, and sung along mine. And I’m better for each part.
When I was a freshman at LaGrange College, my drama coach assigned a poem for the class to memorize and recite, “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann. The title means “things desired.” Throughout my time as a teacher, “Desiderata” influenced my thinking and enabled me to be a better mentor, and, all these years later, I realize its simple wisdom has had a profound effect on my life.
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.1
Acknowledgments
Working on this project for the past year has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Not only have I been blessed to get to share such a personal story; I’ve been fortunate to have a wonderful support system, personally and professionally, that allowed me the creative freedom to truly explore and help craft a book that I’m proud to give to the world. Thank you, Julie Cantrell and the W Publishing Group family, for helping make this a reality.
I’ve always enjoyed a close and loving relationship with my family and, in particular, my grandparents. It is through them that I’ve developed my love of creative expression through the arts and because of them that I undertook this project to share with the world a story of selflessness, love, sacrifice, inspiration, and song.
Through the powerful work they’ve done and the countless lives they’ve positively touched, I’ve spent years hearing from individuals about how impactful and inspirational Winnie and Fred Allen have been. I’m grateful to everyone who takes time to share what my family and their work have meant to them.
I thank everyone who has supported and encouraged this project as Julie and I spent the last year pulling from every source we were able to find—former students, Troupe members, friends, colleagues, immediate and extended family, countless notebooks, journals, letters, newspaper articles, and so forth. We have been so fortunate for the abundance of information that allowed us to put this beautiful story on paper. Our goal from the beginning was to tell as vividly and accurately a story as possible, taking only the slightest creative liberties to allow the reader to experience the moments just as Winnie and Fred recalled them firsthand. We have been fortunate to sit with my grandparents for countless hours over the last year (along with the lifetime of moments I’ve been blessed to have with them), talking through their memories of the situations, conversations, and emotions that have played out in their lives. I wish this kind of precious time with loved ones for everyone.
From childhood, I’ve seen the journals that my grandfather has kept since he was a small boy. My grandfather has saved every one of his journals and used them to intimately write the details and thoughts of his daily life for almost eighty years. It was from these and an abundance of other sources that we were fortunate to be able to write this story.
After this incredible journey I’ve taken, I encourage everyone to learn as much as they can about their own parents, grandparents, and beyond. Not only can we have a better understanding of ourselves and learn from those who came before us, but we also allow their lives to continue living on.
Thank you to my hometown of Thomasville, which has been so supportive of this project. Along with my incredible family, this community has helped to nurture and raise me in a way that only it can. Thomasville is a community of values. Of substance. Of hard work and hospitality, graciousness and humility. My family has called this extraordinary place in the sun home for several generations, and it is here that we have taken great pride living and working, doing our best to support, protect, and give back to the place that has given so much to us.
I also want to thank Ryan Smith, a pillar of support both personally and professionally. You have been a beacon of selflessness, motivation, encouragement, and loyalty matched only by your own unwavering professionalism, dedication to excellence, and concern for others. This project would not be a reality without you.
In addition I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to all the members and parents of the Thomasville Music and Drama Troupe, past and present, for giving breath to my grandparents’ ambitions of working with young people to make beautiful music. It has literally been your voices and support, along with the support of our community as a whole, that has allowed their work to take root and have meaning.
To Lisa Jackson, we owe you a debt of gratitude for guiding us through the process and helping make this project a reality. It has been through your enthusiasm and championship that we have this story today.
Denise Stevens at Loeb and Loeb, you have been an ardent advocate of our work for years, and we couldn’t spend our time creating as we do without your expertise.
Deborah Giarratana, your friendship and mentorship have made our work so much stronger. We are lucky in life if we find people who truly believe in us, who know just what to say when we are struggling, and whose prayers can be counted on. You are a brilliant producer, and it’s an honor to be able to work alongside you. You inspire me to create the best projects I can in hopes of bringing goodness in the world.
Lastly and mostly importantly, I thank my mother and father, who have given me unconditional love and support. Through the ups and downs of my life, it is the two of you who have worked to guide and lift me in hopes that I would become a compassionate, honest, hardworking citizen, just as the two of you have worked so admirably to model.
Mom, it’s you who has been my biggest champion, and it’s through your artistic drive and beautifully creative mind that I’m inspired every day to push myself higher and higher. I’ve spent my life watching your dedication to excellence, putting all of yourself into whatever it is you undertake, just as you did and continue to do for Stephen, Scott, and me. Thank you to you and Dad. I wish the world parents just like you.
—Allen Cheney
When Allen Cheney first approached me with his idea for this book, I was intrigued by his love and devotion to Fred and Winnie Allen. I wanted to learn more about these grandparents who had made such a positive mark not only on the life of their grandson but also on the lives of countless others.
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br /> Allen and I spent nearly all of 2018 sculpting this story. We decided from the start that we would write it in the tone of a novel, with the kind of visual and sensory details easily imagined in a reader’s mind, as if watching it play out on-screen. In order to do this, we had to take creative liberties as we developed certain scene descriptions and dialogue. Some names were changed as well. However, the story is built on extensive research, and we made every possible effort to verify the details. We spent countless hours interviewing Fred and Winnie, examining their collection of newspaper articles and scrapbook mementos (letters, photos, playbills, etc.), while also gathering stories from former Troupe members, students, colleagues, and friends. Additionally, Allen had access to the family journals, where he was able to mine specific details that Fred had carefully documented for nearly eight decades of his life. In the end, we tried our best to thread together the countless pieces of information we had collected, hoping to give the reader open access to this extraordinary family.
Throughout the process, each draft was reviewed carefully by Fred, Winnie, and Allison (with other extended relatives and friends reviewing drafts as well). While Allen and I filled in the gaps, we were able to connect enough dots to deliver a book that is based on Fred and Winnie’s life story. We are extremely grateful for the many people who worked with us along the way, including the wonderful community of Thomasville, who welcomed me with open arms as I explored the Allens’ beautiful and vibrant southern hometown. One detail not mentioned in the book is that as people stroll the sidewalks of downtown Thomasville, not only do they smell the sweet dough baking at Flowers Bakery, they also hear music playing from speakers in the trees. I found this detail to be a perfect way to sum up this dream town—a place where even the trees have found their song.
To Fred and Winnie, it all begins with you. Thank you for opening your arms and lives to me and for giving me this incredible opportunity to share your many gifts with the world.