"Mother has come with her beautiful song"
A Memorial Tribute to Sister Mildred Barker
Sister Ruth Mildred Barker (1897-1990)
at
Sabbathday Lake, Maine
© photo by Gail M. Hall, 1983
t permission]
I had the great pleasure and honor of knowing Sister 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 Shaker singer of the 20th century.
She also wrote meaningful poems.
Sister Mildred helped to popularize many Shaker songs and hymns over the years, including:
"Blended Together" (Elder Joseph Holden)
"Mother" (aka "At Manchester in England)" (Elder Richard McNemar)
"The Shakers" (Elder Richard McNemar)
"Mother Has Come With Her Beautiful Song" (Sister Paulina Springer) --
Sister Mildred's favorite Shaker song.
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 interviewed Sister Mildred in 1980. A portion of that interview and another interview with Sister Mildred made by disc jockey and record producer, Bill Randle are included
on the 2 CD set:
Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers.
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, and 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 tunes from her youth.
© photo by Gail M. Hall, 1974
I arranged for Sister Mildred to meet the distinguished composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990) in 1974. It was the first and only time they met
-- see Aaron Copland Meets The Shakers.
In 1983, Sister Mildred 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. 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" which ends with this verse:
I am so small alone, and weak,
Defeat I often see;
But by the strengeth of Thy right hand
A conqueror I'll be.
(this memorial hymn is on the Dedication page of the Love is Little songbook)
She was definitely "a conqueror" and as close to saintly as I have ever met.
I feel blest to have known her.
--Roger Lee Hall,
January 25, 2000
(10th anniversary of Sister Mildred's passing)
Sister Mildred Barker may be heard singing and speaking along with other Shakers on these CDs:
"Blended Together" -
Interviews with the Shakers (AMRC)
Early Shaker Spirituals
(Rounder Records)
"Let Zion Move" -
Music of the Shakers
(Rounder Records 2 CDs)