Los Angeles
County
Biographies
RAY SCHWEIZER
An
outstanding choral and band director of the community serving on the staffs of
San Gabriel Christian School and Culter Academy and
Minister of Music at the Temple City Community Methodist Church.
Mr.
Schweizer was born in Chicago, Illinois, on January 19, 1928, the third child
of John and Agnes (Petersen) Schweizer.
His paternal grandfather was the founder of the Schweizer Woodworking
Company in Chicago, which is still a large lumber firm. His maternal grandfather was a farmer in
Illinois. As a youngster, Ray was active
in the Boy Scouts, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout and later serving as
Assistant Scoutmaster and coxswain in the Sea Scouts. He began to take an interest in music and at
15 learned to play the cornet in the Salvation Army Band. He also played in the school band and orchestra
and was cadet sergeant in the ROTC band.
Upon
graduation from Crane High School in Chicago he served two years in the U.S.
Navy. He sang in the Bluejackets
Choir at Great Lakes and served aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Valley Forge
as a seaman first class.
Receiving
his honorable discharge from the Navy he attended and later graduated from
Wright Junior College, transferred to Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
and in June, 1953, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in music education from
there. While at Northwestern he was active
in the “Wildcat Band”, men’s glee club, “A Capella
Choir” and sang tenor in the “Centennial Quartet”, which toured the central
states in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Northwestern
University.
On
June 12, 1953, Ray married the former Miss Carol Watson in Chicago,
Illinois. They met while she was working
as a medical technologist and it was, according to Mr. Schweizer, “Love at
first blood test”. Mrs. Schweizer is a
direct descendant of President John Quincy Adams, and her great-grandfather was
one of the first judges in Minneapolis.
Ten
days after their marriage they arrived in Ventura, California, for their
honeymoon and in September Ray began to teach instrumental music at the Linda
Vista Elementary School in Pasadena.
Ray
had for years felt that God had called him for full time service in the field
of religious music and in August, 1954, he entered the Salvation Army Training
College to be trained as an officer in the service of mankind. Because of his unusual skill he was asked to
direct the Cadet’s Band and, although a cadet himself, he won the admiration of
his fellow Salvationists and developed this band into a superb musical
aggregation. He served as an officer in
the Salvation Army for four years in Grand Junction and Fort Collins, Colorado,
and at the Eastmont Corps in southern California.
He
resigned from the Army in 1959 to attend L. A. State College to work for a
Master of Arts degree in music. During
this time Ray directed a Lutheran choir Sunday’s at 8:00 A.M. and a Baptist
choir at 11:00 A.M., and also taught music at The Hawthorne Christian School
during the week.
Ray
is presently teaching instrumental and vocal music at the San Gabriel Christian
School and Culter Academy, Minister of Music at the
Methodist Church of Temple City and also directs the Choralairs
of San Gabriel, a long-established women’s civic chorus.
Active
in Rotary, Ray was a former member in Colorado and Montebello, California; he
is a Master Mason; is an active member in several band and choral societies of
California.
Ray
and wife Carol are proud parents of Timothy, born in 1956; Philip, 1957;
Andrew, 1960 and Melodie Rae, born in 1961.
Their
church membership is in the Salvation Army and Ray plays solo cornet in the
Congress Hall band of Los Angeles.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 768-770, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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