J. Mark Frey and the Bethlehem Bach Choir

J. Mark Frey (1880-1958) and his wife, Miriam Anna Dum (G: Thommen) (1891-1988), raised their family on South Hanover Street, Carlisle from the early 1930s forward. Mark, as he was called, was born to a confectioner living in Allentown, about seven miles west of Bethlehem. His wife was a former organist at Allison Methodist Church and Carlisle High School English teacher (1920-1924). Miriam was born to a businessman in Landisburg and was, from adolescence, raised by her parents in Carlisle, first on North Hanover and then on South Hanover Streets. The young couple were introduced to each other by a former Carlisle neighbor of Miriam, Florence (Strock) Bickley, who had moved with her own husband to Bethlehem, becoming involved with the Bethlehem Bach Choir.¹ Mark Frey sang second tenor in the choir on the evening Florence and Miriam were in attendance. By 1924 the couple were married.²

Mark’s association with Bethlehem began with his studies at Lehigh University and, subsequently, his work through the university’s YMCA for which he served as General Secretary from 1915-1920, and for which he taught Naturalization classes as well as courses in Christianity and other subjects, a much beloved instructor. His work led him to attend the 1920 World Christian Student Conference (Switzerland), with a side trip to the Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium, where he reunited with old friends, “Ted” Meredith (1912 Gold Medalist, track) and Duke Kahanamoku, “father of surfing” (1920 Gold/Silver Olympic Medalist) known since his studies at University of Pennsylvania where Ted was a student and Duke learned to acclimate to pool swimming. On the return voyage they happened to be on the same ship together, along with several other Olympic competitors, when Mark served as starter for their ship-board races.³

A few years before, he served during WWI at the Army Ambulance Camp (later Camp Crane) in 1917, becoming camp Secretary. By June of that year, he was among the first to teach French to the troops. During the Spring of 1918 he began overseeing YMCA activities for Camp Coppee’s U.S. Corps of Engineers. That autumn he began serving as secretary for the S.A.T.C. of Lehigh University even as the Spanish Flu pandemic sickened those around him. Later, he was night watchman for his Carlisle neighborhood during the blackouts of WWII.

Mark’s relationship with the Bethlehem Bach Choir was to grow from that of a member of the choir. Under the choir’s founding director, Dr. Fred Wolle, he became the choir’s business manager, arranging their tours, including the choir’s first concert at President Calvin Coolidge’s White House in 1925. Mark and Miriam had been married the year before, settling in Quakertown. Miriam, who sat in the audience this Thursday afternoon of April 16, 1925, wrote to her mother as the concert began:

Dear Mama, … At twelve-thirty the train was due in Washington … The President’s reception was at half past two o’clock, and was to take place in the East Room … Now it is a quarter after four o’clock. The choir is seated on the stage, the trombone choir is playing… O! [Bach’s] Mass is wonderful!! … [the choir] had an excellent rehearsal on Monday evening …”⁴