Update from Steve McLellan

Steve sent me a copy of the following letter via e-mail. Thought you might enjoy this. Note; I've left it exactly as it was received no - edits.

Talofa Steven,
My name is Poe Mageo. I live in American Samoa, the most remote US possession (territory) in the South Pacific. Every islander back in the early 70s grew up listening to the amazing sound of the world-famous Revivaltime Choir; we even had songbooks which featured Cyril McLelland's choral arrangements. My father would even buy LP albums of the choir. As a matter of fact, our choir's name in Samoa is Taimi o le Faaolataga--a literal translation for the RT Choir. The program from Springfield was aired locally by the WVUV-AM radio station at 7:30 on Sunday morning; it was sponsored by the local Samoan AOG churches. And at 8:30 am the Mormon's Tabernacle Choir was featured in its Music and Spoken Word program on the same radio station (the only one on island back then). We recall some of the powerful sermons by the late Dr. C.M. Ward and even Dan Batzer. (Dr. Ward visiting our island in the early 80s). My father Rev. Elder Siaosi Ieti Mageo is now the district superintendent of the American Samoa AOG District.

We have been in the ministry at Calvary Temple AOG in Lepuapua village (south of the island) for 46 years. In the early 70s our local AOG district began a radio broadcasting ministry which modeled afther the RT program. As a result, at 12:30(noon) we have the Samoan version of the RT program (that's when our church choir was formed and became to sing McLelland's arrangements.) Believe it or not, we begin the program with "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" in Samoan.

To make the story short, for years I've tried to find a place where I could buy the songbooks of all the Revivaltime Choir favorites that McLelland had arranged. Do you know where I could buy them from? The last of the RT Choir favorites we performed was the "Then I Met the Master." We even learned "I Love to Tell the Story," "There's a New Song in My Heart," "Sweet Jesus," "In the Still of the Night," "He is the Way (Truth & Life)," "Take the Name of Jesus with You," and many more RT classics. I am a die-hard fan of McLelland's choral arrangements, but the sad thing is most of our sheets are tattered and we need to purchase new songbooks, I just pray that they are not out-of-print. Our Samoan RT Choir just celebrated its 35th anniversary and one of the projects was to do a tribute to honor the original RT Cchoir and McLelland for his brilliant arrangements. Sad to say we couldn't do it because we don't have his music sheets. I remember the songbooks were published by Word Division of Scared Music or something like that. The fact is the RT program and McLelland's arrangements helped bring more people to Christ those days. The truth was we were all saddened when the program from Springfield discontinued. I hope we could still continue it today. You see there's so much history in this remote part of the world with (I hope he's your father) McLelland's witty compositions. I don't know if you are related to himl, but I just found out that he died last year. And if you are, God bless your soul for McLelland's choral arrangements were used by many local churches in American Samoa. I found out your email from the Revivaltime Memories blog. I hope we could continue this dialogue. When I saw the 'Revivaltime Memories' blog, I said, 'Thank God they're still around.' Now you know how effective the RT Choir and its outreach to people like us here in the South Pacific. I tell you there's so much to share with your old members. You can tell them there's a Samoan RT Choir and we're going strong! I could even send you some pictures of our choir. As I'm writing to you, in the background my sister is playing McLelland's arrangment of "Count Your Blessings" (yes, the one that starts with 1...2...3...). We recorded that in the Samoan version in our Vol. 3 recording.Please get back to me for I desparately need to order those old, treasured songbooks which have those wonderful arrangements by McLelland. And please convey my condolences to his family. Let them know that Cyril was very much know in American Samoa. In today's cacophony, Cyril's music still carries that clear melody which shudder sinners when they hear "Room at the Cross."

Because He Lives,
Poe Mageo,
Music DirectorCalvary Temple Lepuapua AOG
P.O. Box 4618Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799(619) 699-6333

Wouldn't Brother Mac have loved to have set up a Reunion tour to Samoa! Wouldn't you like to hear Poe's RT Choir sing All Hail the Power?

Mark Thallendar Sighting

Yes, it's true Mark Thallendar was in the building today. Mark was one of the RT organists. He is here to teach at Evangel and attend Brother Flower's funeral today. In case you thought, as I did that he moved to Springfield, that is NOT true. Mark still lives in Palm Springs, CA. I know inquiring minds want to know.