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Yesterday morning (May 18, 2009), Southern Gospel legend Eva Mae LeFevre passed away at age 91. Her website has this announcement:

Eva Mae LeFevre passed away at 7:25 a.m. on Monday, May 18, 2009, at age 91. She had been hospitalized in April for pneumonia at which time doctors also discovered a fractured hip. …

Known as the First Lady of Gospel Music, Eva Mae LeFevre became the first living woman to be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1978. Ten years later, she was the first gospel music inductee into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Eva Mae first began singing and playing the piano as a young child at her father’s church in South Carolina. In 1934, she married Urias LeFevre and began a 40 year journey leading The Lefevres, which became one of the most beloved groups in gospel music history. Eva Mae’s trademark alto voice and piano artistry became a defining influence for the LeFevres. The group became staples on WGST radio, based out of their hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. They later pioneered a gospel music television program, The Gospel Singing Caravan, while touring as many as 100,000 miles a year across North America.

After attempting to retire years ago, Eva Mae could never walk away from her love for gospel music. She continued to delight audiences across North America throughout her twilight years, both through Gaither Homecoming appearances and solo concerts. Today, she has joined her husband in eternity. Her spirit, her dignity, that flawless alto voice and contagious laugh, her quick sense of humor and unshakable faith in Christ was an inspiration to us all. She will be sorely missed.

One thing the press release didn’t cover was her role in starting the Homecomings off; she was the one Bill Gaither called to the piano for the spontaneous sing-a-long that ended up becoming the first Gaither Homecoming video.

She was one of a very few people in any genre to stay on the road performing for seventy years, and was one of the last if not the last surviving members of a well-known 1930s pre-WWII Southern Gospel group.

Funeral arrangements are on her website.

Stewart Varnado of the Dixie Echoes just sent out a press release announcing that former Dixie Echoes and Florida Boys bass singer Billy Todd passed away this morning:

It is with a heavy heart that I write this email to let you know that my friend and former Florida Boys & Dixie Echoes bass singer, Billy Todd, passed away this morning (November 30th), after a long battle against alzheimers.

Arrangements are still pending. They will be available at www.singingnews.com once they have been finalized.

I have just uploaded a “Remembering Billy Todd” page on our website that consists of a brief biography along with many pictures of Billy throughout the years.

Please keep the Todd family in your prayers.

God Bless you all!
Stewart Varnado
Dixie Echoes

Especially since I was reminded of singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman’s Southern Gospel ties, I feel this post is hardy inappropriate here.

His daughters* inspired him to write his most recent radio single, “Cinderella.” It can be heard on his MySpace page here. Since I don’t listen to CCM radio, I hadn’t heard the song until this afternoon. It was written before Wednesday’s tragedy, but the lyrics are poignant now.

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I’m sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders

It’s been a long a day and there’s still work to do
She’s pulling at me, saying, “Dad, I need you,
“There’s a ball at the castle and I need to practice my dancing–
“Oh please, Daddy please…”

(Chorus)
So I dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
Cause I know something the prince never knew
… all too soon, the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone

How true.

* [Edit] Here’s the story.

Southern Gospel legend Dottie Rambo’s funeral is today. It will be held at Christ Church in Nashville, TN at 1 PM Central Time. The church will not be streaming the funeral live; however, there have been reports that they will tape it and might post it online afterwards.

Visitations were yesterday and Saturday. Memorial donations can be made to the Dottie Rambo Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 50508, Nashville, TN 37205.

Larry Ferguson, Chris Barnes, and Ronnie Meadows continue to recover from their injuries; Ferguson’s family has been treated for various injuries and released. Contributions to cover their ongoing medical costs can be sent to Citizens National Bank, Attn.: Marcia Henry, 3212 South Glenstone Avenue, Springfield, MO 65804.

For the last day, I have been searching for something fitting to say about Dottie Rambo’s passing. But sometimes in a moment like this, nothing quite seems right.

So I will let one of her greatest songs speak for itself: The Holy Hills of Heaven (Vestal Goodman, Dottie Rambo).

Several Southern Gospel websites (including Singing News) report that legendary singer / songwriter Dottie Rambo died early this morning in a tour bus accident. Her manager, Larry Ferguson, is unconscious and has two broken legs. Early reports were that the tour bus was caught in a tornado. (Update: He is now conscious but still in bad shape. Also, while it might not have technically been a tornado, winds from the same storm system are thought to have led to the wreck.)

I am not sure I have collected my thoughts enough to post something fitting. But this is certainly a stark reminder to pray for the safety of all who travel the highways and airways of the country to spread the Gospel in word and song.

Danny Koker, the original Cathedrals Quartet baritone, has passed away after a long bout with cancer. He lived in Las Vegas.

He sang with Glen Payne and Bobby Clark in the Weatherfords. In 1963, after Earl and Lily Weatherford left the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio, Koker, Payne, and Clark formed the Cathedral Trio. This became the Cathedral Quartet the following year with the addition of George Younce.

Koker played piano, sang baritone, and did many of the group’s arrangements. He left the group in 1969 and had since pursued other business interests, including owning a Los Angeles TV station.

According to a friend of the family, Southern Gospel legend Jim Hamill passed away at 5:30 this morning. He had been in steadily declining health for months.

Hamill’s debut in Southern Gospel was with the Weatherfords in the 1950s. After a stint with the Blue Ridge Quartet, he also performed for some time with the Oak Ridge Quartet and the Rebels before 1971, when he landed the job that would make him a legend, singing lead for the Kingsmen Quartet. During his time with the Kingsmen Quartet, he helped introduce and define for the fans many of the performers that have shaped Southern Gospel in the years since–among them Anthony Burger, Ray Dean Reese, Ernie Phillips, Mark Trammell, and Arthur Rice.
With the possible exception of George Younce, no other master of ceremonies has had as much impact on today’s Southern Gospel performers, who seek to capture just a fraction of his stage presence. Hamill was one of that tiny handful of singers who defined exactly what it means to be a Southern Gospel performer.

Check out Daniel Ball’s tribute to Roger Bennett here. The neat part about the story is he did what he did when they were completely unknown, out of the goodness of his heart.

EDIT: I’d been unaware that the post was originally members-only. Daniel Ball has made it a public post now, and added pictures. If the link didn’t work for you this morning, try again!

I wasn’t sure whether or not I should post my reflections on Roger Bennett’s funeral. With over 50,000 people watching it online, I imagine that nearly everyone who reads this blog will either have been there, have watched online, or will watch the DVD that the church will make available.

The funeral started ten minutes late. I was amazed beyond belief when the pastor began by saying they had delayed it so that those of us who were watching online could see it. He said that 50,000 people had tuned in, and this had crashed the server. He joked that Roger must be taking a perverse delight in figuring out how to crash a computer at his own funeral!

Legacy Five sang “In His Grip,” a song Roger wrote.

Rev. Glenda McDonald, chaplain at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, spoke about Roger’s last years and his last days. There were several times in his final days, after he was taken off life support and was beyond the point where he was supposed to be able to communicate, where he opened his eyes and followed what his wife Debbie was saying. He even squeezed her hand several times, and mouthed the words “I love you too” several hours before he passed away.

They played an audio recording of Roger Bennett singing “I’ve Read the Back of the Book” (with the Josh Cobb-era Legacy Five), and displayed pictures from his life on a video screen.

Jordan Bennett sang a song about saying goodbye. His voice has obviously not fully matured yet, but he sounded so much like his father that it blew me away.
Scott Fowler, who has spent the last sixteen years on the road with Roger Bennett (nearly Fowler’s entire professional career), led the audience in singing “What a Friend” and “Victory in Jesus,” Bennett’s two favorite hymns. Then Legacy Five came on stage to join him singing “Jesus Saves.”

They then played a second song (audio) from Roger, his recording of “Home Free.” I won’t try to capture in words what it was like, but it was simply amazing.

Phil Hoskins delivered the main sermon. He made some excellent points, including reminding the audience that we will be with Roger far longer than we will be without him.

He closed with a story about a little girl who got off the bus every day after school and ran across the street to look at a doll in the toy shop window. One day as she was running across the street, a car hit her. She was taken to the hospital and was in a coma for seven days. While she was in a coma, the toy shop owner brought that doll and laid it next to her in the bed. Later that day, she came out of her coma, opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the doll. She looked at it, and her first words were: “Mommy, the glass is gone!”

All these years, Roger Bennett has been beholding our Savior through a glass, darkly…until now.

Now whether it was something man planned or something God planned I do not know, but the next thing that happened, the final event in the service, was a video of Roger Bennett singing “We are Home” with Legacy Five. The second verse says:

For years we had lived in a place not our own
Occupied country, the enemy’s throne
Never belonging and so out of place
Constantly striving to finish this race

Now we are standing as trophies of grace
Anxiously awaiting a glimpse of His face
The veil has been lifted, the glass has been cleared
With loud hallelujahs the King has appeared!

We are home…

Wow.