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Covenant Four Quartet Members
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John Crew
and his wife Winnie (who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in
2004) provided the impetus that created the Quartet in 1963 and still holds it
together.
Winne not only accompanies the Quartet on the piano, but she does
most of the arrangements and coordinates the concerts/tours. |
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John's rumbling bass voice provides
the foundation of the Quartet and Winnie is the Quartet's
accompanist. She also does most of the Quartet's arrangements and
schedules appearances. John is a highly respected vascular surgeon
in San Francisco where he pioneered an alternative technique for the
treatment of blocked arteries and has been instrumental in
developing new surgical equipment. John and Winnie still
attend the San Francisco Covenant Church, where the quartet began.
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Fred's Back! Fred Porter,
who sang 2nd Tenor for the Covenant Four for 23 years, is back as its
Baritone as of June 12, 2004.
Fred spent a large part of his other life as a
self-employed painting and decorating contractor. This experience
prepared him for a position as a construction project manager for projects
across the Western United States and more recently as an estimator and
project manager for a commercial painting firm. Fred has sung in
Christian groups since he was 17, and is really enjoying his second time
around with the quartet. Fred and his wife of 42 years, Savonna, live
in Castro Valley and are life-long residents of the East Bay. They
have three sons and attend the Creekside Covenant Church.
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Bud Willadsen
is the new Covenant Four first tenor. He has
been working with the Quartet since October 2006 and took part in the
Quartet's Christmas concert, with his first full concert on January 20,
2007. God worked it out so that this transition was one of the smoothest the
Quartet has experienced, with no down time during the transition. Part
of that is due to Bud's excellent musicianship - particularly sight-reading
- as well as Elbert's flexibility and continued availability. Bud and his
wife Meg have been very active in the Neighborhood Church of Castro Valley's
musical productions (in concert with Fred and Keith for a number of years),
and more recently they have been attending the Church of the Valley, in San
Ramon. Meg home schools their two children, and Bud works in the Sales &
Marketing field. Bud has also been singing with the 130 member Blackhawk
Chorus for the past three years. They live in San Ramon.
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Keith Sutton sings second tenor in the
Quartet, replacing Fred when he "retired" in June 2000. Keith
maintains the Quartet's website and uses his photographic skills to obtain
the photos for the site and as a part-time business (www.c-landscapes.com).
He is from Oregon where he was the Executive Director of an economic
development corporation and built a horse farm from the ground up. He
currently works for the East Bay Economic Development Alliance, that
provides regional economic development services for the San Francisco East
Bay (Alameda & Contra Costa Counties & 22 cities). Keith has enjoyed
leading a number of church music ministries as well as singing solos and in
choirs, but it was a life-long dream to sing in group like the quartet.
Keith and his wife Diane live in the hills near Hayward. Keith has
three sons and he and Diane attend the Valley Christian Center church in
Dublin.
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Elbert Enns (first tenor to vocal coach)
has been with the Quartet for 27 years ( 1986 - 2007 and 1969 - 1976).
He has been a school teacher, a missionary, a businessman and a Certified
Public Account, and has also been involved for many years in church music.
Elbert and his wife Lorna are long-time residents of Castro Valley and Lorna
has retired from a long career as a real estate broker in the area.
They attend Redwood Chapel Community Church in Castro Valley. Elbert
has been talking about retiring for awhile and both he and Lorna have
finally decided to do so - grandchildren and Florida will be occupying much
more of their time. The Quartet's February 9, 2007 concert at Redwood
Chapel was his last as the Covenant Four Quartet's first tenor. But
you may still see him at some of our concerts, as Elbert has very ably taken
on the role of the Quartet's vocal coach.
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Jack Martens has accompanied
the Quartet on string bass since 1975. He recently retired after 36
years as an instrumental music teacher at the Ben Franklin Middle School in
San Francisco where he received many commendations and his bands performed
at many public concerts and civic functions. Jack's wife Cora was also a
music teacher and they live in the East Bay community of Pleasant Hill.
Most recently they have been touring the USA in a large motor home.
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Memories |
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| The Covenant Six, at an in-home concert at John's
daughter's home, Ojai Valley, CA January 20, 2007. |
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| We had the opportunity to spend a night (July 21,
2007) on our Oregon Tour, with an old friend of John's (another of
that Westmont group) at their home on the Willamette River.
Click on the image to open a 3x5 300 dpi tiff image.
A photo album of additional pictures of the quartet and the
Willamette River can be viewed by clicking the photo album link
below.
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John Crew, Bass Fred Porter,
Baritone Keith Sutton, 2nd Tenor Bud Willadsen, 1st Tenor |
| Back to Top |
Click
the following link to view more "memories" from the Oregon Tour.
Covenant
Four Quartet Oregon Tour July 2007 photo album |
