This is the seventh of a
series of 12 profiles that chronicle Alexandria's Living
Legends, people who are today's history makers. Living
Legends of Alexandria is a joint project of the Rotary
Club of Alexandria and the Alexandria Gazette Packet.
Conceived and directed by Nina Tisara, it is designed as
an ongoing project to identify and honor those
individuals whose vision and dedication make a tangible
difference to the quality of life in Alexandria. For
more information or to nominate a Legend for next year's
program, visit tisaraphoto.com/legends.
To
understand what makes Jane Ring tick, put on a CD of
Emanuel Ax or the young genius Alexander Gavrylyuk:
Ring's favorite concert pianists.
"Gavrylyuk is
the best I've heard. And I've heard a lot," Ring said.
"Including Arthur Rubenstein."
Since childhood,
music has been Ring's life force, shaping her
extracurricular activities through childhood in Raleigh
N.C., driving her master's studies at Duke University,
even pointing her toward Carlyle "Connie" Ring, her
husband of more than 50 years. They met during a summer
waiting tables at Chautauqua in New York's Catskills,
attracted there by the music.
"We courted in the
hotel refrigerator," Ring laughed.
Her many
friends and admirers would be hard pressed to name the
one activity of so many that qualified her as an
Alexandria Living Legend. Her service to the community
is great and varied. But once again, music was the
driver.
Her extraordinary work over the years
raising funds for the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra has
substantially helped assure the resources that made
possible a professional orchestra in a city the size of
Alexandria. ASO produces five regular season concerts, a
Pops Concert, a Holiday Concert, and a Children's
Festival, an unheard of achievement for a community
orchestra.
"JANE'S ENDLESS WORK behind the
scenes has been vital to the Symphony's success," said
ASO Executive Director Adrian Findlay. Performances
almost always sell out. ASO's charismatic music director
Kim Kluge is popular with the city's music lovers. He
leads the extraordinary group of musicians he has been
able to attract with poetry and passion. But ticket
sales cover only 30 percent of ASO's costs.
Enter
Ring, who has been a mainstay in ASO's fund-raising
efforts since she joined the Symphony Orchestra League
of Alexandria (SOLA) almost 20 years ago.
There's
little in the orchestra's fund-raising arena in which
she hasn't played a major role. For the past four years,
she has chaired SOLA's annual holiday Virginia Diner
Peanut sales, one of the Symphony's most successful
fundraisers.
In the past, she has chaired the
annual symphony ball, which brings in $100,000 or more,
and has been its constant support. For the past 10
years, she has maintained the SOLA database, received
Ball reservations and sent out acknowledgements to
ticket purchasers. She has served as SOLA co-president
and assisted with SOLA's Mary Graham Lasley Music
Scholarship Competition each year. Not surprisingly, in
1997, she received the organization's Volunteer of the
Year Award.
"Of all the thousands of musicians
and music lovers I have been privileged to know, Jane
Ring stands out for her ability to bring out the best in
us," said Kluge.
EVEN RING'S NON-SOLA
activities tend to be centered on music. At Westminster
Presbyterian Church, where she and her husband have been
active and involved for years, she sings in the choir;
provides piano and organ music for worship services,
funerals, and holiday performances; and has been a
member of the advanced English handbell choir since
1970.
And beyond church, music underpins many
hours of volunteer work. In the 1960s, Ring provided
music activities for the Alexandria Daycare Center when
it was still meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church. She
serves on the steering committee for the Monday Morning
Music Group here in Alexandria. In 1973, she and her
husband founded the Sing-a-Long for Uniform Law
Conference, a national professional meeting which they
attend annually. She has been the pianist for this
much-anticipated break in the lectures since the
sing-along's beginnings in 1973.
In the 1970s,
she accompanied the George Mason Elementary Chorus.
Today, she volunteers with George Mason's "Dragontones,"
led by music teacher Kathleen Baker — another star in
Alexandria's musical constellation. Ring accompanies the
chorus for their musical productions.
Part of her
success is her ability to involve so many others. "If it
were possible to say 'no' to Jane, many of us would not
be involved in all of the wonderful activities that make
this city such a wonderful place to live," said Rose
Fullerton, co-president of SOLA and the person who
nominated Ring as a Living Legend.
THE
ALTERNATE THEME of Ring's life is support. Others
star, she helps create their opportunity. And that holds
true even when the subject goes beyond music.
She
has been a member of THE TWIG, the Auxiliary of the
Alexandria Hospital since 1968, serving as its president
from 1973 to 1974. She remains a sustaining member and
is its second-longest serving member "oldest?" she
joked. She and her husband support the Hospital
Foundation through the 1872 Society.
And it
doesn't stop there. She also provides a level of
volunteer support for Westminster Presbyterian Church
that most mortals would call a full-time job in itself:
three terms as elder, co-superintendent of the church
with her husband, a former president of the women's
group, provider of meals for receptions, assistance to
families during funeral and memorial services as a
member of the Compassion Guild, and food every month for
Carpenter's Shelter for the city's homeless families.
She has also chaired numerous church activities and
served for eight years as the church's business
administrator.
And more: As a dedicated member of
the city's GOP, she was long the backbone of Connie
Ring's successful campaigns for City Council and in 1961
was a founding member of the Commonwealth Republican
Women's Club. Back then, she recalled, "a Republican
hadn't been elected on the local level since
Reconstruction."
To help encourage voting in
general, she became a notary in order to help place the
required stamp on any voter's absentee ballot. "I
believe in two-party democracy," she said.
Oh,
yes, family life is very important to her. She and her
husband have raised four very impressive children "the
cycle of the Rings," she called them. "Some of the most
fun I have is "jamming" with my banjo-picking son,
Roddy."
How she fits it all in is a mystery. She
is relaxed, bubbly, and every bit the gracious
Raleigh-bred born lady she is.
Suddenly, without
even being asked, one has ordered a case of those
peanuts.
By Pat Durkin
Former editor
of the Gazette Packet