A capella group performs First Presbyterian benefit concert
September 03, 2008 · Dave Morris

A 14-voice a cappella women's singing group from Mount Pleasant, appropriately named Acappella, will perform at 7 p.m. this Saturday at the Mount Vernon School District auditorium in the middle school.

The performance is a benefit for Mount Vernon's First Presbyterian Church, which was damaged by a Memorial Day lightning strike and subsequent fire.

"When we heard about the fire, we had to do this," said Jean Shook, 80, who calls herself the "Mother Superior" of the group.

There's another link: The Rev. Bob David of Mount Vernon is the interim pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant.

Acappella performs for the sheer love of it and to help out where they can, Shook said.

"We come for our mileage only," she said.

The group recently did a benefit for Iowa Wesleyan College chapel restoration and did two shows at the 59th Old Thresher's Reunion in Mount Pleasant.

The group, organized in 1999, performs everything from country to gospel and jazz to Broadway songs. Their songs are sung unaccompanied in four-part harmony.

"We have women from 30 to 60, and I'm 80 and still going strong," said Shook, who has spent 51 years singing with the Sweet Adelines and others. "We just love to sing and perform. We have teachers, a nurse, a gal who runs a sawmill, and I'm a retired insurance agent and piano teacher."

She's trying to convince her daughter, an archivist at Iowa Wesleyan in Mount Pleasant, to take over leadership.

Shook, the former Jean Wells, has a link to the area. Her father was a dentist in Springville. He died in 1943 at age 49.

The group will tour the Mount Vernon church prior to the event. A reception in the school auditorium lobby will follow the performance.