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Woman takes friend's place leading arts guild
By JOY DAVIS-PLATT
© St. Petersburg Times, SPRING HILL -- The Community Performing Arts Guild has found a new star to steer by. Last month, after nearly a decade as president of the guild, Lee Hogberg died and the guild found itself scrambling to put a new leader at the head of the group. The guild is dedicated to bringing affordable musical entertainment to Hernando County by hosting concerts at Mariner United Methodist Church. On Wednesday, the guild's 16-member board unanimously elected the group's vice president, Ann Rogers, to replace Hogberg. "We were the arms and the legs, but she was the heart of CPAG," said Rogers, who helped keep the group going when Hogberg's health began to fail in recent years. "She had a charisma that anybody who ever came into contact with her knew. When she spoke to you, you felt that you were the only person in the world. That is a gift not very many people have." Hogberg, 72, died of heart failure Oct. 20 at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point. She was a native of Chicago and a resident of this area for 16 years. Stephanie Stonerook, former choral director at Mariner United Methodist Church, met Hogberg 13 years ago when Hogberg joined the group's soprano section. Three years later, when church officials gave the go-ahead for the CPAG to use its new, state-of-the-art, 750-seat sanctuary, Stonerook knew just whom to call. "She fit the profile of someone who could get things done," said Stonerook. "While she had never done anything like this before, her personality lent itself to talking to the performers and making things happen. I was sure she would be able to make a success of it." And that she did. Since the group's first concert, featuring Russian pianist Margarita Fedorova, performances from groups such as the Heralds of Harmony and pianists Mac Frampton and Masanobu Ikemiya have packed the church sanctuary. Still, the group keeps its promise to keep entertainment affordable. Half of the tickets available for each performance are distributed for free. The other half are sold to subscribers for low cost. Donations are taken at the performance to pay for future shows. It now falls to Rogers, 67, a retired nurse who joined the guild as an usher, to lead the group into its next decade. The next scheduled concert is the Heralds of Harmony on Nov. 10. "We are going to carry on the best way we think we can," she said. But her first and perhaps most difficult task is over. The first concert of the guild's 10th season was scheduled for the day Hogberg died. Before Sonny LaRosa and America's Youngest Jazz Band took the stage, it was Roger's grim task to inform the audience of her death. "It was the hardest day of my life," said Rogers, who considered Hogberg her best friend. "She wouldn't have wanted us to cancel. She would have been shaking her finger at me if we had. She went out in a blaze of glory." During their decadelong friendship, the women spent summers together, traveled, golfed and prayed together. Each comforted the other through the death of a husband and a bout with breast cancer. "I have a void in my life now," said Rogers. "I am so fortunate to have known and loved her."
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From today's Hernando Times |
