The Graf Family — Ed Graf receives the German-American Award for 2012 

The Alliance of Germanic Societies (German, Swiss, Austrian) honored Ed Graf as German Americans of 2012. The Program was held at the Teutonia Maennerchor on Saturday, September 8, 2012. Pittsburgh City Council women Darlene Harris presented a Proclamation to the honorees from the the City of Pittsburgh, proclaiming the day “German Heritage Day” in Pittsburgh.

Edward Graf’s Grandfather emigrated to Pittsburgh in 1893, as a 19 year old, from Switzerland, coming to Deutschtown, as many immigrants did, with little beyond his skills and work ethic. Some years later he founded the Switzerland Dairy. Ed’s maternal grandmother came as young girl from Baden, Germany in 1883.

Almost a hundred years later, Ed and his wife Mary Ann purchased St. Mary’s German Catholic Church (the Graf family church) and Priory from Penndot, saving them from the wrecking ball. Mary Ann oversaw the restoration of the Priory as a small, European style hotel and later, with their son John and daughter-in-Law Suzanne, the restoration of the church into Pittsburgh’s Grand Hall. Ed continued his career as a CPA-Attorney and Mary Ann built the business.

With the Priory located in the heart of old Deutschtown, Ed began to embrace his Swiss and German roots, joining Teutonia Männerchor, the Pittsburgh Swiss Society and the Teutonia Mens’ Chorus and Schweizer Männerchor Helvetia of Allegheny City. He served on the Board of Teutonia as Treasurer for seven years and co-chaired its 150th anniversary committee. He was an early member of the committee for creating a Swiss Nationality room at the University of Pittsburgh’s world renowned “Nationality Rooms”. As a gift to that room Ed’s family commissioned a replica of the museum piece “Kachelofen” (a tile oven painted with scenes of the day) created by Hans Heinrich Graf in 1647 and displayed at Schloss Wulfligen in Winterthur, Switzerland.

At the September Monthly Membership Meeting, the majority of attendees voted for the Teutonia to be a smoke-free facility. Please inform your guests when coming to the Club.

Also, it was agreed to raise Annual Dues from $60.00 to $80.00 for Regular Members and Auxiliary Members from $45.00 to $60.00. Life Members from $10.00 to $25.00.

As we celebrate Oktoberfest we hope you will join us for that wonderful Oktoberfest Buffet as served by our Kitchen staff headed by Steve our Master Chef. If you didn’t get your tickets at this time there are still some available for all the Oktoberfeste, but please call the club for reservations for dinner and tickets.

We congratulate Ed Graf for being named German-American of 2012 and the late Eberhard Mueller for being honored for his contributions to the German Community in Pittsburgh. Also, we welcomed visitors from Germany coming to the Club on the same day September 8th. August Deutelmoser and his daughter Bettina enjoyed a few hours with us. Bettina told us that she was related to our former President Otto Schneider.

Coming up on Saturday, November 3rd, the Teutonia Schützenkameraden will host their Annual Awards Dinner. On the same Saturday the Lustigen Isartaler are celebrating their Annual Gedenkgottesdienst at the Old Saint Anthony German Catholic Church now named Holy Spirit at 4:00 pm. This will be followed by a Heimatfest and 40th Anniversary of the Verein at the Church Lyceum.

On Saturday, November 10th, in the Ratskeller we will have Sing-Along with Willi, Willi, Willi and Willi. The Four Willi’s.

Hindenburg Tribute Dinner

The very special dinner that was served on the Airship Hindenburg was a well-attended and most elegantly narrated by the Hindenburg Kapitän Ed Graf. While the dinner was served and between short breaks Ed with the assistance of his grandson Max, told the story of Graf Zeppelin on the big screen and the development of lighter than air flight.

The dinner was especially deliciously prepared by our kitchen staff and headed by Manager Tom Morgan. Lamm Braten and Kalbskotelett, or Heilbuttschnitte was served by the Singing Waiters and they even serenaded the guests on the Hindenburg with a few songs. The Ratskeller was the perfect setting and all enjoyed this special event. The singing waiters are especially grateful for the many tips they received from the diners and will  use the money for their upcoming German Konzert Tour.

A special thanks to Alexander Lau, who created the concept behind the event and help plan the night.

We had a full house (over 200 people) on November 1 with the group “Pauken Amerika.” “Hoch Bitte” for a first at the club. They demonstrated the old tradition of “Fechten” in German Fraternities in years past. It was a special honor for students to show off their “Schmiss” or scar on their face demonstrating their manhood. Today the tradition is done with face and body protection but still is a difficult and precise procedure. Some of the choruses participated by singing the old student songs. It was a wonderful first such event at the Teutonia and we thank Alex Lau and Ed Graf for arranging it. Also, John Sliwa did the honor of introducing the group and to MC the evening.

President: John Erskine
Vice President: Rich Hahn
Recording Secretary: Edward Graf
Financial Secretary: Howard Elbert
Treasurer: Chris Jordheim
Hausmeister: Regis Stephens
Sergeant-at-Arms: Bob Gerthoffer
Directors: Phil Mueller, Robert Stimmler, Dennis Riggs

INTERESTED IN JOINING?
If you are interested in joining, please call our Manager, Tom Morgan. Membership requires a sponsor, initiation fee and annual dues.

857 Phineas Street
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15212
Phone: (412) 231-9141

Established in 1854 | Incorporated in 1887

January is always a little unpredictable with the cold and inclement weather and so the singers had to cancel their first Wednesday, but luckily we are back to our Wednesday Rehearsals and making plans for our Winter and Spring activities.

Rehearsals are for the upcoming “Heimatabend” as well as our Annual “Fruehjahrs Konzert” Spring Concert scheduled for Saturday, May 9. Both events will show off the many talented singers and we hope that you put these dates on your calendar.

The Spring Concert will also feature the Peter Karsti Trio and is free admission to the Saengerhalle. The Heimat Abend also with the Peter Karsti Trio will be our featured musicians. Tickets are available at the bar, $10.00 per person.

The singers are also preparing for their 5th Chorreise to Germany from September 16 to 28, 2015. We will begin our trip in Berlin and end it in Hamburg. We are traveling with a double decker, 75 passenger bus which will take us from Germany’s Capital to Potsdam, to the Spreewald and on to the Warder See. The Holsteinische Schweiz will be another stop and then we will visit the city of Luebeck, the coast of Timmersdorf and the Island of Sylt. From there we travel to Husum and ending our trip in Hamburg where we visit the famous fish market and spend some time at the Reeperbahn including an evening dinner at the Fischerhaus in St. Pauli. We will be singing in several places including the Berlin Dom, a Liederabend in Potsdam, a possible concert on Sylt and a Liederabend in Hamburg. This promises to be the highlight for the singers in 2015.

The Nordoestliche Saengerbund will be in Pittsburgh for the 52th Triennial Saengerfest from June 12 to 14, 2015. We hope to take part in the Saengerfest. Also in June the Delegates will travel to Dayton, Ohio for the NASB Saengertag.

Special congratulations to our singers John Erskine, Ed Graf and Phil Mueller for being elected to the Board of Directors and a very special “Dankeschoen” to Ralph Wagner who served the club as Director, Vice President and President while also holding the position as Saenger VP and Saenger President. We also thank Dr. Tom Schmitt, the longest serving Recording Secretary in the Teutonia history and also a 25 year singer in the Maennerchor. We are truly fortunate to have singers taking an active part in the affairs of the Teutonia.

Thanks to all and to the new incoming Board Members, may you guide the Teutonia to new heights.

Wow, what a few months it was with the temperature in the cellar, ice and snow and we only were able to have two rehearsals in January and the first two weeks of February. It has been years since we have experienced such cold and we all hope that March will bring us milder weather maybe even some spring temperatures. On Old German Song we learned in Kindergarten goes:

Im Maerzen der Bauer die Roesslein einspannt

Er setzt seine Felder und Wiesen in Stand

Er pflueget den Boden. Er egget und saet

Und ruehrt seine Haende frueh morgens und spaet

In March, the farmer harnesses the horses, he prepares his fields and meadows’ he plows the soil, he rakes and sows, and his hands are busy from morning to night.

Not much we can do about the weather, we were worried about our Schnitzel Dinner on Sunday, February 22 since the weather man again was predicting snow and ice rain etc. but luckily the Schnitzel Dinner was well attended. We thank all our members who came to support our Annual Fund Raiser. We thank our Ladies and their kitchen staff, headed by Kay Schachner and Rita Mueller and all who came to the club early on Sunday morning to prepare the Schnitzel and Zutaten. “Thank You” to Phil DeGregorio and Fred Ruf who worked the kitchen from 8 in the morning to closing. Everyone pitched in and we are indeed fortunate to have so many volunteers to have a successful outcome. We served 280 dinners, the Kuchen was already gone by 4 o’clock and we could have sold more.

Several families came to enjoy dinner and at the same time celebrate a Birthday. Beverly Hall celebrated her 60th birthday with family, she is the sister in law of Keith Hall. Our own Thekla Fall together with daughter and son in law celebrated her birthday. Ed Prem Jr. brought the whole family and some guests to enjoy dinner and also reminisce about Ed Prem Sr. who entertained at many events with his accordion and his side kick Irmgard Ryan. So it was up to Irmgard to do a solo performance with her accordion by playing the old favorites and having some ladies join in a sing-a-long. The singers appreciate all the support they received from our members, it sure was a nice boost to our fundraising.

Now the choruses hopes to be back at regular Wednesday Rehearsals as we are preparing for our Fruehjahrs Konzert (Spring Concert) on Saturday, May 9. The concert will begin at 7:30 pm and we will have the Karl Lukitch Band play for dancing and listening after the concert. We are planning on inviting some of our neighboring choruses to help us welcoming Spring at last.

The singers would like to welcome to the Damenchor Marilyn Ecoff and Sherry Grossi and the Maennerchor added Lynn Haselhoff and Jason Getter. We also would like to mention that the newly elected Director Dennis Riggs has been singing with the chorus since last fall and Director Bob Stimmler sang with the Maennerchor for a number of years. We neglected to mention it in the last Issue.

Just a few weeks are left for getting ready for our Fruehjahrs Konzert (Spring Concert). The choruses are adding the final touches to our songs for this annual free concert. We hope that many of our members will join the singers for what the Teutonia Maenner- und Damenchor have done since 1854 when a few men decided to express their emotions and feelings in songs of their former homeland. It was a time when few ever had the opportunity to see their beloved hometown ever again. It was a way to make their lives in a new country easier and also share their feelings with other immigrants and families. Generations have come and became strong supporters of their adopted country contributing in many ways to the fortune of a growing country. Today few are immigrating and so we are depending on the grandchildren and great grandchildren of those early pioneers. The Teutonia choruses have been fortunate to always attracting men and women continuing in upholding German Song and traditions. The singers have held their memberships steady at a time when other singing societies have folded. No doubt much can be attributed to the interest of our members to support the chorus and we hope that many will attend our Spring Concert on Saturday, May 9. The concert will begin at 7:30 pm, table reservations are recommended to make sure you will have a seat. The New Castle Maennerchor Eintracht will be one of the features as well as the Bloomfield Liedertafel, Schweizer Maennerchor Helvetia and our Pittsburgh Jugend / Kinderchor will round out an evening of song. After the concert the Karl Lukitch Band will entertain for dancing and listening pleasure.

Dinner will be served in the Ratskeller from 4:30 to 7:30 pm, please call the club and make reservations.

Both choruses will have a selection of songs for the Life Member Dinner on Sunday, May 3 starting at 4:00 pm. Reservations required.

The men will be singing for a group of financial executives meeting at the Priory on Wednesday, May 13, 6:00 pm, try to be there by 5:45. We will present a 25 minute program. Rehearsal will be 8:00 pm for mixed Rehearsal, men and ladies.

Everyone who will be on our German Chorreise will meet on Friday, May 1, 7:30 pm in the Saengerhalle for final payment of the Berlin – Hamburg trip. We also asked the Travel Agent to be at the club for payment of the flights. We are hoping to give you a final Itinerary of our Tour and answer questions you might have, and the selection of songs will be available to the participants. Three concerts are being planned and also a few hymns for churches we are visiting during our guided tours.

If you cannot attend the meeting please send check made out to “Teutonia Singers” and mail to:

Wilhelm Banzhaf
6565 State Route 30
Jeannette, PA 15644

The Damenchor is holding their End of Year Dinner on Saturday, May 30, to which the Ladies also invite the Men. We encourage all singers to take part in this annual dinner. It is a time when we get a chance to socially interact and also show our newer singers “Saenger Gemuetlichkeit”. Reservations are a must by giving Alice your choice of dinner.