Phil Sticha has found love — twice — thanks to his passion for singing.
This Valentine’s Day, Sticha, 80, of Columbia, helped spread the love once again by performing with his barbershop quartet delivering Singing Valentines to various businesses, homes, restaurants, schools and workplaces in Howard County.
Dressed in matching white tuxedo jackets, black tuxedo pants, red tuxedo shirts and white bow ties, the quartet spends the holiday singing a selection of songs including, “Heart of My Heart,” “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” and “Under the Boardwalk,” and delivering boxes of chocolates and roses to community members as well.
Sticha met his first wife, Sharon, when they were students performing in their collegiate choir. After Sharon died in 2007, he couldn’t bear to listen to music as it reminded him of his loss. But over time, Sticha found his way back to music.
About 15 years ago, Sticha came across the Heart of Maryland Chorus, a performance group with 35 members and three barbershop quartets, and Sticha decided to give music another chance.
“I was looking to sing ... and I thought, ‘I’ll just go,’ ” he said. “I was hooked, It didn’t take long at all.”
Soon Sticha was regularly singing with a barbershop quartet, and each February the goup performed Singing Valentines across Maryland.
He wooed his now-wife Cheryl via Singing Valentines, which he and his group have delivered at her apartment and her workplace, and this year they will sing in the middle of a special dinner, Sticha said.
Sticha serves as coordinator and sings baritone in the chorus and in a quartet. Since joining the chorus, he has competed at the Mid-Atlantic District of the Society and has performed in local events, including an annual show, Lasagna and Barbershop Dinner, sung patriotic songs before fireworks at the Fort McHenry Flag Day celebration, performed Christmas carols at Baltimore Harborplace and delivered Singing Valentines in the community on Valentine’s Day.
Daniel Meiners, 32, of Catonsville, sings lead in a quartet and has been a part of the chorus for five years. He said he enjoys watching people’s reactions while delivering the Singing Valentines.
“A lot of times [people] don’t know that they’re going to be sung to,” he said. “Usually we do the song and we might give them a rose as well as a box of chocolates to make it more special and more intimate.”
Jack Watters, 82, of Sykesville, has been singing bass in the chorus for nearly five decades.
Although he did not take part in delivering the Singing Valentines this year, he said it is meaningful to help make people’s Valentine’s Days special.
“It’s pretty much the joy that you will see on the faces of the recipients of the song,” he said. “To have a quartet come into wherever they are, be it in their home or in the workplace [or] at a restaurant and to have them listen to us sing one of these old favorite songs, it’s an enjoyable event for them and for us.”
Edward Niehenke, 85, of Elkridge, has been sending Singing Valentines to his wife of 58 years, Betty, 80, for more than a decade.
Edward said he and Betty look forward to receiving the Singing Valentines every year.
“They come and they sing beautiful songs for my wife and they bring her a nice rose and it’s just a wonderful experience,” he said.
Betty said receiving the Singing Valentines makes her feel appreciated.
“It means a lot because [Edward] knows how much I like that music,” she said. “The men who sing are very, very kind and it just makes Valentine’s Day extra special.”