Many churches have a special service on Christmas Eve. Communion. Candlelight service. Reading of the Christmas story. Christmas carols. Midnight Mass. Christmas musical cantata.
My most unusual night before Christmas experience was in the 1970s as I was back home in Sylacauga with family and friends.
Unbeknownst to folks who are not from Sylacauga, the town has a nice-sized and active Catholic community who worship at St. Jude Catholic Church. Our family friends, the Joe Clinton family, operators of Dixie-Color Printing in Sylacauga, were active members of St. Jude. They invited my brother Alan Zeigler and me to go with them to Midnight Mass one foggy Christmas Eve.
It became a yearly tradition – midnight mass with the Clintons at St. Jude and a Christmas reception afterward at the Clinton home.
One Christmas Eve during midnight mass, I heard this booming voice from the choir — so booming it could raise the rafters of the church without amplification. In St. Jude church — and I understand in many Catholic churches — the choir is in the loft behind the congregation. Behind and up. I strained to look around. Lo and behold, there was Jim Nabors in the choir. Jim Nabors from Sylacauga. Gomer Pyle on the "Andy Griffith Show." I could hear him before I could see him.
Some folks who are familiar with Gomer Pyle and the Mayberry bunch may not know that Nabors is a world-class singer. His deep baritone singing voice is quite the opposite of his high, squealy Gomer voice. Surprise, surprise, surprise. Gooooooooooolly.
For decades, Nabors opened the Indianapolis 500 race with his stirring rendition of "Back Home in Indiana." His singing voice has been described as “like God were singing.”
O Holy Night. It was truly a holy night as Jim Nabors sang with the choir and then launched an angelic solo of “Ave Maria.” Right there in Mayberry. I mean, Sylacauga.
Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler writes about Alabama’s people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
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