At Lindsey Wilson Singers Gala Concert, Dr. Gerald and Sonja Chafin Music Endowment is announced with $110,000 gift.
COLUMBIA, KY. (04/13/2025) The 25th Lindsey Wilson College Singers Gala Concert was one part performance, one part homecoming, one part family reunion, and one part celebration of the largest gift to the fine and performing arts in college history.
The Gala Concert — performed Sunday, April 13, at a packed Columbia Christian Church — was the final time Lindsey Wilson music professor and director of choral programs Gerald Chafin conducted the choral group in an entire concert. (He will lead the Singers at the college’s 2025 spring commencement on May 3.) The April 13 concert, which included more than three dozen of the program’s alumni, was the 780th performance of the Lindsey Wilson Singers under Chafin, who has directed the musical ensemble since the 1997-98 school year.
As had the previous 779 performances, Sunday’s concert concluded with a benediction. But this time it included the announcement of the largest gift to the fine and performing arts in the 122-year history of Lindsey Wilson College.
In honor of 28 years of service to the Singers by Chafin and his wife, Sonja, college officials announced that more than 50 alumni and friends of the choral program had combined to give $110,000 to establish the Dr. Gerald and Sonja Chafin Music Endowment. The endowment will be used to support the Lindsey Wilson Singers.
‘Our Aaron and Hur’
Lindsey Wilson alumna and former two-time Singers President Allysa Gooden ’08 of Glasgow, Kentucky, said the Chafin’s have been more than leaders of a college musical ensemble. By serving as mentors and role models, she said they have had “a profound impact in the lives of truly thousands of people.”
Recalling the battle between the Israelites and Amalekites as depicted in the Book of Exodus, Gooden called the Chafin’s “our Aaron and Hur — not just one who leads but one who lifts.”
“Dr. C’s mentorship taught us how to lead with gentleness, authenticity and the right amount of dad jokes to lighten the mood,” said Gooden. “Sonja’s compassionate spirit and her home’s ever-open door showed us how hospitality is the way to real connection with the people you love. You have held up many arms, and, today, we raise ours in gratitude and admiration.”
‘His impact will echo through eternity’
Dean of the School of Business and Communication Benson Sexton ’04, who was a member of the Singers as an undergraduate, said that Chafin “embodies the mission of Lindsey Wilson, as his impact on students will echo through eternity.”
During the 28 years under Chafin’s direction, the Singers traveled to 42 states and seven countries, which included multiple performances at Carnegie Hall, the Rome Choral Festival, the Paris Choral Festival, the Dublin Choral Festival and the Mozart Choral Festival.
“Dr. Chafin instilled in me some of the most important attributes that anyone could hold,” said Sexton. “He demanded discipline and accountability, and he opened the portal to a much larger worldview than this boy from Albany, Kentucky, had ever known.”
‘Note by note, heart by heart’
The Sunday afternoon Gala Concert capped off a weekend reunion of Lindsey Wilson Singers alumni, who came from several states to swap stories, share family photos and relive stories of performing in the college’s select vocal ensemble.
The Gala Concert also included the return of retired Lindsey Wilson music professor Robert Reynolds for a performance of Joseph Haydn’s Piano Concerto No. 11 in D major with a string quintet, and a community singing of the “Hallelujah” chorus from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah oratorio, which was first performed on April 13, 1742.
As Gooden said, “the Lindsey Wilson Singers are not just an ensemble — they are a family.”
“They are a family that Dr. C helped build note by note, heart by heart,” she said.
Referring to the Singers’ mission statement, Gooden added: “Dr. Chafin, thank you for making something that is ‘educationally enhancing, relationally rewarding and spiritually sustaining.'”
Sexton said that the Chafins’ commitment to Lindsey Wilson changed the trajectory of thousands of students’ lives.
“My story, and countless stories across this room, were made possible by Dr. Chafin,” said Sexton. “You invested in us. You didn’t have to do all the extras; you could have just taught us songs and had us perform a few local concerts each year, but your vision was much bigger. Your vision and your dreams inspired all of us to cast large visions and to dream big dreams. You inspired us to take risks, knock down walls and settle for nothing less than excellence.”
Lindsey Wilson College music professor and director of choral programs Gerald Chafin and his wife, Sonja, accept a facsimile check representing the Dr. Gerald and Sonja Chafin Music Endowment. The $110,000 endowment gift will be used to support the Lindsey Wilson Singers, which the Chafins led for 28 years. From left: Benson Sexton ’04, Allison Chafin Thrower ’13, Gerald Chafin, Sonja Chafin, Allysa Gooden ’08 and Tyler McCubbins ’09.
Lindsey Wilson College music professor and director of choral programs Gerald Chafin directs the Lindsey Wilson Singers during their Gala Concert on Sunday, April 13, at Columbia Christian Church.
Audience members join the Lindsey Wilson College Singers performing the “Hallelujah” chorus from George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” oratorio, which was first performed on April 13, 1742, during the Singers’ Gala Concert on Sunday, April 13, at Columbia Christian Church.
Lindsey Wilson College is a vibrant liberal arts college in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson has an enrollment of more than 4,000 students, and the college offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The college’s 28 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson College)