The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Published Thursday, June 26, 2003

The Whalen Family Singers:

   » Donna Armstrong Whalen of Sharon, mother of 15, grandmother of 48 and great-grandmother of two. She is a retired nurse.
   » Colleen Whalen Eskridge, 49, of Lubbock, Texas. She is a florist, mother of three and grandmother of two. She sings alto.
   » Patrick Whalen, 48, of Mercer. He's a state police sergeant and father of three. He's the only one of the Whalen children who does not sing, but provides "security and support," his sisters said.
   » Eileen Whalen Fedor, 46, of Harrisville. She's a homeschooling mother of eight. She sings soprano and directs the Whalen Family Singers, which includes her son, Nathaniel, and daughter, Elizabeth.
   » Daniel Whalen, 45, of Warren, Ohio. He's a machinist and father of three. He sings tenor and his son, Dane, sings with the group.
   » Michaeleen Whalen Miller, 44, of Sharon. She's a partner in Miller Building Co. She's a soprano who sings with the Shenango Valley Chorale, and her daughter, Kristina, sings with the Whalen Family Singers. She has three children.
   » Darleen Whalen Drake, 43, of Slippery Rock. She's a farmer and homeschooling mother of 13. She's an alto and her daughters Tara and Sandy sing with the group.
   » Jarrett Kennedy Whalen, 42, of Mercer. He's a lawyer and sings tenor.
   » Laureen Whalen Brown, 41, of Dayton, Ohio. She's in marketing and public relations. She sings alto and her daughters Britt'ny and Chelsea -- she has six children -- sing with the Whalen Family Singers.
   » Terence Whalen, 39, of West Middlesex. He is a state police trooper and father of two. He sings bass and his daughter Becky sings with the group.
   » Janeen Whalen Mancino, 38, of Hermitage. She's a youth program coordinator and mother of two who sings alto.
   » Bernadeen Whalen Smith, 36, of Sharpsville.
She's a legal assistant and mother of three. She sings alto and her daughter A.J. sings with the group.
   » Frederick Whalen, 35, of Sharon. He's a chef and father of two. He sings tenor.
   » Patricia Whalen, 30, of Sharon. She's an office technology assistant who sings soprano.
   » Brian Whalen, 27 of Sharon. He's a construction laborer and sings bass.

Whalen clan finds harmony in singing

By Joe Pinchot

Herald Staff Writer

When you live in a family with 15 children, it's hard to find something to keep each one occupied, but singing was something the Whalens could do together.

It kept the kids busy on trips, and it still is a binding force now that the children have grown up and started their own families.

"We sang my husband off to heaven by singing the benediction when he died two years ago," said family matriarch Donna Whalen, who is known to her 48 grandchildren as "Mimi" and two great-grandchildren as "Gigi."

"The fellowship it gives us as a family is very important," said Laureen Whalen Brown, who lives in Dayton, Ohio.

Of the 14 surviving Whalen children, 13 sing.

"Every time we get together for birthdays and such we end up singing," said Mrs. Whalen, who raised her family in Sharon, first on Sharpsville Avenue, then, after a fire, in Julia Forker's 21-room home on Forker Place.

Mrs. Whalen sang in her high school concert choir and her husband, Patrick J. Whalen, sang in a barbershop quartet.

"We just started taking the kids camping and we sang every song we could around the campfire," Mrs. Whalen said.

Those campfire concerts at the YMCA Campground in Clark attracted other campers, who would ask the family to sing at private events.

The Whalen Family Singers took their act public when they started singing at Buhl Day.

The family hasn't sung publicly for 10 years, but has two upcoming shows set: Aug. 1 at Bicentennial Park, Sharon, and at Buhl Day.

Janeen Whalen Mancino of Hermitage said the family wanted to sing for Buhl Day this year because Sept. 5 would have been their parents' 50th anniversary.

Colleen Whalen Eskridge, who lives the farthest away, in Lubbock, Texas, will not be in town for the Bicentennial show, but will make Buhl Day.

Groups of the siblings have gotten together to rehearse, but the last large-scale practice will be July 13.

"We've never been all together for a practice," said Bernadeen "Birdie" Whalen Smith, of Sharpsville. "We will be the morning of the show."

Most of the singers cannot read music and professional credentials are limited. A few have sung at weddings, and Darleen Whalen Drake of Slippery Rock sang as a singing waitress in Tulsa, Okla.

"We're not professionals, but we have so much fun doing it," Mrs. Whalen said.

While some of the family members have achieved a level of harmonic sophistication in their singing, others have not.

"Some of us have to stick to the basics," said Ms. Mancino.

Always singing a cappella, the family's repertoire includes traditional folk songs, patriotic numbers, John Denver and Simon and Garfunkel tunes and novelty numbers.

The tradition is being passed onto the grandchildren, some of whom join in with their parent, aunts and uncles.

"My daughter is only 17 months old and she already knows three songs," Ms. Mancino said.

"You start them young and break them in," Ms. Brown said.

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