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Title | Creator | Date Made Visible | None

Rondelli Remembered: Recital to Honor Her Brilliant Career in Opera and Her Outstanding Success as a Teacher of Classical Voice

University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio

Barbara Rondelli Perry was born October 19, 1939 in Chicopee, Kansas. She graduated from Chicopee Grade School (1944-1952), Cherokee High School (1952-1956), and Kansas State Teachers College in Pittsburg with a Bachelor of Music and Vocal Performance (1956-1960). After graduation, Barbara was a Fulbright Scholar and attended the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she studied with Dame Eva Turner, (1960-1962). Upon graduation, she received a Licentiate Diplomas from the Royal Academy of Music in Performance and Teaching of Singing. Barbara attended the Accademia Chigiana, Siena, Italy, where she studied in Art Song and Performance (1963). In 1963, she married Johan van der Merwe, an orchestral conductor from South Africa. Barbara sang professionally in Europe, America, and South Africa from 1964-1975. In 1978, she received a Master of Music from Kansas State College, Pittsburg, Kansas in Vocal Performance. From 1975-2011, she was Professor of Music and Voice in the Department of Music, University of Toledo and was named Professor Emerita. Her husband Johan van der Merew died in 1996 and she later married Richard Russell Perry, Professor of Higher Education, Emeritus, University of Toledo on June 11, 2000.

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Blanche Cecile Parks photograph collection

This is a collection of photographs showing Blanche Parks and her family. Blanche, the daughter of Nile Eugene, Sr. and Fern (Dickinson) Williams, grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas and graduated from Leavenworth High School. After high school, she attended Washburn University and graduated with Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Also, she earned the Kansas Certified Public Manager designation from Kansas University. After graduation, Blanche taught in the Topeka Public Schools and later worked as a manager and director in various Kansas State agencies. She developed, implemented and directed the Kansas 529 College Savings Program in the Kansas State Treasurer's office. While director, the program held $40 million in assets and ranked in the top five college savings programs in the nation. Also, she was employed in the Kansas Department of Human Resources as a Special Assistant to the Secretary, she oversaw the Job Corps Program for the State of Kansas, the Governor's Council on Employment and Training. Also, she served as a Senior Manager in the Division of Information and Community Resources at the Department on Aging. Blanche served on the Job Service Employers' Committee and the Summer Youth Program under the Job Training Partnership Act, National Advisory Committee on Special Minimum Wages under the Secretary of the United States Department of Labor, Elizabeth Dole. Blanche is active in many community organizations, which includes President of the YWCA Board of Directors, the Kansas Children's Service League Topeka Advisory Council, Washburn University Board of Regents, Downtown Topeka Rotary, Topeka Human Relations Commission, Melody Brown Board of Directors, established the YWCA East Blanche Parks Girls to Girl Program, Who's Who in American Women, and the National Board of Directors for the YWCA. She received many awards including Who's Who in American Women. Blanche married Topeka attorney Sherman A. Parks, Jr. and they have two children Michael and Stacey. In 2000, Sherman and Blanche were named to Topeka's 2000 Profiles in Power by The Topeka Capital-Journal.

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