b. January 14, 1977
by Ellen C Weig, Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Hillsborough, 2012
Megan Whitted
Standing on a podium, arms raised, baton poised, Megan paused to look at each person in the choir and the instrumentalists. St. Matthew’s Easter season premiere performance of Handel’s Messiah was about to begin. The choir, in black formal attire, was seated in the front of the church. The audience could see only Megan’s black sequined back, not her face, but everyone knew the joy and anticipation that was there. She had worked with the choir for months to prepare for this: “She knew we could do this”… “We wanted to do this for Megan”… “She always made us feel good about it.”
Megan studied Music at Davidson College and came to St. Matthew’s in 1999. She was married shortly afterwards. Her mother says that as a bride, Megan joined the choir, who had wanted to sing at her wedding, in singing the Alleluia written by her father for her!
Serving as accompanist, Megan quietly performed each task as needed to assist the choir director’s rehearsal style. Then in 2009 Megan assumed the additional role of choir director. The transformation that occurred was more than simply an expansion of duties: it allowed Megan to become a minister of music, an undertaking which brought about a spiritual awakening for the church through her music. For the choir, Megan’s leadership meant an extraordinary period of growth, providing music during worship from classical to gospel. She embraced the tasks of meeting with the clergy, choosing music, rehearsing the choir, and implementing the music for worship. But Megan has reached beyond the expected.
St. Matthew’s has a legacy of highly talented organists – Miss Lizzie Jones began earlier than 1866 and played here for more than 35 years. In 1883 the Ladies Sewing Society bought the Hook and Hastings organ for her. Played by every organist since then, it is affectionately called “Miss Lizzie.”
Based loosely on the Ladies Sewing Society, whose president was Miss Lizzie Jones, and whose members sang in her choir, the Women’s Singing Circle was the idea of Megan and Mary Rocap, a singer/ songwriter and St. Matthew’s office administrator. The Singing Circle is a gathering of women who pray Compline together monthly and sing the hymns and gospel music of women past. With Megan and Mary’s leadership the group has presented Faith and the Arts programs at St. Matthew’s in concert with North Carolina story-tellers Lee Smith and Shelia Kay Adams, and at annual homecomings of the historic St. Mary’s Chapel in Orange County.
Megan’s extraordinary vision of what the congregation is capable of enhances productions of the parish’s Faith and the Arts programs. “She has a way of finding something for everyone to do!”
Not least of all is Megan’s joy of teaching sacred music to children. Youth Sunday presentations are remarkable, and when the children’s choir sings, the rest of us smile.