Jackson Free Press

In 1933, Mignonne Caldwell, then choir director at Belhaven University, decided to put on an outdoor concert with singers standing atop a series of platforms, assembled to look like a Christmas tree. Caldwell asked a man named C.D. McClain to construct the platform in an area known as the Belhaven Lagoon in front of two of the university building's columns. The choir members dressed in white and carried bundles of lights as they sang.

That was the first performance of the Belhaven Singing Christmas Tree event, which has occurred every year in the 82 years since. Bettye Quinn, a professor of elementary education and psychology at Belhaven University, has been attending the event for 77 years.

Quinn, 79, first attended the Singing Christmas Tree with her family when she was only 2 years old. Not only has she been back every year since, but she was also a part of the performing choir on a few occasions during the '70s.

Originally, only Belhaven community members attended, but the Singing Christmas Tree received a great deal more attention after the event's 40th anniversary in 1973, when it was featured on the cover of Southern Living magazine. Belhaven received numerous comments and questions on how to put on a similar show, and events like it now happen across the country.

Quinn recalls that there weren't any other large local Christmas events like the Singing Christmas Tree at the time it started.

"This was the event to come to, and it started the Christmas season for everyone in Jackson," Quinn said. "It's interesting to see how many people come with their children all bundled up and with chairs from their home to see the event. It's a family tradition, and many people wouldn't miss it for the world. Houses near the university have turned off their lights for the event for years, and in many years, planes have not flown over the university while the event is going on so that there are no distractions. It's just so kind of all of them."

Quinn became interested in teaching due to the influence of her teachers in elementary school, particularly her 5th-grade teacher, Mildred Philips, at Galloway Elementary School.

"Miss Philips was such an inspiration to me, and I decided that a teacher was what I wanted to be," Quinn said.

Quinn came to Belhaven University as a student in 1954 and majored in elementary education. She graduated in 1958 and spent the next eight years teaching for Jackson Public Schools. In 1964, she received the Outstanding Young Educator in America award, sponsored by the National Chamber of Commerce and World Book Encyclopedia, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. She received a number of teaching job offers from various colleges after winning the award but chose to return to Belhaven in 1966.

It is, at least in part, her experiences with the Singing Christmas Tree, in addition to her experiences with her students, that have kept Quinn at Belhaven University for 49 years.

"I didn't intend to teach here forever," Quinn said. "At one point I planned to go back to teaching public school after being here for a while, but I built a lot of good memories while I was here, and a lot of them are of this event and the student receptions that come after it. One student I taught here, E.C. Harp, sang on the choir and was the star singer in his senior year. He went on to become a builder and has been helping to build the platform for the tree and set up the lights for it for more than 40 years now. He comes to Belhaven from his home in Florence every year to work on the tree."

The Singing Christmas Tree is at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, and Saturday, Dec. 6, at Belhaven University (1500 Peachtree St.). For more information, call 601-968-5940 or visit belhaven.edu.