Happy Birthday, Della Reese. Born on July 6, 1931 in Detroit, she passed away in 2017.

She grew up to be a household name. A singer, TV and film star, talk-show host, minister.

My first year at Indiana University, Della Reese performed in the “Little 500 Variety Show” at the IU Auditorium.

So did the Singing Hoosiers.

Ms. Reese was kind enough to allow us to queue up at her dressing room door if we wanted to say hello and receive an autographed photo.

Della Reese went on to star in Touched By An Angel on TV. She was a national treasure.

She wasn’t the only headliner that evening:

That’s right – Bob Hope would be in the house, too.

My recollection is that the day before the performance, the director of the Singing Hoosiers, Bob Stoll, handed out lyrics to “Thanks for the Memories.” He told us we would sing backup for Mr. Hope when he crooned his signature closing song.

Only they weren’t the actual lyrics.

Someone had re-written the lyrics to make them IU-centric. We scrambled to learn the new words, thrilled at the thought of performing on stage with the great Bob Hope.

The next evening, as Mr. Hope delighted the audience in the I.U. Auditorium, we divided our group, half stage right the rest stage left. I remember feeling like maybe the last-minute lyrics change was not fully planned out.

Sure enough, we weren’t sure when to go on stage. Finally, it was obvious that Mr. Hope was finishing up so we walked onto the huge stage, well behind him. Hope’s double-take got a great laugh. But when he started singing the traditional lyrics and we backed him up with the re-written lyrics, it was mortifying. He turned around to look at us again several times; we smiled that cringe-y smile of the trapped.

When we finally hustled off stage, it was with whispered, “I’ve never been so embarrassed,” “Well that was awkward,” and “No thanks for that memory!”

I’m not sure we ever found out if there had been a miscommunication. Perhaps the joke was on us. Either way, it was a night to remember, with two of the brightest stars now in the heavens.

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