Christmas choir to celebrate former director
Christmas comes early in Oklahoma City as Stockyards City will be hosting its Christmas tree lighting event Friday.
The annual event will feature the Ozzie Ossenkop Capitol Hill Alumni Choir.
The choir is made up of past students of the late Al “Ozzie” Ossenkop, who was a great influence on them.
During the 22 years he served as choir director at Capitol Hill High School, the choir was one of the most prestigious choirs in the Southwest, according to a news release.
It performed at the New York World’s Fair, in our nation’s capital, at Expo “67” World’s Fair in Montreal, Canada, at the Hemisphere in San Antonio, at Disneyland and at Fort Carson and the Air Force Academy, both near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“He meant so much to us as an instructor, and he is a great man with so many lessons he taught us,” said Carol Netherton, one of the choir members.
The alumni choir, which includes Ozzie Ossenkop’s son Mike Ossenkop and daughter Nicki Ossenkop Carter, started as a tribute for him by his past students. The choir sang at Legends Assisted Living during the 2010 holiday season. Ozzie Ossenkop died in October 2011.
After the performance for Ossenkop, a few of the alumni got together and thought they should form Ozzie’s Capitol Hill Alumni Choir in his honor in 2015.
“It was so fortunate to not only be in his choir, but he was also my father,” Mike Ossenkop said. “It was just a couple of years ago (that) we started to get this choir back up together. It ranges from 60 to 82, and we just love performing and singing.”
They gathered at Legends Assisted Living on Monday to perform in the same home that Ozzie Ossenkop enjoyed in his final years.
“We love him so much and wanted to honor him,” Netherton said.
The lighting of the Christmas tree is one of many events heading into the holidays that Stockyards City will offer to attract families and to spread Christmas cheer, Netherton said.
As the official choir of Stockyards City, Ozzie’s Capitol Hill Alumni Choir will be singing a program of Christmas songs before the tree lighting at 6:30 p.m. Friday on the corner of Agnew and Exchange avenues in south Oklahoma City.