IN HEART OF HEARTS, THEY LOVE MELODY.

Byline: Bettie Rencoret Senior Columnist

It isn't wedding bells that are breaking up that old gang of Art Smith's.

Only the ravages of time and the mortality of man could do that to his little group of barbershop singers.

The Spare Parts barbershop quartet came into being in 1962 and picked Smith in 1964 to fill in the bass slot. The quartet performed together for decades - until the death this year of baritone Jack Russell.

The three remaining friends, missing Russell, stopped performing in March, but they have decided that silencing a good quartet is no way to honor a pal. Art said his group is auditioning new baritones.

``I think people still want to hear the old quartets, so as soon as we find the right person to sing baritone we'll start rehearsing again,'' he said.

In addition to Smith, the Spare Parts are Dr. Frank Word, a retired optometrist, who sings melody; and Bernard Calvert, tenor.

Their repertoire included such golden oldies as ``My Wild Irish Rose,'' ``When You Wore a Tulip,'' ``Sweet Adeline'' and ``Heart of My Heart.'' Of course, they often sang: ``Those wedding bells are breaking up that old gang of mine.''

While Art was rehearsing with his little gang, his wife, Irene, was singing with a separate organization: the local chapter of the Sweet Adelines, also specializing in close harmony.

Art started hanging around barbershops when he was a boy in Pittsburgh, where his father, Spencer Smith, was a barber and where Art was born Dec. 20, 1927.

Art was 8 when his father, during the great Pittsburgh flood of 1936, decided it was time to leave Pennsylvania for sunny California.

``One day, when flooding conditions were really bad, Dad just walked in and said to my mother, `Rose, pack up. We're going to California.' And she did, but they didn't hurry the trip,'' Art recalled.

Taking the opportunity to see the country, the family traveled three months before reaching California and settling in Ontario.

``We drove up north and fished along the way,'' Smith said. ``We just took it slow and easy.''

Irene was born July 7, 1929, in Venice, Ill., a small town across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.

Right out of high school, she got a job in St. Louis.

``I worked my way up to secretary for a big insurance company in the Pierce Building there. I thought I was a real big shot working in the Pierce Building.''

She met Art in 1948 at a dance at Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill., where he was stationed as a teletype mechanic and instructor.

In 1949, he was released from military service on March 31, and they were married April 2. They settled in California, where Art went to work for General Telephone in Pomona. He was transferred to the Antelope Valley in 1956 as an equipment maintainer in the main office in Lancaster.

Before retiring from the telephone company in 1991, Art finished a 41-years-long career in telecommunications as an installer of special circuits.

Before she retired - also in 1991 - Irene carved out her own long career in health care and health insurance, and she helped train others for such work by being an adjunct instructor at Antelope Valley College.

She worked for the late Dr. Lee Patton for 13 years and for Dr. Britt Smith for four years, and she was office manager for the Radiology Medical Group for four years.

At Antelope Valley College, where she worked in instruction from 1976 to 1991, she wrote a medical-insurance textbook and a workbook that the college used for eight years.

Art and Irene raised their two daughters and three sons locally. The five - Sandra Fitzgibbons, Nancy Duncan and Mark, Barry and Jody Smith - all still live in Lancaster.

Art and Irene plan to travel frequently and continue their genealogical research, but they also intend to reserve time for family, friends and music in the Antelope Valley.

The two are members of Mended Hearts Chapter 112 and active in the Independent Telephone Pioneers Association. He is a past state president and life member of the Telephone Pioneers.

``We're just going to help people wherever and whenever we can and stay happy,'' said Irene.

``Yeah. We aren't going to sing any sad songs,'' added Art.

LANCASTER - Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk.

Monday: Beef macaroni casserole, Italian vegetables, lettuce and orange salad, peaches.

Tuesday: Baked pork chops with mushrooms, rice pilaf, corn, marinated vegetable salad, pudding.

Wednesday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, carrot coins, lime gelatin with pears, banana.

Thursday: Barbecued chicken, noodles Romanoff, Normandy vegetables, garden salad, cheesecake.

Friday: Spanish rice casserole, refried beans, peas and carrots, lettuce and tomato salad, orange and grapefruit sections.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO Art Smith, along with two pals, is looking for a baritone after a friend's death temporarily stopped a barbershop quartet's music.

Bettie Rencoret/Special to the Daily News