Inez Crofts is the sort of teacher who convinces her students to persevere. After all, she does that herself, at 93, Crofts is still teaching music to children and adults, a career she began at 13 years old.
“Inez doesn’t let you give up on yourself,” said her student and assistant, Patty Kirin. “I didn’t sing for a long time, but Inez didn’t let me quit. She brought me back after some tough times, and I’m so thankful she did.”
Kirin started studying with Crofts when she was 21. Kirin had to audition to begin lessons.
“I was nervous, but it’s been an amazing journey,” Kirin said.
Annie Ondra, 85, has been Crofts’ student for the past 40 years.
“We met when I auditioned for the play Bend in the River that Inez wrote for Riverside’s 100th birthday,” said Ondra. “I showed up the week before the play because my neighbors kept pushing me to try out. But I really didn’t want to sing. I was so scared. That’s how we met, even though I was too late to get the part. But Inez didn’t let me stop singing since then.”
Crofts does more than inspire just her students’ passion and faith. She hosted a church benefit voice recital for United Methodist Church of Riverside, 82 Woodside Road, on Sunday. The performance featured some of her students and alumni, many of whom have gone on to successful music careers.
“When my students hear there is a recital, they arrange travel plans to come here and perform,” Crofts said. “They got to be the best of friends after all these years.”
When she was 7 years old, Crofts’ father bought her a piano. Even though she couldn’t reach the pedals, her love of music began at that moment.
“It was such an exciting time, and I immediately got a teacher,” she said.
Raised in southern Ohio, Crofts was born with perfect pitch, the ability to hear a note, identify and recreate it without any external reference, at 13, Crofts’ music instructor left the state and gave her 25 students to teach. She charged 60 cents a lesson, a penny for every minute. Today, Crofts’ lessons are $50 a session.
Crofts married her late husband, Philip, at 19. He was the minister’s son at her church in Ohio, and she was playing “Drifting and Dreaming” on the piano when he walked up to her and introduced herself.
“I married the best man in the world,” Crofts said.
After being married, the couple moved to Connecticut, where Philip was a J.C. Penney manager. Inez, meanwhile, spent her time in Connecticut hosting a TV program called “Twilight Time,” which featured guests such as Ed Sullivan and Vic Damone.
When the couple moved to Chicago, Crofts told her husband she wanted to go to school, and he completely supported her. She entered Chicago Conservatory College at age 39, and completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in voice performance.
An opera scout saw Crofts perform at her graduation and invited her to New York to perform in The Barber of Seville.
Upon her return from New York, Crofts decided she wanted to teach again, and opened her Riverside home as a studio in 1960.
“I always thought I was special,” said Kirin. “But after becoming Inez’s assistant, I saw that everyone was special. She makes each of us feel like anything is possible. And it is with such an amazing, generous, loving teacher and person.”
Crofts’ said she truly enjoys teaching the young children, who receive the same voice training as the adults. She believes she is doing exactly what Philip would want her to be doing.
“This is the best time of my life right now,” she said. “The fact that I have wonderful people come into my studio, come in and sing with me. I enjoy every minute of it. They come in and share their dreams with me. I wouldn’t change anything in my life.”