By Danny Crownover
When Sheriff O. P. Reagan was a farm boy in the Abernathy Community of nearby Cleburne County, he fell in love with the village music teacher, Miss Rosa Stephens, but he fancied that she favored the boys in her classes, and he decided to do something about it.
He joined Prof. Luther Jacobs’ singing school, and for two years, he attended the 20-day sessions between crops. During the third year, the school was for 45 days, and at its close, he was one of the star graduates.
Miss Rosa, in addition to teaching organ and piano, assisted Prof. Jacobs and well, the long romance ended in the marriage of young Reagan and Miss Stephens.
Encouraged by his bride, he attended a normal school of music conducted by Prof. J. W. Vaughn and then studied under Samuel W. Beasley here in Gadsden at the Twelfth Street Baptist Church.
Vaughn was a member of the great Vaughn quartet, and Beasley was a successful writer of gospel hymns and later the head of a conservatory of music in Chicago. He also taught a school in East Gadsden, which Mr. Reagan attended.
Mr. Reagan was president of the Etowah Singing Society for two years, which sang mostly gospel hymns. He organized the Gadsden Quartet, who were locally famous, and sang with it for 16 years.
The other original members were Mr. and Mrs. Levi Humphreys and A. L. Tony.
Others who joined this quartet later were Champ Blackwood, who sang with them for 12 years, Andrew Hughes, an excellent high tenor who later joined the famous Stamps Quartet and toured the country, Ezra Gossett, a melody singer, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Machen, Arton Hurst, J. L. Marona, and Doc Powell.
This organization had been heard on the radio, at community singings, in choirs and at funerals all over the district.
Mr. Reagan directed singing in every Protestant church in this county. He helped organize Bellevue Methodist Church and served as its choir director for a long time, while Mrs. Reagan served as pianist.
Naturally enough, all of their children are musically inclined and have genuine talent. One daughter, Mrs. Edward P. Miller, won a music scholarship at the Jacksonville State Teachers College and was an excellent performer.
Another, Mrs. Paul Killian, was a member of the First Baptist choir in Attalla.
Their soldier son, O. P. Jr., was killed at Corregidor. He played the first trombone in the Emma Sansom High School band when it won the state prize.
The youngest child, Bill, became a student in the school and plays the trumpet. Mrs. Miller directed the Glee Club at Glencoe and at Gaston High. So it is that all the members of this fine family can play and sing and, best of all, can smile like nobody’s business.
