About The White Sisters Trio
YESTERDAY, TODAY, FOREVER
Our public debut as a singing sisters trio was at a firemen’s banquet in Salisbury, MD, when Fay was seven and the twins were five. This appearance was the first of many which our dad, a professional drummer in vaudeville, arranged for his three children. He noticed that we had fun singing around the old player piano and that we were singing in harmony, Janet with the melody, Joyce second soprano and Fay alto. Our mom helped keep us on pitch. It became our dad’s dream that his little girls would have a career in show business. By the time we finished high school we had performed in schools, various civic groups, community organizations, television, radio and our church. We made many commercials for our local companies.
Although we couldn’t read music, each of us has a retentive mind. We can listen to a song once and then sing it in close harmony. It was this gift that propelled us into many years of singing as the “Sisters trio” of which our dad dreamed.
After high school we left home for Baltimore and became involved in secular show business such as “the Godfrey Show”, Ted Mack, Statler Hotel in New York City, the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and a three-month European tour for USO.
It seemed as if we were on the right career track, but as we performed we experienced disillusionment, dissatisfaction and emptiness. The Christian influence in our lives was our mom, who took us to the Methodist Church as we were growing up. In vacation Bible School, each of us had received Christ as our Savior. We came to realize that there had to be more to life than show business because in what we were doing as performers there was no message that came from our hearts.
After one of our shows, we watched Dr. Percy Crawford on television and God began speaking to our hearts. Through much prayer and soul searching we made the decision to leave show business and enroll at Philadelphia Bible College. Many, many people were praying for this decision. Dad was so angry that he threatened to never listen to our singing again.
In 1956 we joined the staff of Jack Wyrtzen to sing each Saturday on his coast-to-coast broadcast from Times Square. We also traveled extensively in all the states except one. The highlight of our career was with OMS in South America and Haiti. We had the opportunity to travel all over the United States and Canada with Dr. Ford Philpot and to perform for him in many films called “The Story”. It was during this season of our lives that we had the joy of seeing our dad accept Christ as his Savior! We are immeasurably thankful that all of our family came to know the Lord through the influence of our mom and of our ministry.
Another highlight followed singing in Billy Graham Crusades in New York, Orlando and North Carolina. During this period our ministry was also expanded by recording nine LP albums with symphony orchestras in Sweden, New York and Chicago. Our “Brighten the Corner” album was written up in “Billboard Magazine”, a special blessing since this was a secular magazine.
In all the traveling and singing, we continued to minister from the depths of our hearts and to praise the Lord continually for His goodness. We thank everyone for the encouragement along the way. How thankful we all are that God is still using our ministry through the CD’s. We pray that for years to come our music will be used for His honor and glory.
– Fay (White) Fusonie |