Story: 050 – the Singer Rarely Sailed Teller: Bob Sullivan & Jack Holland
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Story: 050 – The Singer Rarely Sailed Teller: Bob Sullivan & Jack Holland The Singer Rarely Sailed Now and then, an interesting person or couple joins the Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club. They are interesting be- cause of who they are, what they do professionally, or their take on sailing. When a couple has all three, they are certainly candidates for our history project. Curtis and Grace Rice could be the “poster” couple for this trifecta. They were HISC members from 1972 until 2002; therefore, they were almost founding members. During that span of thirty years, Sharon Holland’s archive collected many stories and images of the couple. Grace Panvini was a coloratura soprano singing professionally in New York City. One opera critic called her the best such singer of her time. Curtis Rice was also an opera singer, and, as you will find out shortly, an avid sailor. They were both stud- ying voice with Estelle Liebling at her studio in the City. Miss Liebling, an inter- esting person in her own right, had extraordinary range and flexibility that marked her singing and also characterized her teaching. She prepared singers, not only for the operatic stage but also for careers in popular music. Among the over eighty singers for the Metropolitan Opera, she instructed was Beverly Sills. Thus, Curtis and Grace were in outstanding company. One day Grace had two tickets for a performance of Faust, no date, and Curtis was Grace the only guy in the studio. She suggested that Curtis join her for the event. And that was the beginning of a lifelong relationship. As they grew close, Grace recalled that he would claim she came in and out of the studio “like a prima donna.” As you will see, that name figures into our sailing story. Six months later, Grace and Curtis wed in Miss Liebling’s studio. Curtis came to singing professionally in a relatively straight forward manner. He started singing in high school and took voice lessons after that. Mr. Rice mastered four Euro- pean languages. After studying in Europe, he found his way to the Liebling studio. Grace, on the other hand, took a more circuitous route, not unlike this book. Her mother died quite young, so as a child, Grace did domestic chores for her Italian father. She sang while she washed the dishes. Family relatives suggested singing lessons. She did this for a bit but returned to singing opera just for fun. To enter an amateur contest, she listened to a recording and then sang one of the arias from Lucia di Lammermoor. After winning the competition, she began to take serious lessons, which led her to Liebling, where she met Curtis. They mar- ried, but soon after that, World War II took its toll and sent Curtis over- seas. Because of his knowledge of German, he served in intelligence. Curtis & Grace He was present at two German surrenders. Fast forward to 1970. The now-retired couple lives in Pompano Beach. Curtis has discovered sailing, buys an O’Day 27, and names it Primadonna. Notice the spelling is one word. The boat and sailing become his pas- sion. With plenty of time on his hands, he sails it almost every day. He takes it out alone, with friends, races it, but rarely if ever with Grace. You see, in truth, she did not like sailing, but to support Curtis, she attended HISC events and activities. Jack Holland added a few details: Curtis was an avid sailor and loved the water. He raced in all our races, would go out sailing every day, and would take out one of his crew if they wanted to go out during the week. Otherwise, it was sailing by himself from the dock out the Inlet rigging his sails by himself. He gave a daily report to me about the condition of the Inlet going out and returning. When Curtis joined the Race Commit- tee, he implemented series participation flags. We used to have up to sixty boats participating in our races, so only a small percentage of the competitors won trophies. Usually, our series was four races with participation in at least three races to qualify. Curtis designed the flags and presented them to the sailors who had complet- ed the series. I still have the flags and put them up on my boat whenever we want to dress the ship. Now the tale continues with memories from Club member Robert Sullivan: It was always a pleasure seeing them at club functions, although she only attended the sig- nificant events as the picture attests. On occasion, the Rice’s would host the after- race party at their home. They lived in an elegantly furnished house decorated al- most entirely in white, including white carpets on all the floors. Grace met every- one at the front door and admonished them to stay off the floor while wearing boat shoes. Needless to say, that was a problem for the HISC racers who had to confine their party exclusively to the backyard. One suspects that Curtis wanted to do his part for the club, and Grace was supporting him. S/V Primadonna Once, Grace invited several club members to dinner at their home. As it turned out, Grace had also invited a young man to sing for the group. Later we found out that they had expected the dinner party guests to make donations toward the singer’s music education. Mostly we did, not wanting to lose face. Curtis later re- marked that he and his wife sponsored many talented young singers, none of whom, sadly, ever became well- known opera singers. Marthe and I lived on Captain Knight’s Canal in Lighthouse Point. There was hardly a day Curtis did not mo- tor swiftly by in Primadonna on his way out for a day-sail. He loved sailing, and he was nearly always alone. We would exchange greetings with him if we were in the backyard or on the dock. It was his time to get away and enjoy a bit of time to himself. Many of the old Club members like Jack and Bob knew Grace and Curtis, but only these two had the details as mentioned earlier. We may never see the likes of the opera singers again grace our General Meetings, dinner/ dances, and after-race parties. .