For the past six months, Mark Fenichel—or Fenny as he’s better known—and I have had the chore of clearing out Morgan Hill Life and Gilroy Life Publisher Marty Cheek’s storage unit following his untimely passing in early September 2024. Oh the treasures we found.
While scrutinizing a box of miscellaneous items, Fenny came across a vintage conductor’s baton. It appeared old but not worn, possibly made of dark oak with brass tips on each end. We thought it may have belonged to Marty’s father, an accomplished musician and music teacher.
We also knew Marty was heavily involved in the South Valley Symphony and during the years he had done numerous stories on various performances. He was on the board of directors at one point and became quite friendly with master conductor Anthony Quartuccio. It occurred to us that the baton would be a wonderful item to gift to the conductor as a remembrance of their friendship.
Fenny contacted their marketing team and asked if he could give the baton to the conductor at a future show. He thought it would be fun to go see a show and go backstage to meet Quartuccio in person and hand it over to him before the show. The symphony folks embraced the idea.
They invited Fenny to their March 15 performance to give it to him, so the day of the show he wrapped it in pretty paper and ventured a little early to meet the board president and work out the details of the hand off. Well, to his surprise they felt it would be much better if he presented the baton to him in person in front of the full house at the opening of the show.
After a few acknowledgements they introduced Fenny and asked him to come up to the stage. Then the conductor came out and he spoke of Marty’s love for classical music and how he was able to intertwine that with his love for journalism. Fenny handed the package and asked him to open it.
“Upon opening it, you could see tears of joy filling his eyes,” Fenny told me.
It was truly a magical moment for Mark and me, the conductor and all those in attendance.
