Timeline
1952
As concertmaster of his high school orchestra, dates principal cellist Charlotte Slack
1952
1952-58, Earns bachelor’s and master’s of music education degrees at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa
1948
A member of the 4-H Club, Sherrill enters a heifer that wins first place in the DuPage County Fair
1948
From 1948-52 Studies voice, violin, viola, jazz bass, and tuba in high school and sings in church choir at the First Congregationalist Church where his mother is choir director
1935
On January 10, Sherrill Milnes is born to James Knowlton Milnes, a Methodist minister, and Marion Thelma Roe in Downers Grove, Illinois, and raised on a small dairy farm
1901
The year Verdi died, Sherrill’s parents – James Knowlton Milnes and Marion Thelma Roe – are born
1858
Charles Ketcham Roe – Sherrill’s grandfather – is born in Downers Grove, Illinois; he later becomes the song leader at the Community Methodist Church, and his daughter, Thelma – Sherrill’s mother – its organist.