More than 80 years ago, the Parkersburg High School A Cappella Choir was formed under the leadership of Dr. Marie Boette. It was the first of its kind in the state of West Virginia. Dr. Boette was a PHS graduate (Class of 1913) and taught in Wood County schools from 1920 to 1928, then returned as director of the A Cappella Choir from 1931 to 1936. She was later named Wood County Music Supervisor in 1950. Dr. Boette passed away in 1995 at the age of 100. In 1929, Esther Abels Cunningham graduated from Parkersburg High School and returned as Choir Director until 1966. She served as Music Supervisor for Wood County Schools until her death in 1971.


Jean Robinson Singer became Director of the A Cappella Choir in 1966. A 1959 PHS graduate, she sang under the direction of Mrs. Cunningham. Jean started the Chamber Choir in 1973, and retired in 1997. The Choir's most recent former director, Catherine Breckenridge Martin, graduated from PHS in 1962, where she sang in the A Cappella Choir under the direction of Esther Cunningham. A music director previously at other Wood County schools, Mrs. Martin became the director of choral music, including the A Cappella Choir, for Parkersburg High School in 1997.

Though she was a Marietta resident at the time of her death in 2006, long time Wood County resident Charlotte Hardy assisted her alma mater and favorite choir by initiating an endowment fund for the PHS A Cappella Choir. According to Mrs. Hardy, "I had sung in church and school choirs for many years before I got to know Miss Esther Abels, as the sophomore voice class teacher in 1945. This was a required class for anyone wanting to be considered for A Cappella Choir. Sometime during our high school years, Miss Abels became Mrs. Monroe Cunningham (between 1945 and 1947). Inspired by Mrs. Cunningham, I became a member of the Choir and also of the All State Chorus. Singing has brought a lot of joy into my life. I would hope music instruction and education never dies in Wood County. Jean Singer is another good friend; an inspired Director of the Choir for many years. She…brought home many national recognitions with her Choir. I also appreciated the Singer family's many helping hands at Westminster Presbyterian Church. And Cathy Martin - Cathy's parents and grandparents were good friends of my husband Cecil's and mine. Cathy would attend Community Concerts in Charleston and Parkersburg with her mother. Nothing could have made me happier than to see Cathy's very capable hands directing…[the] A Cappella Choir."

While times have certainly changed in the past eighty years, the high quality of the music performed by the Parkersburg High School A Cappella Choir has remained the same. So, too, has the need for continuing supplemental resources to support choral activities at the school. This fund enables the group to undertake special projects as the need arises and to better meet its operating expenses.