Sleepy Hollow teacher gets Valentine's serenade

For Valentine's Day, David Beagley set his wife, Janice, up with another man.

Four of them, in fact.

For the couple, it's nothing new. Every year, Beagley, of Crystal Lake, arranges to have the Fox Valley Men of Harmony deliver a singing valentine to Janice at work.

For $40, one of the group's barbershop quartets, clad in white tuxedos with red cummerbunds, will deliver two songs, along with a rose and card.

"The first time he did it," Janice said, "it was the year we placed my dad in a nursing home. It was a pretty rough time. This (surprise) was just an awesome pick-me-up."

Arnie Olson, Ralph Price, Ron Schulz and Jim Pederson, a quartet who call themselves the Chordaholics, sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and "Hark, My Heart" for Janice at 8:30 a.m. Friday at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School.

A Community Unit District 300 orchestra teacher, Janice travels to five different schools on any given day.

"I had an inkling that they were coming, but I'm amazed they caught up to me so fast," she said.

The quartet, which has sung together for the past 16 years, made nine stops throughout the day.

After serenading Beagley, they headed off, by Chevy Tahoe, to woo other women at Elgin Academy and St. Edward Central Catholic High School.

Because Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday this year, Olson, of Elgin, said, the Fox Valley Men of Harmony is serenading over two days this year. The Chordaholics have another 10 assignments Saturday.

Still, with the struggling economy, business is down by about 30 percent, Olson said.

"We'll see if we get any last-minute calls tomorrow," he said with a shrug and a wink. "This is our fun."