teaching him to play the piano and appreciate gospel music. Shea first sang publicly in the choir at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa, where his father served as pastor. Shea went to Annesley College, a private, nondenominational institution, and joined a vocal quartet. There he met Erma Scharfe, whom he married in Ottawa on 16 June 1934. He sang his first public solo at the age of seventeen during a Christian camp meeting. In 1927 he made a public declaration of faith at another series of special