Mother's Whistler

I remember when I first learned to whistle, and I mean really whistle, where you get you teeth out of the way and plant your curled tongue behind your lower cuspids and blow a tune. Singing was always fun, but this was like having the world of instrumental music in your back pocket. It is still a regular part of my life. I never competed like Mary Francis Herndon, of Sedalia, Mo., though, nor did I hone such a sweet tone. While a young girl, Mary taught herself to whistle at the request of her grandfather who couldn't. In 1996 and 1997, she won the International Womens' Whistling Championship, competing with women from England, Germany and Canada as well as all over the U.S. Since then, dozens of radio stations around the western world have telephoned her to whistle them a tune, and she has appeared on local television. Mary sometimes whistles with a local chorus and has been a soloist with the Sedalia Symphony.