Tiffany RomoOne day in 1987, N.C. Central University alumnus John Bennett, 55, decided NCCU’s two choirs – the Pentecostal Fellowship Organization and the Baptist Student Union – need to be brought under the same organizational umbrella. And thus was born the gospel choir Worship Praise Inspirational or WPI.
Little did he know, it’s there in 1988 he would meet Alice Parker, now his wife of 30 years.
“There were two gospel choirs at that time on the campus of North Carolina Central. One group called Pentecostal Fellowship Organization, and the other one was the Baptist Student Union,” Bennett said.
Bennett was the director of music over the Pentecostal Fellowship Organization, and he was friends with the minister of music for the Baptist Student Union.
“There would be two anniversaries. We would go to each other’s anniversaries, and of course, we were Pentecostal. We would go and turn that auditorium out with about 20 of us, every time,” said Bennett.
“People were shouting, falling out, it was just amazing how we would do it. But, I came to the conclusion in 1987, that we might not be able to talk at the same time, but we should all be able to sing at the same time. I expressed to them that we need to pull the organizations together.”
With the help of his friend, Martin Ross, the name, “Worship Praise Inspirational,” mass choir was created.
In recent years, WPI has been known to sing “Melodies From Heaven” and “More Abundantly.”
WPI has consistently been one of the largest student organizations on campus, sometimes with a membership even exceeding 120 people.
Bennett’s future wife, Alice, got her first invitation to WPI from her roommate.
“She would always say, ‘come on, we’re going to rehearsal.’ And I was like, girl I’m not going to no choir. I didn’t come here to join a choir,” Alice Bennett said.
“But one day I did. I enjoyed it. And I just continued to go.”
Even though Bennett wasn’t even looking for a relationship at the time, he said he couldn’t help from sneaking glances at Alice during choir practices. And for her part, Alice admits that she was interested in him as well.
“It was at White Rock … I said I’m gonna ask her out to a place called, ‘Mac & Maggies.’ It was a rib place. I said I’m going to take her out for Valentine’s Day,” Bennett said.
Bennett recalls that Alice pretended to be reserved when he asked her out for their first Valentine’s Day.
After she agreed to go she returned to her friends and, he noticed, things changed.
“I saw her jumping up and down. She was ecstatic. She was telling all of her friends, ‘You know he asked me out! Can you believe he asked me out!’” Bennett said.
At Mac & Maggies on Valentine’s Day, things went well.
“My thought was, if she doesn’t order a good meal in here, I would think that she would be fake. We were both hungry. We’re college students. I know in the back of my head we’re hungry, and I’m getting ready to buy you whatever you want. This is Valentine’s Day,” Bennett said.
“I said I wanted the all-you-can-eat ribs, the baked potato — ordering up — and I wanted to see if she would say, ‘Oh just give me a salad.’ I don’t know if that would’ve worked. But when I saw she ordered what I ordered, I was like ‘this is the chick that I like.’”
John and Alice were married on September 26, 1992, at Gospel Ark Temple Church in Washington, D.C. He was 25 and she was 22.
Ever since they have spent their lives together. They have raised six children and are celebrating 30 years of marriage.
See video of Alice and John Bennett: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9byRg7HXg0
