“The one song Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra musicians did not play at their annual Swingin’ Holiday Pops concert Saturday night was ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas,’ ” writes Barbara O’Brien in Saturday’s (12/20) Buffalo News (New York). “They didn’t have to. Sgt. Katie Bauman, who had not seen her family since she went to Afghanistan a year ago, stole the show when she surprised her mother onstage at Kleinhans Music Hall during the concert. Her family was swept away, and more than a few in the nearly sold-out audience wiped away tears when Bauman hugged her mother, Mary Beth Bauman-Moyer. Attending the Holiday Pops concert is a tradition for the family, one Bauman had not been able to take part in for a number of years.… Guest conductor Ron Spigelman turned to the audience and said he had a special package that had come a very long way, and he asked Mary Beth Bauman-Moyer to come to the stage.… That’s when Army Sgt. Katie Bauman walked onstage, hugging her mother as the audience and musicians broke out in thunderous applause.… A flight medic, she returned from Afghanistan several weeks ago and now is stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska.… Bauman-Moyer lay her head on her daughter’s shoulder, her Christmas wish come true.”
Posted December 23, 2014
Pictured: Mary Beth Bauman-Moyer and daughter Army Sgt. Katie Bauman at the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Holiday Pops concert after their surprise reunion Saturday night. Photo by Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News
