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CORRECTION: A photo caption on the Part II cover yesterday misspelled the name of Salvation Army Maj. Grace Connors. (Pg. 2 NS 12/20/90)
A CLASSIC CHRISTMAS tableau: The Salvation Army major, in black uniform, stood at the keyboard, filling the shopping arcade with a stately rendition of "Joy to the World." A young woman, child in tow, paused at the sign, "Sharing is Caring - God Bless You," stuffed a dollar in the hanging kettle and moved on.
The major, not missing a beat, peered through rimless spectacles and called out, "Thank you . . . Do you want a copy of our magazine?" But the woman was gone. The major played on, a somber figure in her dark hat and trenchcoat, her oversized winter boots.
Some passersby might have recalled with amusement such heroines in uniform as Shaw's "Major Barbara," or Gen. Matilda Cartwright of the Save-a-Soul Mission in "Guys and Dolls."
Others who passed the familiar Salvation Army kettle and the major on holiday duty might have felt a tinge of tenderness, even sadness, presumptuously wondering: Is hers a separate and lonely life? And some might not have noticed her at all. * * *
Illusion, like poverty and sin, is an avowed enemy of the Salvation Army.
Maj. Lois Rader, for instance, standing alone for hours to provide an almost subliminal Yuletide concert, might seem forlorn and ascetic, but she is neither.
Her life, in fact, has been filled with potent events: She married a "soldier" in the Salvation Army 30 years ago and joined the church. She taught school to help with his medical tuition. Having six children along the way, they became Salvation Army officers - as the ordained clergy are called - and served at a medical mission in India for 12 years.
In 1983, they moved to Long Island when Maj. Herbert Rader, the son of an Army officer, became medical director of Booth Memorial Hospital in Queens, the Army's most costly New York project.
So Lois Rader is more than happy to donate five or six hours a day to her cause, stationed in the Roosevelt Field mall, at the entrance to J.C. Penney's, playing a boundless repertoire of seasonal melodies on her electronic keyboard. There...