Mace's work with the Heritage Singers was a natural outgrowth of a love for music that started while he was a child growing up in a musical family in a farming community in Eagleton, Idaho, near Boise. From his earliest years, he sang in a trio with his two brothers and later in male quartets while at Gem State Academy and Walla Walla College, now University.

While at WWC, he met and dated Lucy Hatley, a musically talented student at nearby Walla Walla College Academy, now Walla Walla Valley Academy. They married in January 1958, following her graduation from the academy in 1957.

It was while Mace was working at United Medical Labs in Portland, Oregon, and leading the Rose City Singers, a group sponsored by the company, that the idea for the Heritage Singers developed. After conducting and singing in the group for four years and observing the effect its music had on its audiences, particularly the young, Max and Lucy, also an employee, decided to launch a full-time performing group.

While this decision cost them their jobs, by June 1971, they had formed a group of eight singers and accompanying instrumentalists, chosen a name, scheduled a tour, and started to travel. While there were challenges then and in later years, they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. In time, the Mace family, including their two children, Val and Greg, and their spouses all became participants in an experience that enabled large numbers of young people to sing while providing a Christian witness that has touched the lives of countless listeners.

ds/2009