Holiday Caroling 2007
On December 15, 2007, 32 people, members of the UUCP choir, UU Pals and others, gathered at the church at 3 pm to go caroling.
From left
to right:
Betty Wentland, Lani Comp, Jesse Hise, Bill Snowden, Julie Smart, Joan
Gale,
Smoot Carl-Mitchell, Jerry Whalin, Susan, Katherine and Elizabeth
Leung,
Victoria Spiars, Michael Cruse. Joyce Short, Ginny DeMarco, Diana
Saylor, Sandy
Thomson, Ann Jackel, Richard and Connie Jahrmarkt, Sue Kennedy, Paula
Adkins,
Pauline Gay, Donna, Ryan, Reed and Alec Featherston, Sharon Hise, Elise
Fatimi,
Carolyn Allenby, Charlotte Carl-Mitchell. Not in photo, Lillian
Habeich, who
joined the group later.
Our first stop was to visit Ed and Mary Grobe in Tempe. He was our pianist, language expert, choir member and composer since the 1970’s and retired this past June.
As we sang, he couldn’t resist going back to his long time role of pianist. That helped our singing a lot!
Our next stop was Ken and Jeanne Croissant. He was and still is an excellent artist. He met us in their gated, inside yard and took us to their first floor apartment where Jeanne was waiting.
Both Ken and Jeanne seemed to enjoy our singing.
Because we were outside, the ladies (retired teachers, they said) who lived upstairs thought we’d come to sing to them. They came out, thanked us and even gave us a box of candy!
Sue Kennedy has known Ken and Jeanne for many years and was especially happy to see them.
We next went to Ruth Amster’s. She was very active in social action at UUCP for many years.
She was especially moved when Ryan and Reed Featherston played their trumpet and clarinet for her, even wiping away a tear.
After this visit the pals had to leave while the
choir
members went on to see Don Moran, a long-time member who was
recuperating at the Chris Ridge
Village Health Center in Phoenix.
A cute photo of Jerry waiting to
sing to Don.
We first sang in the dining room, then the lobby. Then Don took us up to his floor and we walked around the halls singing as we went, bringing people out of their rooms to listen. One of those people was a 96-year old woman, Irene, who was a musician and composer and who had gone caroling many, many times over the years. She told us this was the first time anyone had caroled her. It was very touching.
While we were in the lobby, a man in a wheelchair
was rolled out of the dining room to listen to us. When we were leaving
his
caretake/daughter? asked if we could sing to him one more time, which
we did.
He and all the people who listened to us seemed to enjoy it.
Our last stop was
to see Greta Woods, another
long-time
member, who is now living at The Terrace retirement home.
She took us all around the large complex. We sang in the outdoor gazebo which brought several residents out on their balconies to listen. Then like troubadours, Greta led us through the halls where we stopped at open doors and sang to surprised residents. Greta quipped as she bid us good night that our visit would raise her (and her church's) status in the eyes of her Terrace friends considerably. She’d told us the Terrace is a Baptist run facility and anyone there who knows she's a UU with liberal beliefs probably wouldn't have thought her church would ever come singing Christmas carols to her. Well, we did!
Each of the rooms had an alcove that the residents could decorate. Joan and Bill were taken with a shelf of singing penguins!
It was almost 8 pm, we’d been singing and driving and singing for five hours and were tired and hungry. We went back to the church to chow down on the goodies we’d brought.
We enjoy singing, but we also enjoy eating and chatting and joking too. This year was different in that the caroling brought together two diverse groups, the choir and the UU pals. It was fun getting to know each other and sing together. A special thank you to Susan Leung who coordinated the pals group, and to Ginny, our map-maker, and to all those who participated.
