STILL 'SINGING'

The 'SONGKEEPERS'

June has 'busted' out all over' so it's time to make another blogspot-entry!
In 1990 I was asked to create a program around a book by Emma Lou Thayne called 'As For Me and My House' for a stake Relief Society Education Day, with Emma Lou as the keynote speaker. That was the beginning of my experience writing and producing musical readers theater presentations with a little group of lovely ladies that came to be called

SONGKEEPERS! 

 The idea was to write productions that would give a little history of the songs we sang, in order to KEEP those SONGS alive!  'As For Me and My House'  put a 'bee in my bonnet' to continue writing.  With the church's sesquicentennial celebration and Utah's bicentennial in progress in the 1990's, I dove into writing two different productions of  'Hats of Our Heritage';  a musical history of our pioneer heritage and of Utah's statehood!  When the year 2000 rolled around, we performed a quick run through of music and stories from the 10 decades of the 20th century called 'Sing a Century'!  Then my love of Christmas music led to writing  'A Patchwork Christmas', a history of how we came to celebrate Christmas on December 25th as well as the stories behind beloved Christmas traditions, customs, carols and songs.  The last to be put to paper has been 'Accentuate The Positive' which we currently perform, along with 'A Patchwork Christmas'!

Twenty four years later we are 'still singing' as I continue to work on 'accentuating the positive' in my new life without Jim.  The ladies have come and gone over the years as life's experiences and events changed.  Some of them included my sisters Margaret and Janette and sisters in law Mary Ellen and Ann.  Our fabulous pianist Alice Christensen, Naomi Damron and I are 'originals' but Kathy Bates has been in most of the shows and Daryl Broadbent has lent her talent to many!  Kay LaCheminant is our fun new addition and the six of us are currently performing 'ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE'! So fyi, if you know anyone interested in an upbeat 30 minute program, let me know!

I am grateful to these ladies and all those others who have supported me in this creative venture.  Performing has always been a passion as has the love of words and putting them into story form.  I think my first attempt was a sixth grade play (can't remember the name) which several of my brave classmates and I performed for the whole student body at William Penn Elementary in the early 60's!  Wow - that dates me!!!!!

 So, THANK YOU dear friends for helping me keep a 'song in my heart' these past years and especially these past months.  It has truly been a healing help!

A quick 'catch-up' on the family!  Coby and Tiffany are settled in South Jordan with their 3 darling sons (four really, as we always include our Jackie) and Coby is a marketing executive with a company called 'Property Solutions' in Lehi.  Ben and Whitney have two adorable girls and two strapping boys and Ben continues to sell Medicare supplements for Browning Insurance.  (So you 64 plus-ers, let me know if you need a good man to set you up in the near future).  Pat and Anna-Lisa are specializing in girls and have two sweethearts, Amelia and Daphne and Pat does well continuing to work in IHC's videography dept.  Bob and Sara just moved from Sacramento with their darling boys Duncan and Charlie to Boise, as Bob has recently completed his residency in Prosthetic s and Orthotic's. They're excited to be closer to home. Bear Lake and family and finally find a permanent place to settle!  Marianne and Lance live close by in Draper with their two cuties, Olivia and Tyson.  Lance works for Progressive Insurance as an adjuster and is my 'favorite' son-in-law!  The others are just plain...my favorites.  Jim and I always felt that our offspring were out choicest of blessings!
HAPPY JUNE!