Gospel revival of memories : LOCAL SINGING GROUPS SPREAD GIFT OF MUSIC TO FELLOW SENIOR CITIZENS
Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008
Northwest Arkansas Times The elderly man had a request: "How Great Thou Art. "William Green, who later proclaimed he's "87 years young," asked the Silver Tones to perform the song when he first started attending the group's Wednesday morning concerts at the Springdale Senior Center after moving to the area five years ago.
Very shortly after the request, the group had another song on its set list - much to the pleasure of Green.
"We come every Wednesday and enjoy it," Green said. "It carries me back to my age in time when we enjoyed the old Gospel [songs ]."
For 15 years, Bob and Myrtle Ray have been tour guides of sorts to eras past when their audience never fathomed walking with the assistance of a cane or playing dominoes while sipping coffee at 10: 21 a.m. on a weekday.
They have been doing so as part of two gospel groups, both at the senior center as two of the original members of the Silver Tones and as a group by the name Glory Bound, representing the Elmdale Baptist Church in Springdale at various nursing homes and retirement centers throughout the area.
Whereas the Silver Tones hold weekly 10 a.m. Wednesday concerts at the center, Glory Bound, after making a trip to a nursing home in Branson on Tuesday, is scheduled to close its singing season with performances May 27 at North Hills Life Care & Rehabilitation and Wedington Place Senior Apartments, both located in Fayetteville. The touring schedule will resume in September.
The Rays' song catalog covers topics ranging from alleluia to Zion. Every song is treated like a cherished grandchild, or in the cases of some, great-grandchild.
"We've got so many favorites. We don't know which one it is," said Bob Ray, who then added he has always had a fondness for "Just a Little Talk with Jesus."
In every venue, the oldtime gospel songs elicit a similar response, such as a syncopated clap or a grin. "I think they bring energy and entertainment and then they bring past memories," said Lori Proud, who has been serving as the senior center's director for four years. "Sometimes you'll see seniors sitting up there with tears in their eyes because it's probably triggered something from their past. "Musical motives Midway through a show two weeks ago, a man in a cowboy hat was the sole person to break into a steady clap while the group sang. He was 65-year-old Springdale resident James Yeakley.
"It makes me feel real good," Yeakley said of the performance. "It's something to look forward to."
"I love it. I really do. It keeps me going. It keeps me young," said second soprano Katherine Imes-Norris, who, at 79, is one of the original members of both groups.
At the April 23 concert at the center on Park Street, Myrtle Ray, also 79, played the piano on an elevated carpeted stage while her 86-year-old husband called the song numbers in the hymn like a quarterback calling a play - but certainly under less stressful circumstances.
Through the years the couple has performed to fellow senior citizens, the names of the venues and their audience members have changed, but the smiles have remained the same, especially as members of Glory Bound.
"We go in and in the activity room they'll have their hands down," Myrtle Ray said of the usual reaction at one of the many nursing homes her church group visits during the year. "We'll start singing and they'll clap their hands and they have brightest smile on their face and thank us for coming to sing for them."
Myrtle Ray has been receiving thanks for her musical talent ever since she performed in a local traveling quartet with three of her sisters, known as the Green Sisters.
"I grew up with music in the family and we all sang," she said while talking about her childhood that took place largely in a small area just south of Cane Hill.
In 1993, word of the Rays' combined musical abilities had spread around the nursing home at Gutensohn Road, which now goes by the name of the Springdale Health & Rehabilitation Center. Along with fellow church members Imes-Norris, Mildred See and Mildred's sister, Melba Murray, the Rays became a Tuesday fixture at the center.
"And they enjoyed it so much and begged us to come back because it was a blessing to them," Myrtle Ray recalled.
Around the same time, Shirley Harger, who was serving as the Springdale Senior Center's director, asked the members to start singing on Wednesdays at the facility, then located by Applegate Plaza apartment complex.
After the senior center moved to the Jones Center for Families in 1996, the Silver Tones met an integral member, who also happens to the be their oldest. On a sheet of notepad paper with handwriting - and a face - that belies the fact that she's 92, Ree Mills wrote out the story of how she came to meet up with the Rays and both Gospel groups. The date was Wednesday, April 23, 1996, exactly 12 years to the day of her recent recollection.
"I had it written down," Mills said of the date. "I wouldn't have remembered it."
Still …
"A lot of people guess I'm in my 50 s. I guess because I'm such a nitwit. I like to have fun and joke and tease."
Mills was walking down a hallway in the Jones Center when she heard people singing in the Generations Room. She was drawn in by the sound, which echoed back to when her firstsoprano stylings could be heard on the radio during the Missionary Baptist Hour on KBRS in the'60 s. "I went up to sing and I've been singing ever since," said Mills, who gave the Silver Tones their name when the senior center moved to its current location. "I was born with music in my soul, I guess, because I sang before I talked. Sang and danced all my life. " ' A nice dynamic' As of now, the Rays Mills, Imes-Norris and Jim McGuire, who also serves as the manager of the Springdale Farmers' Market, are the only singers who have membership in both groups.
Being a member of Glory Bound, Mills has been overwhelmed as well by the gratitude of audience members, particularly at nursing homes.
"It's a blessing because the ones that are alert enough to know we're there, they seem to enjoy it so much and want more of it," she said.
"I believe they are overjoyed that someone has taken some time to come in and share with them. I think that means a lot to them," added Jeff Rhoades.
When Rhoades became the minister of music 10 years ago at Elmdale Baptist Church, he and his wife, Miriam, who serves as the church's senior adult coordinator, formed Glory Bound to perform for senior citizens who may not be blessed with strong enough legs to get around or the fellowship both gospel groups enjoy.
"We saw a real opportunity to give our senior adults an opportunity to minister to others," Rhoades said. "To [group members ], it gives them a purpose in this life."
Rhoades added that after every concert, group members go around and introduce themselves and share stories - but perhaps more importantly, their time.
"There's just a nice dynamic that happens when we go," he said.
"They love to be spoken to and shake hands," Mills confirmed. "It's a little attention because they don't get that much. It's a joy to bring a little happiness into their lives for a few minutes."
Although, like Green, every member has a certain song that takes them back, one in particular seems to resonate with audience members at senior centers and nursing homes: "I'll Fly Away."
"They all know it because it's just about in every hymn book that you find," Rhoades said.
"They really get into it," Myrtle Ray said. "They really clap."
It's about "a land where joys will never end," the song's lyrics go, or perhaps to a well-known address
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