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For a long and happy life, sing

We have the most senior of senior choirs, director says
Parkwood Singers
Pat Bush and Mabel Cameron are 100 and enjoy singing in the Parkwood Manor choir, which on Friday will host its spring concert at 7:30 p.m.

When Kathy Lauwers’ parents moved into Parkwood Manor, she asked the director of the Coquitlam retirement residence if there was a choir her folks could join.

There wasn’t so the long-time piano teacher started an ensemble, hoping to draw eight to 10 seniors for weekly rehearsals to learn new songs and sing as a group.

“We had 22 people show up for the first practice,” Lauwers recalled of their inaugural meeting 14 years ago. “And from there, it just grew and grew with more.”

Today, Lauwers leads 38 Parkwood Singers on Tuesdays — teaching lyrics and harmonies to residents in their 80s and 90s — and for public shows at Christmas and spring; their next concert, titled Turn on the Sun, is on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

They are the most senior of senior choirs in the Tri-Cities, Lauwers said, noting Parkwood Singers now has the distinct honour of having two 100-year-old vocalists.

Pat Bush, who became a centenarian three weeks ago, signed up for the choir when she and her husband moved into Parkwood Manor 14 years ago, after relocating from Toronto to be closer to family. “It was the perfect opportunity,” she said.

At the time, Bush — who describes herself as a “low alto” — didn’t have much singing experience though she knew music and rhythm, having gone to dances each weekend with her husband in Ontario. “We loved the waltzes,” she remembered.

Bush enjoys “all kinds of songs but not rock and roll. I like singing because if you are feeling down in the dumps, it makes you feel better. It puts a smile on your face.”

The treats Lauwers brings to practices are also appreciated, Bush said with a wink.

For Mabel Cameron, who turned 100 in January, the English native signed up for the choir before she became a resident of the Dufferin Street facility four years ago.

She got to know the Singers while her daughter-in-law’s mother was at the manor.

“I enjoy the choir very much and I look forward to choir practice,” she said, often trading banter with Lauwers’ husband, Gary, who is also with the Parkwood Singers.

A former ladies’ shoes salesperson in London and at Woodwards in Vancouver, Cameron prefers “trendy ballads” — her current favourite being a song on the spring concert program: On The Street Where You Live, from the musical My Fair Lady.

The Lauwers anticipate the Friday show will be well attended as previous concerts have attracted more than 200 guests. “It’s been standing-room only,” Gary said.

“We’ve had the children come out because their parents have invited them to hear the Singers and they’re really shocked,” added Kathy Lauwers who records her piano accompaniment on a CD, with the help of a sound technician from her church. “It’s, for me, the most inspiring thing to have people in their 80s and 90s — and now two 100-year-olds — perform so beautifully and in unison and with harmonies.”

“I don’t baby them during practices,” she continued. “I don’t give them easy songs but they are all quite willing to learn. They sing with open minds and open hearts.”