My Grandma Fuller was always young at heart. She told everyone she was going to be “70 on my birthday” for 25 years, went to church to “help the old people up the stairs” and never missed a meeting of her garden club or ladies aide society. She cooked for the church suppers until a bad fall and a broken arm meant she couldn’t live at home alone any longer.
She wasn’t a singer like the members of the Young@Heart chorus profiled in this issue – unless you count her dedicated churchgoing to the local congregational church (where members were expected to sing along with the choir) – but in many ways she shared the same positive, full-of-life spirit as these younger-than-their years septuagenarians and octogenarians.
You see, grandma believed in always having something to look forward to – a meeting or a church dinner or our visits on Sundays. Things like working for the church – or baking for our weekly visits – gave her a purpose.
I heard that same word – purpose – from the members of Young@Heart that I interviewed for this month’s feature story. Performing for and entertaining audiences here and around the globe has given them what you might call a “fountain of youth.”
“It gives me a reason to get up in the morning,” 17-year Young@Heart member Steve Martin said of the twice-weekly rehearsals, and periodic performances with the chorus
And the group, which now numbers 25 members, isn’t trying to keep this elixir of life to themselves.
“Playing with them is keeping me younger” said 75-year Bill Arnold, who’s been the group’s drummer for 15 years. “I think everybody should have a chance –whether they sing or not – to come and try[out]. It’s healthy spiritually and mentally.”
Grandma would agree.
Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
Editor’s Note: Beginning with our July issue, look for your copy of Prime to arrive at your favorite pick-up location a week earlier than usual. Beginning with that issue, we’ll be distributed on the third week of the month, instead of the fourth!
