When I no longer need my body

Woody Allen, who is almost 80, remarks about the end of life: “I don’t mind death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

Though he was joking, death really is something many would rather not think about. But it comes to all of us, and I think it’s sensible to consider what we want to have done with our remains.

A very old procedure was used by the Egyptians who used both cedarwood and sandalwood as embalming materials over 6,000 years ago.

Another way of disposing of a body, which is apparently still used today, is to dismember the body and feed it to vultures. This is what at least some Tibetans and Zoroastrians do, for they believe the body should have a useful purpose after death.

Then, of course, there is cremation. Surprisingly, even if one decides to be cremated, that person’s skeleton is still recognizable. The usual procedure then is that after a metal detector scoops up any metal parts such as fillings and hip and knee replacements, the remains are pulverized. Only after that procedure is the body given to the family.

Burial at sea is yet another possibility. This is too complicated a subject, however, for the present column, but you may want to read an informative article about it on Wikipedia.

A friend of mine told me she would like a “green burial” because it is the most natural way of being buried. As they say online, you can have a “biodegradable casket or shroud instead of a metal casket, natural cooling methods instead of embalming, avoiding the use of a concrete vault, and natural grounds-keeping methods like planting wildflowers instead of mowing.”

Not all cemeteries allow this more natural burial system these days, but if more people decide to be buried that way, perhaps it will become more available.

Here’s where a green burial seems to be the least complicated system, for the body is simply “recycled.” This means that it is quickly returned to the soil to give life to new organisms.

As my friend who advocated this method told me, “For some of us, it may be the closest we can come to reincarnation. The burial site would be natural. Trees or plants may be planted, or the land is left for Nature to take its course. Weeds to some may be bird food for others.”

The green burial is appealing in many ways, and I would choose this system except that I have already decided to give my body to the University of Michigan for medical students’ education. I’ve even said in my formal statement of permission that they don’t need to return any of my body after they have finished using it.

I do often remember that our family has space for eight more family members in the impressive Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, but if my body can help medical advances, that’s what I’d rather do with it.

And I don’t want a funeral with my body on display; I’d rather have a memorial service. Besides, I’ve never considered myself especially good looking, and I would hope that people would remember what I looked like without having to see my fancied-up dead body.

So, dear friends, check me out now, while you can! And if you also plan not to have your body displayed at your service, let me check you out now as well.

Beethoven - the Man and his Music

Ludwig van Beethoven was certainly a true genius, but he had a extremely complex and difficult personality. Amazingly, he also lost his hearing fairly early in his career. Both of these unfortunate factors made his life extremely difficult.

An excellent biography of Beethoven by Jeremy Siepmann describes him as having “a titanic personality, both vulnerable and belligerent, comic and tragic, and above all heroic.”

Beethoven loved several women but he never married, probably because of his various problems. He was a guy who apparently didn’t care a bit about his appearance, his residence or even his manners with most people.
He was especially hard on his nephew, Karl, for whom he was responsible after Beethoven’s brother died. In fact, at age 19 Karl made an unsuccessful attempt to kill himself. He actually shot himself in the head, saying he did it “Because my uncle tormented me too much, and I was weary of imprisonment.” Yet Beethoven had the highest possible goals, saying that he tried to model himself on both Socrates and Jesus Christ.

Beethoven had a truly serious outlook on life in general. For example, though he did compose one really fine opera, “Fidelio,” when asked if he would like to do more operas, he said “It must be something I can take up with sincerity and love. I could never compose operas like ‘Don Giovanni’ and ‘Figaro.’ They are too frivolous for me.”

Despite his criticizing the stories behind Mozart’s operas, Beethoven very much admired Mozart’s music in general and was certainly influenced by him. He may even have taken a couple of lessons from Mozart just before that poor fellow’s early death.

Sad to say, many of the works of Bach, Mozart and Schubert became known and loved only after their deaths. Beethoven’s many works, however, including nine symphonies, many piano solos, string quartets, piano quartets, songs and so forth, were well known and appreciated during his own lifetime.

It’s not surprising that many of the 19th century composers, including Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Wagner, Berlioz, Brahms and Liszt, truly admired Beethoven’s amazing ambition and talent. As Liszt put it, “For us musicians, Beethoven’s work is like the pillar of cloud and fire which guided the Israelites through the desert. ... His darkness and his light trace for us equally the path we have to follow.”

Richard Wagner was equally impressed: “The effect on me was indescribable. . . . I soon conceived an image of him in my mind as a sublime and unique supernatural being.”

Berlioz called Beethoven’s String Quartet, Opus 131 “a heavenly inspiration that took material shape.”

Brahms admired Beethoven’s symphonies so deeply that he felt extremely humbled by him. As a result he felt that his own attempt at composing his first symphony was not worth further work, and in fact he didn't complete it until he was in his 40s.

That first symphony reminded people of Beethoven’s Fifth, and the main theme of the final movement also resembled Beethoven’s Ninth enough that people laughed and hailed it as “Beethoven’s Tenth.”

Even two much later composers, Sir Michael Tippett (1905-1998) and Robert Simpson (1921-1997) claimed that Beethoven was “the principal shaping force on their own development.”

Finally, according to Beethoven’s biographer Siepmann, despite his difficult personality, Beethoven’s faith apparently stayed extremely strong throughout his whole life. Even as he was dying at age 56, he suddenly opened his eyes, looked upward and said, “I defy you all, powers of evil! Away! God is with me.”

SIGNIFICANT SILENCES

“A note of music gains significance from the silence on either side.”

 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

For me both silence and repetition are truly essential in great music. Perhaps the musical composers who best understood both of these aspects were Bach, Beethoven and Schubert.

I especially appreciate a piece by Bach called Siciliano from Flute Sonata No 2 in E flat major. I’ve played it many times on my violin, and each time there is just the right length of silence frequently in the melody so that I have a moment to think back on how beautiful those few earlier measures were. I then look forward to the next theme. Beethoven was also skilled at creating just the right silences and repetitions. As Jeremy Siepmann, author of “Beethoven: His Life and Music” put it amusingly, “His silences often have the impact of hammer blows.”

Then there are pauses of optional length. For instance, I still remember back in my early days in the Battle Creek Symphony when we were working on Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. In that case, our conductor back then, William Stein, had to decide just how long we should wait in silence after playing GGGEb before going on to FFFD. He also thought hard about how long to wait after FFFD before repeating the first four notes and then going on to AbAbAbGEbEbEbC.

This kind of subtlety is tricky, for, as Stein said to us, he didn’t want to rush into the next part of the melody before people have fully taken in the first theme, but on the other hand he didn’t want to lose the powerful connection that exists between these two unforgettable beginning themes.

Then there is the opening of Beethoven's Third Symphony: just two chords, separated, once again, by silence. As Stein puts it, “Nobody had ever begun a symphony that way before.”

Another famous and beautiful example is Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” where the simple beginning theme, “CBCEDC” is repeated five times in six minutes and where there are pauses between every few measures. I recommend that you listen on YouTube to a performance of it by one of the world’s greatest singers, Maria Callas.

In order to be appreciated, however, both pauses and repetitions obviously have to be part of a melody. I disagree with people who actually praise John Cage’s “4 Minutes and 33 Seconds,” which he created back in 1952. There has been a performance, which you can see on YouTube, by a full symphony supposedly playing this work. They are really doing nothing at all, for the whole work is totally silent.

After that orchestra ends the work exactly 4 minutes and 33 seconds later, the audience amazingly claps loudly and stands up to congratulate the composer, Cage, the conductor and the symphony.

Apparently this work was debuted outdoors in Tanglewood so there were probably more interesting sounds there than in the symphony hall.

Even so, many music lovers did not like the work, and it affected Cage’s reputation negatively. As one man put it so well, It “Has to be the worst piece of music I have never heard.”

All of this business of silence and repetition may seem like an obvious aspect of music, but composers like Bach, Beethoven and Schubert knew instinctively how to use those techniques to create true masterpieces.

Good return of teaching investment

One of the most rewarding gifts of teaching is having a student from the past get back in touch with you simply to thank you for your positive influence upon his or her life.

When Barry Cannon called me out of the blue, after nearly 30 years, to express his appreciation, I could still picture him as a witty, fun, African American male I really enjoyed having in my classes.

He was one of six children in a low-income family from Alabama who had all moved to Detroit when he was only three years old. His loving father died on the day of his 8th grade graduation, but hard as it was, he still attended the ceremony.

He said he could easily have failed in high school and had many friends who did fail because they had what he called “negative activities associated with growing up in a poor urban environment.”

He entered high school in the fall of 1979 and described himself as “bright eyed and bushy tailed,” and he excelled academically as well as athletically.

When he came to Olivet College in 1983, however, he had a much harder time. As he put it, “I had no idea of the focus and dedication it would take to become a successful student beyond high school," and by the end of his first semester, he almost had to leave.

As he explained it, “I believe the freedom of being on my own for the first time overwhelmed me, leading to my becoming academically ineligible to play sports and on academic as well as behavior probation.”

Another issue was that he said he had a difficult time adjusting to coming from a mostly African American high school to a predominantly Caucasian college

But instead of giving up, Barry decided at the end of that semester to change his ways. He says he was inspired by two helpful quotes from his parents: “Failure to prepare, is preparing to fail,” and “You won’t rise to low expectations.”

Here’s the passage from him on his email that made me want to write this column. “It was during this low point that I met a wonderful instructor, Dr. Linda Jo Scott, who captured my attention in a way unlike any other. She had a charming and magnetic personality. I truly felt that she cared and wanted to see me succeed. She was always available for assistance, always had kind words of encouragement.”

The next seven semesters of his time at Olivet College were fruitful, however, and though he had to take twenty credit hours at one point to make up for the botched freshmen first semester, he was able to graduate with his classmates in May, 1987 with a major in Sociology and a minor in Physical Education.

Barry eventually received a Double Master’s Teaching Degree with a certification in English and Social Sciences and an Educational Specialists Degree in Educational Administration, and he now has 40 hours towards a Doctorate in Education.

I was proud to learn that he has been teaching English, which was my field, as well as serving as the Athletic Director at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Detroit for 25 years--and with perfect attendance for all of those years.

It seems fitting to end this column with the words of my impressive student which he gave for an article about him by the Detroit Free Press: “I’m just a vessel. God uses me to impact children.”

Alan Alda's Full Life

“Funny people want to be in a pleasant frequency with you. It’s like you are both tuned into the same thing, like you’re dancing together. And through that funniness, the two of you can share a moment of pleasure together that you can’t get any other way.”

Alan Alda

Alan Alda is a remarkably witty, talented and likable fellow who has spent his life doing a series of memorable, worthwhile and enjoyable activities. He is now 78 but has certainly not retired--or even slowed down, it would seem.

According to Wikipedia, “He is currently a Visiting Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Journalism and a member of the advisory board of The Center for Communicating Science and the Future of Life Institute. He serves on the board of the World Science Festival and is a judge for Math-O-Vision.”

I was first impressed and delighted with him in his role as “Hawkeye” (Benjamin Franklin) Pierce in the famous, 11-year, 256-episode series, M*A*S*H. I was teaching in South Korea back in 1975-6, and that story of the Korean War was one of the few programs on television there that was in the English language.

Alda not only acted in a major role in each episode of M*A*S*H during what became called the comedy years, 1972–1979, but for the last four years of the show, 1979-1983, known as the drama years, he served as producer and creative consultant as well. For a couple of episodes his brother Anthony, also an actor, and his father, Robert Alda, who starred in burlesque theatre shows, were guest actors.

As you no doubt already know, this was an immensely popular series. According to Wikipedia, “As of November 2011, the series finale, ‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,’ is still the most watched television broadcast in US History. It was on February 28, 1983, from 8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m., and, at 11:03 pm, EST, New York City public works noted the highest water usage at one given time in the City's history. This was due to the fact that in the three minutes after the finale ended, approximately 77% of New York City flushed their toilets.”

Alda helped write plots for other programs and also wrote two memoirs, “Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned” and “Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself,” both of which I really enjoyed.

Alda has been married to a talented woman, Arlene for almost 60 years, and he has also been a promoter for feminist activists for many years, co-chairing the Equal Rights Amendment with Betty Ford. In 1976, The Boston Globe amusingly dubbed him "the quintessential Honorary Woman: a feminist icon.”

For me Alda is an outstanding example of someone who has extended his life indefinitely by being so active and so successful as an actor, as a producer, as a writer and as a warm, witty fellow we will all remember for many years.

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein describe this kind of worthy, extended life in their amusing book, “Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between.” 

People like Alda, they say, “come up with a strategy for extending life indefinitely without actually adding any ‘clock time’ to our lifespan.”

PHYSICAL AILMENTS DON'T DIMINISH LIFE'S WONDERS

For the past year I was afraid I was coming down with Alzheimer's for four rather scary but valid reasons.

Firstly, almost twice as many women as men are likely to fall into this category. Secondly, women who have had breast cancer surgery are more likely to suffer from it, and I had that operation 14 years ago, at age 60. Thirdly, people who have had open heart surgery are also more likely, and I had that experience just a year ago April.

And last, but certainly not least, my memory has gone way downhill ever since that last operation, and I’ve learned that memory loss is one of the early signs of possible Alzheimer’s.

Because I was worried, I went to a neurologist and had various tests he prescribed. When I went back to him, he reported to me that I have had a small stroke which has caused this problem.

What can I do about this situation? Well, I try hard to keep my brain and mind active by reading challenging books, writing my columns for each Friday in the Enquirer and continuing to teach classes for the Institute for Learning in Retirement.

I’ve learned quite a bit about Alzheimer’s, as well, from a very moving column from Sheina Jacobson, a writer from Canada. Her family has had some very sad experiences with their father’s Alzheimer’s and the challenges it presented for them. 

Her column on the subject appeared in over 50 newspapers, both in Canada and in this country, and it certainly scared me before I learned about my stroke. As she put it, the family had to treat their dad as though he was a child, saying to him, for example, "Good boy, you put your shoes on by yourself,” and "No, your PJs don't go over your pants". For him, as unfortunately for most Alzheimer’s patients, his ‘present’ disintegrated in about 15 seconds, leaving no past and no future. He would therefore repeat himself constantly as he would have no recall of what he’s said or how someone had responded to it.

Another factor, according to Sheina, is that “For a while, the progression might be slow and then, one day, the changes seem to be rapid and noticeable.” As an example of this kind of change, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s husband, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, suddenly had a romance with another woman. Sandra, bless her heart, sympathized and even visited with the new couple while they sat holding hands on the porch swing. As she explained, it was a relief to see her husband of 55 years so content, even though he was suffering from Alzheimer’s and had in part replaced her with a new love.

Needless to say, I am extremely thankful that I am not coming down with Alzheimer's.

The results of the stroke, in my case, are far less of a problem. One really positive activity that doesn’t seem to have been affected at all is playing the violin by ear. I can’t always remember the names of songs--much less the lyrics, but the melodies seem to be as easy to remember as always.

My very genuine conclusion for this column is that, having had breast cancer and open heart surgery and now a stroke, I feel the best thing I can do for myself is simply to thank God that I’m alive and energetic, and let the future take care of itself.

Michio Kaku Makes Physics Readable

Michio Kaku, who was born of Japanese parents in 1947, is a brilliant scientist, a professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York and a fine writer. I really enjoyed reading his latest book, “The Future of the Mind,” which just came out this year.

I certainly admit that I don’t understand a lot about complex physics, but, as was said in the USA Today, “Kaku has the rare ability to take complicated scientific theories and turn them into readable tales about what our lives will be like in the future.”

Besides his newest book, Kaku has written two other New York Times Best Sellers: Physics of the Impossible (2008) and Physics of the Future (2011). He has also made frequent appearances on radio, television, and film, and writes a number of online blogs and articles.

Unlike many scientists, Kaku is a pantheist who believes in God. As one of his unnamed admirers puts it very well, “He finds the universe beautiful and wondrous in its symmetry and natural order. For example, he has called the Grand Canyon a Cathedral and marveled at the patience and time it took for water to carve it.”

More generally, he says that “Our universe has been made intentionally compatible with human life.” For example, as he says about nuclear force,” If it were just a bit stronger, the sun would have burned out billions of years ago, too soon to allow DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid] to get off the ground.” On the other hand, he says, “If the nuclear force were a bit weaker, then the sun would never have ignited to begin with, and we still would not be here.”

Similarly, as he says about gravity, “If it were stronger, the universe would have collapsed into a Big Crunch billions of years ago, and we would all be roasted to death.” But, “If it were a bit weaker, then the universe would have expanded so fast it would have reached the Big Freeze, so we would all have frozen to death.”

Kaku is an advocate and supporter of string theory, and believes that our universe is only one of many “multiverses.” As a violinist I especially like this quote by him on the subject. “The way a string-theory string vibrates may confer the properties of various fundamental particles, just as the way a violin's string vibrates confers the resonant frequencies we recognize as different musical notes.”

Also comparing science and music, he said, Our “fine-tuning extends to every atom of the body. Physics says we are made of stardust, that the atoms we see all around us were forged in the heart of a star. We are literally children of the stars.”

For Kaku, religion and science need not be incompatible. As he puts it, “They can be in harmony, but only if rational people on both sides engage in honest debate.” It’s no surprise that Kaku is a great admirer of Einstein’s faith. As he puts it, “One of the most important revelations in Einstein’s early childhood took place when he read his first books on science. He immediately realized that most of what he had been taught about religion could not possibly be true. Throughout his career, however, he clung to the belief that a mysterious, divine Order existed in the universe.”

We’re fortunate to have a leading scientist who communicates so effectively. I do recommend that even if you aren’t a scientist, you should give “The Future of the Mind” a try.

Life On Earth After Death

This is from Linda Jo's columns of March 2013

I just finished reading a fascinating book, “Dying to be Me,” by Anita Moorjani. Anita is from India and was raised in the Hindu faith. Her parents moved to Hong Kong when she was just two, however, and she had a very broad upbringing, spending part of her schooling in a Catholic school and then later in the British Island School. Thus through her childhood she became a part of the worlds of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Catholicism, India, China and England.

When Anita was 43, married and living in Hong Kong, she became extremely ill with cancer of the lymphatic system. Because her best friend and her husband’s brother-in-law had both died of cancer despite all of the modern “cures,” she refused to undergo chemotherapy and radiation.

During those years of acute suffering she even went back to India for six months of yoga regimen. Finally, however, after four years, she grew worse and was rushed to a large, well-equipped hospital in Hong Kong, where the doctor described her tumors as numerous growths the size of lemons throughout her lymphatic system. At that point she weighed less than 90 pounds.

On Feb. 2, 2002, she actually died for many hours in what some call a Near Death Experience. For her, as apparently for others, this short-but-intense experience was amazingly exhilarating. As she put it, “Love, joy, ecstasy, and awe poured into me, through me, and engulfed me. I was swallowed up and enveloped in more love than I ever knew existed.”

Whereas she had always felt like an outsider there in Hong Kong and had always tried to please other people rather than simply being herself, her world changed radically for the better. For the first time, she felt her own worth as well as feeling a deep love for everyone else.

At that point she had an extremely difficult decision to make, for she could either stay in that perfect world where she felt no pain and felt as though she was no longer in her physical body, or she could come back to this world. She consciously, though somewhat reluctantly, decided to return because of her love for her husband and family.

In an amazingly short time upon her return, she recovered completely, without the surgery her doctors said she would need.

In this new world, she no longer worries about worldly matters, such as money, work or household and domestic issues, yet she says she doesn’t advocate “positive thinking.” One should rather let negative as well as positive thoughts pass through one’s mind without judgment.

Do not “carry any emotional baggage from one instant to the next,” she says, but rather “try to see each moment as a clean slate.”

I found this book quite inspiring as I read it, but I must admit that after I finished it and thought about my own experience with cancer 13 years ago, I realized that if I were to have any sign of cancer again, I would rush back to my wonderful Battle Creek cancer specialist, Dr. Stephen Smiley, and follow precisely whatever advice he gave me.

I would nevertheless recommend “Dying to Be Me,” as an inspiring book, and I would also recommend an excellent hour-long interview with Anita by Renate McNay, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jFN9XQeEn4.

Frederick Douglass, A Truly Great American

The noble, brilliant, caring 19th century black American, Frederick Douglass, had the saddest childhood I’ve ever heard of. Throughout his childhood poor Douglass had no parental love or guidance. He never even knew for sure who his father was, and he was separated from his mother when he was just an infant. 

Instead of being raised by his parents, he had to serve as a slave to various cruel white men who beat him frequently and absolutely forbid him to learn to read. He realized the importance of becoming a reader at a young age, however, saying,  “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Douglass not only taught himself to read, but he secretly went on to teach it to a number of other young slaves as well.

Eventually Douglass fell in love with a free black woman, Anna Murray, and after several attempts, he was finally able to escape to the north. Soon after, they married, and they had five children and a long happy life together.

Douglass eventually became free, was a fine speaker and writer and gave his whole life to helping blacks in any way he could. As he put it in his abolitionist newspaper, “The North Star,”  "Right is of no Sex - Truth is of no Color - God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren."

In 1845 Douglass traveled alone to Ireland and England for two years and gave a number of speeches there, mainly in churches and chapels. He was deeply impressed with how much less prejudice he found in both countries. 

As he put it, “I breathe, and lo! the chattel [slave] becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as his slave, or offer me an insult. I employ a cab—I am seated beside white people—I reach the hotel—I enter the same door—I am shown into the same parlour—I dine at the same table—and no one is offended... I find myself regarded and treated at every turn with the kindness and deference paid to white people. When I go to church, I am met by no upturned nose and scornful lip to tell me, 'We don't allow niggers in here!'"

It’s truly amazing that, despite the cruelty he had suffered as a child and the prejudice he suffered as an adult, Douglass truly cared about helping blacks and whites alike.I love his quote on the subject: “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

Douglass was also a powerful writer, especially in his three autobiographies, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”, written in 1845, when he was just 27; “My Bondage and My Freedom,” written in 1855, and finally “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass,” written in 1881 and revised in 1892. He also wrote a novel called, “The Heroic Slave,” in 1852. Though he was more known as an autobiographer, his novel was very popular, and was considered the first piece of fictional literature by an African American.

Besides his speeches and books, Douglass served as an advisor to five presidents: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield and Benjamin Harrison. In addition, he was appointed secretary of the commission of Santo Domingo by President Grant and as minister to Haiti by President Harrison.

Douglass is truly an inspiration for us all, and I surely recommend his inspiring books.

Words and Music Have Made My Life a Symphony

My two passions have always been words and music, and I’m convinced that they, along with family and friends of course, are two of the main reasons that I love life.

Words were my profession, for I was an English professor for well over 30 years, and now, after my retirement, I’ve been writing for the Battle Creek Enquirer for 15 years. 

My boss in those early days had me do little local stories at first, but then he soon let me do articles--sometimes two and even three per week--about all sorts of people and subjects.

Finally I got asked to do columns each week, and that’s been best of all. I can write about any subject I choose, I can work from home on my own schedule, and I can include my own opinions each time.

I sometimes think I will run out of subjects for my columns, but inevitably through reading or talking with people, I seem to get new ideas to pursue.

I’ve just been reading a book called “Loud and Clear,” by Anne Quindlen, a writer I truly admire. She was an extremely successful journalist and columnist for over 20 years and is now just as successful as a novelist. I have enjoyed a number of her books, both nonfiction and fiction.

In “Loud and Clear” Quindlen includes many of her columns as well as short autobiographical pieces. 

In one of them she says that she always urges young people to write, for they get to know themselves better. “Their written words are their personal histories, as they have been mine.”

Then there is music, which has always been as much a true passion for me as words. 

Playing the violin has always been fun, for my mother and I played together on piano and violin by ear for our Sunday school class, for friends in nursing homes, for my grandmother and just for enjoyment at home. 

Of course I had to practice as a girl--and for all of the more than 60 years I played in various orchestras at school and in local orchestras in Ohio and Michigan.

These days I don’t practice much anymore, however, for I retired from the Battle Creek Symphony almost four years ago. Instead, I play with the Olde Tyme Music group about six times a month, I play every Sunday at my church, and I play for various parties, weddings, funerals, and other events.

I certainly don’t claim to be a great violinist, but I can play most any tune I know without music, and that is a huge benefit. I can go to people’s tables or even their beds if they can’t get up, and I can play their favorite songs just for them.

These days I still teach both English and music for the Institute for Learning in Retirement in Battle Creek. I’ve taught 28 different classes already over the past 12 years or so and have plans for still more in the near future. 

I especially enjoyed teaching a class on violin music this year, for I could feel justified in playing requests on my violin during class.

I don’t know if I really believe in Heaven,  but if I do get to go there, I sure hope I’ll still get to read and write and play my violin.