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Songs For The Dying: Choir Brings Peace To Southwest Siders' Final Days

By Howard Ludwig | August 24, 2017 8:30am

MORGAN PARK — Marilyn Durkin, 91, laid tightly curled in bed for days before she died June 10, her daughter Carol Nick said.

Durkin suffered from dementia and lived at Smith Village for six years before she died, said Nick, who lives near her mother's former retirement community in Morgan Park.

In her final days, Nick asked members of the Threshold Choir to sing to her mom. As the singing began, the terminally ill woman "totally uncurled," said Daryce Hoff Nolan, who founded the chapter of the choir four years ago.

"We got a response from her, and it was amazing," said Nick, who added that her mother died one week after the choir sang in her room at 2320 W. 113th Place.

Such responses are common, according to members of the choir that practice once a month at Smith Village. Choir members visit four nursing homes and hospice providers in the city and suburbs about three times a week, Hoff Nolan said.

Most of the songs are short and quiet — often meditative hymns. The group occasionally throws in a show tune or two for those who prefer them, said Hoff Nolan, who estimates that her chapter of the choir has sung to more than 1,000 people since its inception.

Visits from the choir are free. And Huff Nolan has seen patients who haven't moved in weeks tap their toe, gently sway or even cry when hearing the songs.

Emmanuel Raymond was one of the chapter's 10 choir members who arrived for practice Aug. 14 at Smith Village. A resident of south suburban Frankfort, Raymond agreed that those whom he sings to often have profound reactions.

"It's often taking them to a place where they reminisce," he said.

Diane Morgan is the memory support coordinator at Smith Village. She said music can be a powerful force for seniors. Smith Village has a music therapist for this reason, and Morgan pointed to the film "Alive Inside" as further proof of the phenomenon.

As for the Threshold Choir, it was founded March 21, 2000, in El Cerrito, Calif., by Kate Munger. The group's mission is to sing to those in final stages of life, and Huff Nolan was drawn to the choir after working as a hospital and hospice chaplain.

While working at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, she was once asked by the husband of a woman in the emergency room to sit for a moment with his dying wife. He left the room, and there were no doctors or anyone else there.

"I just started singing to her. I just think it was my instinct as a mom," said Huff Nolan, also a Morgan Park resident. "That's when I decided this was the perfect fit for me."

She went on to start the chapter of Threshold Choir at St. Helena/Santa Elena Episcopal Church. Huff Nolan is a deacon at the church in suburban Burr Ridge. She also has a degree in vocal music from Roosevelt University.

Her Threshold Choir chapter practices at the church every month, though she's the only member of the congregation who participates. There are other Threshold Choir chapters in suburban Glenview, Mount Prospect, Norridge and Wheaton.

Seven members of the choir gathered this month at Smith Village and visited the room of Lourdes McDermott just before practice. McDermott turned 100 the previous week, and the choir sang her a lullaby and "Sending You Light."

McDermott's daughters, Sheila and Sharon, stood in the doorway as the choir spent about 15 minutes quietly singing.

"It was beautiful," Sheila McDermott said.

For more information about the Threshold Choir chapter that practices at Smith Village, call 773-844-2073 or email sthchoir@gmail.com.