RIP Judy; our first weekend of December

RIP, Judy Densevich

I mentioned in my last post that next time I would share about my friend Judy who passed away suddenly last week.  Judy was one of the people who very warmly welcomed us to Fillmore UMC when we first visited the church right after we moved here in 2010.  She was the pianist/choir director and was delighted to have us in the choir.  

Practices were held in her lovely home around her grand piano.  She always had a wonderful variety of snacks and drinks set out for us in her kitchen.  It was like a party every Thursday evening!  And speaking of parties, she hosted them for every occasion that came up - birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers, you name it!  Giving gifts was her love language.  For each cantata we sang she had wooden plaques made for each of us.  I have four of them hanging on the wall here in my den.  She loved to cook and bake, and did so for many church and community events.  And I'm not just talking about Fillmore.  She was actually a member of the Episcopalian church and her husband Frank was a member of the Catholic church, but they freely contributed time, food, and help to any church.  Judy had had a career as a brilliant mathematician and classically trained pianist and was now in her retirement years teaching piano lessons, doing private math tutoring in her home, and playing piano for churches.  

At the end of 2013 she decided to step down from her job as pianist/choir director at Fillmore, which was a huge disappointment for the church and choir.  I agreed to help out till they found someone else.  I was very much involved as praise team leader at Houserville House of Hope at that time.  But as it turned out, I figured out how to make it work doing both churches because of the difference in Sunday morning services times and different practice evenings.  She still subbed for me from time to time.  

One thing I have always struggled with is directing and accompanying at the same time.  For my cantata this Christmas I had asked Judy if she would please play piano so I could just direct, and she agreed.  I was delighted at the prospect of finally being able to stand in front of my choir to direct.  

So it was a terrible shock to hear the unbelievable news last Monday that Judy had suddenly passed away Sunday night.  I attended her funeral at the Episcopal church in Bellefonte on Saturday morning and finally met her very lovely children and grandchildren, all of whom live in other states.  My heart ached for her precious husband Frank.  They were a team who did everything together.  He would come to Fillmore with her and was our choir's most ardent fan.  His frequent comment was, "You hit it out of the ball park this morning!"  It's really heartbreaking to imagine him without her.  Here's a sweet picture I took of them in 2010.  Judy will be seriously missed by many, many people and organizations.  But no one will miss her as much as dear Frank.  

Saturday, December 1

On Saturday evening Dick and I went to hear the Essence 2 Gospel Choir, a volunteer community choir directed by Dr. Tony Leach, who just retired from his music position at Penn State.  Lori and I really, really, really want to join that choir, but so far have not figured out how to commit ourselves to the Sunday 6 PM practices.  She and Hunter were there too on Saturday evening, and we both agreed again that we need this in our lives.  Maybe next fall?  (Members can join only at the beginning of each Fall season.)  I finally took a picture when they started the last song, only to realize that the choir members were filing out into the audience greeting people as they continued singing.  It was a dramatic ending as their music surrounded us, but I didn't get a good picture of the choir.

Sunday, December 2

On Sunday morning I enjoyed the ambiance of the Christmas tree as I waited for the service to start at GBRV.  And in case anyone is having trouble with all these churches I talk about - GBRV stands for Greater Buffalo Run Valley, which is the name of the three churches (including Fillmore) which have joined as one church.  

When we got home from church and it was finally a milder, non-rainy day and also a day that Dick could not go deer hunting over at Anthony's place, we decided it was our chance to get the outdoor Christmas lights up.  What a great surprise to discover that apparently I had bought a whole lot of bows on clearance at the end of last season!  I remember that we were thinking our bows were looking faded and orange last year.  

I haven't gotten any picture of our outdoor lights, but they look just like other years.  Here's one from 2014.

When that was finished we went to pick up Austin.  He loves antiques!  And we were taking him to the antiques jackpot, haha!  Old Sled Works. We have passed it so many times but never went inside.  Since we would be meeting up later with Jenn and the kids at the winterfest, we decided to go earlier to take a look around Old Sled Works.  WELL!!!!  We had 45 minutes before they closed at 5.  But we needed HOURS!!  What a totally fascinating place!  And HUGE!!!  I had no idea that building after building, all of them connected, were part of that store.  Austin was in antique glory!  He found a few things to buy, but what he really was looking for, antique keys, eluded us.  When we checked out at 5 we found out that they do have antique keys in a part of the store that we had not had time to browse.  So of course we must go back sometime!

I think Anthony and Lori should buy that private road sign!  Lori would have a hard time with that speed limit though!   The soda fountain just opened this past weekend.  Next time I want to sit there and order something!

When they closed at 5 we met up with Jenn and the kids at the outdoor winterfest.  It was not extremely cold, but it was drizzling lightly.  It was a great community event, especially geared to children.  Hot chocolate, cookies, tables for painting rocks, for decorating cookies, free children's books, a fire for roasting marshmallows, Christmas caroling, and Bianca's nursery school class sang too.  

Bianca had been so excited to sing with her class, but when it came time to actually get up on the wagon, she had tears.  She agreed to get up there if Jenn stayed with her.  Here's a video we took, and if you look closely you can see her sweet face every now and then.  She WAS singing back there.  She just didn't want anyone looking at her.  How different can a sister and brother be???  Sammy thrives on people watching him, lol!!  

Soon after that we said our goodbyes and made the trip back to State College.  After taking Austin home we stopped at Weis for a few groceries.  We cracked up when we saw this clearance rack at the very back of the store - pumpkin spice EVERYTHING!!  Do you think that idea got a bit out of hand this year??

And that's all for this time!  I've got lots of piano practicing to do today now that I need to both direct and accompany our cantata on the 16th.  Thankfully, Good News from Home is not a difficult cantata and I'm really good at improvising with guitar chords.