Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 19, 1990 TAG: 9007200085
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY CHERYL ANN KAUFMAN SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So earlier this month, 79-year-old Creasy retired as the music in hospitals chairperson for the Thursday Morning Music Club - a job that had her tracking ragtime pianists, accordion players and harmonica-toting mountain men at least two hours a day.
That leaves her with only ballroom dancing, singing with the League of Older Americans' Carola Choir, and playing piano for a trio called "The Singing Three" to keep busy.
For the past couple of years, Creasy scheduled at least 17 musical performances a month for the Roanoke Valley's elderly and infirm - including those in 11 nursing homes, eight retirement communities, three senior citizens' clubs, one adult-care center and the Veterans' Affairs Medical Center.
She attended almost all of the performances, and even filled in as a musician when no one else was available.
She said her most memorable booking was her first, which involved a young violinist.
"He was a child prodigy, and he played Bach and Beethoven and Handel. When he asked the crowd what they wanted to hear, a lady said `The Wabash Cannonball.' From then on, I decided to find out what kind of music the audience wants to hear."
She said she spent a lot of time and resources searching for just the right performer.
"I planned and planned and planned. I tried to get as many as I could through the [club] membership. But when I was in despair I would turn to the church," said Creasy, referring to the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where she found among her fellow members a piano-playing missionary named Robb Hoch.
During one of the last performances she organized for the Lakeview Retirement Home in Roanoke, Hoch had the seniors tapping their feet, singing and even dancing to ragtime and Broadway tunes.
"If you talk to them after the show, you can see that it has brought back memories," said Creasy.
"It has been a joy to fulfill one of our club's purposes: to bring the spiritualizing force of music to the inner life of our elders."
Creasy, a former elementary school teacher and librarian, said she has always appreciated song and dance. But she is modest about her own musical talent.
She said her mother was a music teacher, "but it didn't take with me. I was the little girl who didn't practice."
Creasy has been with the Thursday Morning Music Club for 14 years. She said she will remain a member and perhaps assist the new chairperson of the Music in Hospitals Committee.
"But it's time someone else took over to look for new talent," she said. "Right now, I have a mind to try reading for the blind and catch up on a lot of things I have neglected."
by CNB