Summertime! So nice to swing in a hammock with a good book during a long lazy day.
Louise Lake is the "Commander in Chief" of DUMC's Outreach Singers
Better yet, read on DavidsonNews.net about some of the wonderful volunteers in our community, like Louise Lake and the Outreach Singers, who give so generously of their time and talent to bring music to others.
We also hear about summer vacations, including a trip that Janet Makee, Judy McGinnis and Nina Holcombe took to island paradise on Vieques. In addition we welcome Laurie Dennis home after spending most of the month of June in the Midwest. Laurie is the trusty Around Davidson “sidekick” whose journalistic eye makes this column better each week and she has been missed!
OUTREACH SINGERS REACH OUT TO THE COMMUNITY
Have you ever heard the Outreach Singers from the Davidson United Methodist Church perform? Within minutes they have you tapping your toes or humming along with their favorite tunes from yesteryear. With Louise Lake at the piano, this group numbering from 15-30 travels each month to retirement facilities in our area and brings joy through music to its audiences.
The Outreach Singers love to entertain.
Louise Lake organized the group some nine years ago and it has grown steadily. Members from the start, including Dave Garbrick, Cathy Paulsen, Harry Delk, Martha Packard and Carole Naman, join others to don black vests covered with musical notes, tuck music under their arms and set off to entertain older members of our community. The Outreach Singers have performed at senior centers including Preston House, Genesis, The Pines, the Oaks and Summit Place.
Making music together are Laurie Loomer and her son, Chase.
A recent Fourth of July visit to The Pines featured Louise at the piano as always but added a 13-year-old drummer, Chase Loomer, to add a little spark to the Big Band and Swing tunes. Chase not only was a big hit with his drum expertise but also played a Bach fugue on the piano during the singers’ brief intermission. Chase, the son of Laurie and Glenn Loomer, is a student at the Community School of Davidson and hopes to add to his musical talent with organ lessons this fall.
Kudos to these members of our community – young and “not so young” – who thrive on volunteering.
PARADISE CALLING
Around Davidson finally caught up with Janet Makee, Judy McGinnis and Nina Holcombe, and heard about their week in “paradise,” also known as the island of Vieques, a 3×21 mile island that is part of Puerto Rico. (Remember when Vieques was in the news as the U.S. practice bombing range? Until they called it quits in 2002?)
Nina Holcombe joined her friends on the island of Vieques.
Janet became more familiar with Puerto Rico after her son, Scott, married a young lady from this island territory of the U.S. Last year Janet decided to purchase property on the still undeveloped island of Vieques and now has a second home there. She asked Nina and Judy to spend a week at the end of May in her new island getaway and the three ladies had a marvelous time. Horses and chickens run free. Most roads are gravel. No one is in a hurry. The beaches are secluded. There is a small grocery store, a few restaurants, a wonderful bakery for fresh morning breads, public transportation and ocean views all around. (Janet recommends checking out the beach bungalows at www.casacielitolindo.com.) The island uses US currency and a passport is not required to fly into San Juan and then take a ferry or small plane to Vieques.
Following their time on the island, Nina, Judy and Janet spent a night in San Juan at the Gallery Inn (recommended by all three) and found time to visit the major tourist sites before returning to North Carolina. What a great week they had!
Janet also caught us up on her grown children: Scott and his wife, Aisha, are in Charlotte and expecting a baby later this month. Scott works for Crescent Development. His brother, Andrew, is finishing a program at Appalachian State University and interning for a company in Philadelphia which is looking for wind turbine sites in NC and VA. Janet’s daughter, Elizabeth, lives in San Diego and is the CEO of Accion, a micro lending company. We are eager to share Scott and Aisha’s baby news shortly from first time “Grandma” Janet who is an RN working at Lake Norman Urgent Care in Mooresville.
THE DENNIS FAMILY RETURNS
The Dennis family started their summer by heading off in separate directions.
Joe Dennis leaned against a gate to the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the location of a symposium in Paris this June.
Joe Dennis, a Sinologist in the history department at Davidson College headed to the City of Lights, where he gave a talk on Chinese local histories at a symposium sponsored by the Collège de France.
Laurie Dennis, meanwhile, waited for the last school bell to ring in early June and then hit the road to visit family and friends in the Midwest. Laurie and children Christina and Kerry “rode the grandparents train,” making stops to see doting grandparents in Alton, Ill.; Madison, Wisc.; and the Twin Cities in Minnesota.
Daughter Christina, 12, got to visit the new American Girl store in Minneapolis’ Mall of America. Son Kerry, 10, learned how to use power tools to make Pinewood Derby cars with his Grandpa Ron.
Kerry Dennis caught the first fish of the summer at the Robinson cabin in Minnesota.
Mom Laurie, who declined to offer her age, enjoyed watching her home state finally get a second senator in Al Franken. She also claims to have caught the biggest bass in Minnesota history while fishing at one of the state’s 10,000 lakes. Well, that might be a fish tale, but all three had a great time dangling lines from a pontoon boat and listening to the loons.
The Dennis family will fully reunite when Kerry makes his first-ever solo airplane flight home Friday. Laurie and Christina, meanwhile, drove through the entire Fourth weekend to get home in time for Christina’s dance camp in Charlotte. They are happy to be back in Davidson!
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Have news for Brenda? Write to her at hbarger@bellsouth.net.
