Group sings to those on threshold of life and death

STEPHENS CITY, Va. (AP) - Stephens City resident Kathy Foster, 53, has a deep connection to bringing comfort through song to those on the threshold of life.

In May 2016, her husband died of sepsis after anti-rejection medication he was taking for a kidney transplant caused damage to his stomach lining. Foster and her family sang to him as he was dying.

“That was the way we got through it,” she said. “We got through it with singing.”

Foster said it was after singing one of his favorite songs, “Give Them All to Jesus,” that her husband died.

“It meant so much to me to be able to usher him into the presence of God,” she said. “It helped me, and it helped him.”

Foster recently became a member of the Shenandoah Valley Threshold Singers, a nonprofit organization with a goal of gently serenading people who are on the threshold between life and death as a way to bring the individual peace and comfort. The group was formed last fall.

Foster also works in the Alzheimer’s unit at Lynn Care Center in Front Royal. She sings for her residents while they are in the process of dying. She is occasionally accompanied by a flute player from the center.

Through research, she has found that music can benefit patients biologically as well as on a spiritual level.

“I’ve seen where a resident will be distressed or look like their breathing is labored,” she said. “Music, especially live music, calms their rhythm of breathing. When I heard about the choir, I was like, ’Oh my gosh, this is something I really want to do.’ I know how important it is to the family and how important it is to the patient.”

In 2008, member Pat Spory and her family sang to her father as he was dying. They gathered around his bedside and sang to help ease his transition as well as to bring the family together.

When the Front Royal resident heard about the Threshold Singers from director Sandra Snodgrass, of Winchester, the idea was intriguing.

“I know how much it meant to us and my dad when we did something similar when he was dying,” she said. “We hoped that he would feel comfort as we did that. I thought about that when Sandra asked me (to join).”

Spory, 61, has been singing since she was a child and has always enjoyed singing in choral groups. For her, joining the Threshold Singers is one way she can use her voice to serve.

“As people are dying, we should do what we can to usher them into their journey,” she said.

The group is preparing to start singing to people in the community by the summer. They meet at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of the month at Stephens City Mennonite Church located at 5540 Valley Pike (U.S. 11)south of Stephens City.

“We’re just getting started and learning our music and forming a group,” Snodgrass said. “We haven’t even started performing at bedsides yet.”

The group plans to coordinate visits for those under the care of Blue Ridge Hospice as well as area nursing homes.

The women will sing a cappella - without the accompaniment of instruments. A group of three to four women will sing at a person’s bedside for about 15 minutes.

“It’s quiet, slow singing,” Snodgrass said. “It’s a very gentle, repetitive kind of music.”

Many of the songs the group plans to sing are written specifically for Threshold Choirs. The short, repetitive songs include phrases like, “know that love has bound you to our hearts” and “if you knew who walks beside you on the way you have chosen, fear would be impossible.”

“Many of them are about peace and gratitude,” Snodgrass said.

Spory said the reason they don’t sing as many well-known songs is because they can anchor a person in the present.

The group currently has six members and is looking for more women to join.

“We just ask for them to be an adult and someone who is able to carry a tune, blend their voice with others and communicate kindness with their voice,” Snodgrass said.

The Shenandoah Valley Threshold Singers is part of Threshold Choir International.

Snodgrass first learned about the international group after reading a magazine article. As a voice and piano teacher at the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy, her interest was piqued.

“It always bothers me that music has to be about performance,” she said. “(Threshold) is a way to give people the gift of music, to comfort people, or to help when they’re at those difficult places in life. I always said, probably the most meaningful singing I’ve done is when I’ve sung my children to sleep when they were babies.”