PLATTSBURGH — To members of the Meadowbrook Troubadours, retirement doesn't necessarily mean work ends.
Comprised of a core 32 senior citizens with an average age in the 80s, the singing group is a unique addition to the activities offered at Meadowbrook Healthcare in Plattsburgh. Formed two years ago, the Troubadours sing winter and spring concerts at the nursing home/rehabilitation facility.
"It's what keeps us going," said Joan Tetreault, an active member of the group.
SOME BUTTERFLIES
The members put in a lot of work to ready themselves for a concert, and Tetreault joked that it's not always an easy feat.
"If you knew what I had to go through to get into this wheelchair "¦" she laughed.
She and fellow member Patsy Garrand help make the booklets from which the group members sing. Typically, the Troubadours rehearse an hour a week then increase their practices to two or three times weekly as concerts approach.
It not only takes a lot of work, said Garrand, but some courage, too.
"I was a little nervous," she said about her first concert.
But it's far more about fun than fear.
For their most recent concert, Dec. 23 of last year, the ladies donned red capes and men sported Santa Claus hats. They sang traditional holiday tunes, yet closed on an unexpected note with "Joy to the World," the Three Dog Night rock hit commonly known as "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog."
"We have laughs," Garrand said.
Tetreault, possibly the Troubadour who laughs the most, joked about taking the group to the big time.
"We're waiting for a contract to come in," she chuckled.
YOUNG AT HEART
Group member Edith Melloh said the opportunity to sing not only warms their vocal chords but their hearts as well. The three Troubadours agreed that one thing above others makes the group special to them: the people.
The three young-at-heart ladies discussed how being in the group allows them to interact with other residents, all while doing something they love to do.
Garrand and Tetreault sang in church choirs in the past. And though Melloh had no previous singing experience, she has enjoyed being a member since making her home at Meadowbrook eight months ago.
"You don't know what it means to me to be here, for myself," she said. "With the singing group, all the activities and to be here as a resident at Meadowbrook, it's unexplainable.
"It's like family. It really is."
Meadowbrook activities director Kim Clowney, who directs the Troubadours, has noticed a boost in energy among her vocalists since the group's inception.
"You put them in a profound situation, and they are going to be profound," she said.
MANY ACTIVITIES
Meadowbrook offers bingo (a favorite), arts and crafts, gardening, live music and other forms of entertainment. Clowney, though she's worked there for 20 years, is still moved when residents respond to activities as enthusiastically as they have the singing group.
"When I sing with them, they get me to tear up and I can't sing with them anymore," she said. "That's really special."
And it's not just long-term residents who join the Troubadours. One woman who was recovering in the short-term rehabilitation unit signed on, said Community Relations Coordinator Vicki Marking.
The woman was discharged before the concert but returned for each rehearsal and sang at the next performance, Marking said.
"There was no way she was missing that concert."
The idea for the group was first conceived by the Residents Council, comprised of an active group of Meadowbrook residents.
"It has to be completely driven by the people who live here," Clowney said. "There wouldn't be a group if they weren't so passionate about it."
And passionate they are.
"Oh, yes," Tetreault said, "I could be in there all day and sing."
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Kelli Catana
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