Creative collaboration: How Geneva retirement residents transformed poetry into music

Maybe this is how Rodgers and Hammerstein did it when creating some of the greatest musicals of our lives. Write a melody, attach wonderful lyrics and make people happy they heard it.

In their own way, Lynda Cox and Bruce Petsche, residents of the GreenFields of Geneva life-care retirement community, have turned their friendship late in life into a musical collaboration. One song, you might say, straight from the hearts of both.

And they had the chops to do it. A 93-year-old Army veteran, Petsche has been a musician for 80 years — as a side hobby to his life’s work in the sheet metal and fabricating industry.

He’s written five musical comedies, including “Ebenezer,” a parody of “A Christmas Carol.” It was performed by Village Players Theatre in Oak Park, and at other locations.

After competing in prestigious contests, his piano playing earned him the title of World’s Greatest Ragtime Piano Player.

His prowess on the ivories is such that when folks enter GreenFields they may find him playing a grand piano in the lobby — and asking visitors if there is any song they’d like to hear. He can play them all.

The 82-year-old Cox, a former teacher who moved to GreenFields a year ago, says she has spent her life exploring all sorts of activities. Her interests confirm that. They range from gardening to floral arranging, training show horses, being a queen runner-up at a rodeo in Iowa, and working with therapy dogs. It all gave her a vast canvas for one of her main passions — writing poetry.

One can only imagine how the creative minds of these two people meshed when they finally met at GreenFields.

“I saw him playing piano in the lobby and went over and listened for a bit,” Cox said. “I told him I enjoyed his playing and he told me about everything he’s done musically.

“I told him I’d written a poem, and he asked if he could see a copy of it and then asked if I wanted him to write music for it.”

Cox was happy to accept that offer. Petsche wrote music to that poem, titled “Music of the Flower Gardens.”

But it was more than just a song. Petsche, a resident of GreenFields for three years, hadn’t created music since the passing of his wife a year earlier. He acknowledges the poem Cox created snapped him out of those doldrums.

“Lynda’s poem pricked the consciousness of my creativity, as I hadn’t written anything for a long while,” Petsche said. “Lynda got me out of my funk by providing wonderful lyrics.

“Flowers are wonderful to look at and this was the first time since my wife passed that I felt the muse sitting on my shoulder, bringing me out of the abyss,” he added.

Petsche encouraged Cox to display her poem in writing near the lobby piano. She did so, with a garden-themed diorama that accompanies the lyrics.

Petsche went further, calling Lynda “a creative genius — and what she’d written just helped me.”

That creativity, and her poems, have become part of knowing what makes Lynda Cox tick.

“She does things like having her poems put in programs for conferences or making bookmarks, etc., with her poetry as gifts and parts of goody bags,” said Wendy Foster, a vice president at IVY Marketing Group, which handles GreenFields public relations. “She’ll also write poetry for someone who is ill or needs some encouragement.”

For Cox, it has all confirmed what she was finding out quickly about GreenFields. She enjoyed meeting people there and making new friends.

Also, that Petsche had a special musical talent that was part of the motivation for connecting with him — and taking her poem beyond what others had been in the past.

“I like making people happy,” Cox said. “It makes me feel good to put a smile on someone else’s face.”

A song about flowers, crafted with her new friend, would certainly do that.

A coaching standard to emulate

After covering baseball as the sports editor for Daily Egyptian at Southern Illinois University in the late 1970s, I thought coach Richard “Itchy” Jones was one of the most interesting coaches I’d ever encounter.

He knew baseball so well and deployed some interesting twists and turns with his team. And he was successful.

Then a year later, I met Wayne DeMaar, the baseball coach at St. Charles High School. I figured I had seen it all, but this fellow came up with some defensive setups and other features I had never seen. He knew the game that well.

He was a solid assistant defensive coach for the Saints’ football teams as well, but most importantly, he was just a good guy. One of those who was very easy to get to know and admire.

With his recent passing, it reminded me of how successful he had become as the school’s athletic director, piling up state titles at a record rate.

But upon retiring from that post, he eventually returned to coach baseball again, at the freshman level, at St. Charles North High School. It showed he was committed to the school district and community, in his decision to help North get strong footing in baseball.

He set a standard by which I would measure other coaches I would meet. Were they level-headed? Did they control their tempers? Did they provide interesting insights into the game, and display that with their individual athletes and teams?

Did they truly care about their kids and their parents? Were they the kind of person you wouldn’t mind living next door, or seeing regularly at Sunday services? Would the kids look up to them and remember them fondly?

Many coaches passed that test. But it initially was a DeMaar standard to live by.

A program for philanthropists

It’s often said that high school students don’t learn important life skills, like handling money and knowing how to make it grow; how to fix things in a house; how to connect socially with others without digital screens; and how to stay healthy.

You could include how to help your community and support others in need. That’s the idea behind the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley’s Youth Engagement in Philanthropy Program.

The foundation is expanding the program in the fall, creating a second YEP group in Elgin. The online application for high school students attending schools in Kane or Kendall County is available at cffrv.org/yep and has an April 30 deadline.

YEP gives local high school students the opportunity to learn about fundraising, grantmaking, and making a difference in the community. In addition, Fox Valley high school students gain hands-on experience in philanthropy, take on leadership roles, expand their perspectives, and build valuable skills that prepare them for success in high school, college, and beyond, the foundation stated.

YEP members meet monthly and take part in at least one service project and one fundraising effort during the year. Students work together to grant $25,000 to local nonprofits supporting youth-related causes across the Fox River Valley. Since its inception, YEP members have awarded $150,000 to local nonprofits serving youth across the Fox River Valley.

End of tradition?

The Geneva Chamber of Commerce’s decision to skip the popular Swedish Days parade this summer, with no certainty it could return in the future, has left plenty of residents confused and disappointed.

My Facebook post about the decision drew quite a few “likes,” but all I really did was ponder what the chamber meant in using the word “pause” in saying there would be no parade this year. That, and it is curious that money woes came to a head this year.

But here’s another factor to ponder about parade participation in general. Years ago, just about every business and community entity had a float in the parade. Many of those businesses no longer exist, or can’t consider entering a float.

For example, all of the local newspapers had floats in the parade in the past. They no longer are able to do that. It’s money again.

And those watching the parade, given the current state of politics, likely aren’t as interested as they used to be in seeing elected officials walking the route.

Cozy winter home

The squirrels in a neighbor’s tree apparently got tired of the normal design of a nest in which a bunch of leaves, twigs and any other material available create a sturdy perch between high branches.

These critters found a patio couch that was left out on a porch during the winter, so they went to work on it. The stuffing of the couch could be spotted on the grass, forming a trail right to the tree.

But the new nest was impressive. It was built with the cotton cushioning from the couch, forming a wide, fluffy bowl around the squirrels. It held up quite well until recent heavy winds knocked some of the foam off the branches.

It is still there — and it’s amazing to see — though it’s not near as full as it had been during the winter.

The lesson might be this: Squirrels aren’t settling for dirty wet leaves as their main nesting material. They may be starting to like the more elegant feel of fluffy cotton.

Cover your patio furniture or put it away for the winter.

dheun@sbcglobal.net