Sing, sing, sing

Published 11:29 pm Tuesday, May 1, 2007

As you approach the door, the sound rings clear. A piano plays a familiar hymn.

As you enter, you hear the voices.

“I’m in the way, the bright and shining way. I’m in the glory-land way.”

But it isn’t Sunday morning. And you haven’t stepped into a church. No, it’s Wednesday morning, and this is the Dalton-Whitfield Senior Center. And the sounds are part of a weekday gospel singing.

The singings, which are open to the public, have been held almost every weekday since the senior center started more than 25 years ago. They are currently held Monday through Thursday in the senior center’s dining area, starting at 9:30 a.m.

The singing usually lasts about 30 or 40 minutes. Then bingo begins.

The singings began as the rehearsals of a group of Dalton-area residents who would go to nursing homes and sing to the people living in them.

Viola Caldwell was one of that original group of singers.

“I joined them in 1960, and I’ve been coming here over 24 years. I was in charge of the singing for several years, but I had to turn it over to a younger lady,” she said.

“I love to sing. We still sing in the nursing homes,” she said.

But Caldwell says she is the only one of the group of nursing home singers who still sings at the senior center.

On one recent morning, the singing started with about 12 people, but as it continued more people came. Most took part in the singing, but a few were content just to listen and to talk to their friends between songs.

“A lot of those seniors who do the gospel singing are those who are unable to drive. Many of them come on the buses,” said Julie Dyer, assistant director of the senior center.

“The city and county pay for seniors to ride at no charge to and from the senior center. That means they get picked up pretty early, and they are usually here no later than 9 a.m. Then the buses pick them up between 12:30 and 1 p.m.,” Dyer said.

Song leader Oradell Mullins says there’s a core group of singers who come just about everyday.

“I come everyday. I just love to be here with all my friends, and I love to sing,” said Mullins, who says she attends three different churches each Sunday.

Irene McFarland is one of the piano players for the singing.

“I’ve been coming here three or four years. I come every day but Friday,” she said. “Someone told me you ought to go over there. They said you can meet some nice people, and they were right.”

McFarland has been playing piano since she was 15, and she also plays for the Open Door Lighthouse Church.

“I started playing there in 1975 or 1976,” she said.

At a recent singing, the songs tended towards old standards such as “Are You Washed in the Blood?” and “I’ll fly Away.”

McFarland says that’s no accident. It’s what the singers prefer.

“A lot of them have their own special song, and we try to work them in. If they have a favorite or have a request, we try to do it for them, too,” she said.