Lois Long remembers well the people and the music of Woodhaven’s handbell choir.
Lois’s connection to Woodhaven traces back several decades and includes 50-year-ago memories of the handbell choir started and directed by Woodhaven’s chaplain, Rev. Stanley Williams, who had been the minister at the church Lois and her family attended years before.
“It was through that experience that I had an even greater appreciation for how he helped teach people to play music,” Lois recalls.
The Woodhaven Adaptive Handbell Choir traveled throughout the United States and even recorded albums. The group performed in all 50 states, including at the World Convention of Christian Churches in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1980, and at a religious service at President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981.
Though the handbell choir is no longer active, its influence on those who heard and were moved by its music left a vibrant legacy. Lois still appreciates the devotion of Rev. Williams as a teacher and director of the handbell choir. Rev. Williams used “long scrolls of paper” on which he wrote out color-coded notes to denote which bells were to be rung. Using a short baton, he pointed to the scroll to show choir members when to ring.
She is glad to share her memories and lasting connections to Woodhaven as a donor and supporter. Lois was connected to the community at large as the founding director of the University of Missouri Eldercare Center (adult day health care program). That was her introduction to caring for people with special needs, primarily individuals who had some level of memory loss and needed a safe place with medical supervision during the day.
Though Eldercare was not affiliated with Woodhaven, the two organizations had parallel missions, as Lois puts it, “to create an environment where people can be safe and function at their highest level.” She draws other parallels as well.
For instance, a spouse might be caring for her husband, but as health conditions change, “they’re not able to do all the care that needs to be done,” she says. Her adult day care setting mirrored Woodhaven’s approach to affirming everyone as individuals and engaging them in activities within their community while providing a level of support that family members could no longer provide.
Lois was in high school when Woodhaven opened in 1964 as a mission of the National Benevolent Association and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
“Stories of the community of Woodhaven have been part of Columbia’s story since 1964,” she says. “Having known people who have worked there and spent much of their lives with this special group of people has been my link. It was a place that became community for the people who worked there, as well as the people who lived there.”
Meanwhile, the handbell choir — and the bell ringers’ smiles — continue to echo in her memories.
Lois recalls: “It empowered Woodhaven residents to express their joy through music. They traveled extensively and let the story of Woodhaven reach Washington, D.C., and many other places while giving the choir members the opportunity to see people and places far from Columbia.”
As Woodhaven approaches its 60th anniversary in 2024, the mission of empowerment and affirmation continues.
“Within the community, each person is valued,” Lois explains, “not because they have different abilities, but because they are each respected for who they are. This unique community is a model to emulate in showing respect, care, and joy in living.”