By Kirk Boxleitner

The Threshold Choir of comfort singers was started by Kate Munger in Northern California around the turn of the millennium, and has since expanded into more than 200 regional choirs internationally, including the Threshold Choir of Port Townsend, founded by Oma Landstra in 2009.

Landstra is pleased to announce that Carrie Andrews, a 30-year resident of Port Townsend, has been named the new member and chapter development director of the Threshold Choir worldwide.

The Port Townsend Threshold Choir has performed at retirement communities and care centers, hospice, memorial services and remembrance ceremonies, to offer musical comfort to both the dying and their surviving loved ones. There is never a fee for Threshold Choir services.

“Our repertoire offers messages of kindness via our caring voices,” said Landstra, who added that most of the choir’s repertoire was written by its own members. “We sing to those facing death, grieving or suffering. Historically speaking, our society has not actually allowed us to acknowledge the reality of death, nor to deal with our feelings about it, except within the most intimate circles. By offering these outlets for people’s hearts to open wide, we hope to furnish them with cathartic experiences.”

Andrews, who has a husband and two pets, has not only co-directed the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, but for the past 10 years, she’s also focused on patients’ end-of-life affairs by becoming first a board-certified patient advocate, then an advance care planner through her business, Peace of Mind.

“She is passionate about bringing comfort to those at the end of their lives,” said Leeann Enright, interim executive director of the global Threshold Choir, who added that Andrews has also sung in choirs almost continuously since the sixth grade, and currently sings with the Port Townsend Threshold Choir. “The Threshold Choir is a perfect blending of her passions. The member and chamber development position is truly Carrie’s dream job.”

According to Enright, this position will see Andrews provide services, support and development to the Threshold Choir’s members, chapters and leaders, to include working closely with its coaching and repertoire teams, and overseeing communications channels ranging from the choir’s newsletter to its social media outreach.

Landstra remains proud of using her retirement years to carry on the work that Munger started, by singing to those who are ailing or near death, as she and roughly 20 other volunteer singers in Port Townsend, almost all women, have strived to represent what one choir listener referred to as “kindness made audible.”

“I was inspired to do this because I recognized that the path of service is a significant and worthy effort, to help others and offer comfort,” Landstra said.

Given its existing number of members, Landstra noted that the Port Townsend Threshold Choir is not currently seeking to recruit more members for its twice-monthly meetings and various performances for others.

According to Landstra, the intimate numbers complement the choir’s more personally-oriented performances, such as “song baths” administered to seated listeners, with lyrics taking the place of water, to deliver gentle, soothing emotional support.

For more information, or to schedule a visit, contact Landstra at 360-385-6684 or djlandstar@yahoo.com.

The Threshold Choir website is located at
thresholdchoir.org online.