Singing with choir is high note for longtime fan

Virginia Spelbring of Indiana has tuned into the Mormon Tabernacle Choir radio broadcast every Sunday for more than 50 years.

But even that could not prepare the 82-year-old woman to fulfill her dream of hearing her own voice ring out with the choir's soprano section Thursday night.

"It's wonderful to be here and hear all the voices around me," Spelbring said. "I just still can't believe it."

Spelbring got the chance to be tucked into the rows of Mormon Tabernacle singers after the Indiana-based Never Too Late Foundation heard about her long-kept desire to sing with the choir. Bob Haverstick, head of the foundation that helps elderly citizens and terminally ill adults realize their dreams, said Spelbring's wish was unique and that he and choir director Craig Jessop jumped at the chance to make it come true.

"It was just like God orchestrated this. Everything just clicked," Haverstick said. "Music has been a central part of her life since she was a child."

A member of her own congregation's choir at the Zion United Church of Christ, Spelbring became hooked on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the 1950s and never misses a Sunday "Music and the Spoken Word" program. Spelbring even traveled to Salt Lake City with her husband on their 40th anniversary to see the choir perform live.

"I recognize when I hear music done right, and they do it right," she said. "And that guy who does 'the Spoken Word' can say more in two minutes than most preachers can in a whole sermon."

More than 22 years after that first visit, Spelbring said she wasn't nervous for her performance with the choir, just excited to be able to see the director's face and be surrounded by the music.

"I feel honored to think they would let me do this," she said.

Marcus Wall, a public affairs representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Spelbring's story highlights the broad reach of the choir.

"People can feel the spirit of the choir and be touched by them," he said. "People are ready to welcome them into their homes."

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