The psalms are rich in imagery, feeling, and symbolism. They powerfully express the suffering and pain, the hope and trust of people of every age and culture. Ron composed this arrangement of Psalm 27 for his mother’s funeral. Shortly thereafter, the pandemic closures happened and he decided to compose arrangements of the other nine psalms listed for funerals in the Roman Catholic Lectionary (no. 1013). The Intermezzos included in this recording mark the moment in time from 2020 to 2022.
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+In Memoriam Soloists and Choir
Mary Jean Klug
With the encouragement of her parents, Mary Jean started playing for Mass in 4th grade. Inspired by teachers like Rosemary Lammers, she was encouraged to bring her gifts to the liturgy for full and active participation of all. For over 20 years, she has committed herself to leading worship which brings young and old to deeper experiences of prayer.
Her efforts continue. She lives with her husband, Lyle, on a farm in Northeast Nebraska and have three children.
Donavon Loran Noecker
Don and his wife Carla, married for 39 years, live in Hartington, Nebraska and have three children and nine energetic grandchildren. Don has shared his musical abilities at hundreds of funerals and weddings, and serves as a cantor, sings in the choir and participates in a small choral group at Holy Trinity, his parish. His work and service are deeply appreciated in the
community.
JoAnne Hamilton
JoAnne has taught instrumental and vocal music for 29 years. Teaching at Cedar Catholic she was named the Secondary Teacher of the Year in the Archdiocese of Omaha in 2023. See more about this here. She plays for weddings, funerals, and other functions. Mike and JoAnne have been married for 30 years and have five
children.
1. Psalm 27:1, 4, 7 and 8b and 9a, 13-14
Response: The Lord is my light and my salvation.
My mother, Mary Lou was diagnosed with Stage IV esophageal cancer on February 14th, 2019. When she left her home that morning little did she know that she would never be back. I remember the conference with the oncologist who shared with all of us that the statistcs to any type of treatment were not good. Mom shed a couple of tears and said, bluntly, “I guess I’m going to die then.” It was the only time for me, at least, that she made any comment about what was happening. There was one time when her older friend Lillian visited and said, “Mary Lou, I should be the one in that bed, not you.” Mom simply said, “No, you shouldn’t Lillian. This is my time.”
That was pretty much how our courageous Mom went through her time in hospice. Her only request was that she be kept comfortable. And, I believe, her caregivers and our family did everything we could to fulfill that goal. I like to say that Mom showed us all how you die in peace.
Early on in her time in hospice she told a few of us she wanted to plan the funeral. During that simple process one night, I mentioned that I could do the musical setting of the Psalm for the funeral Mass. She chose Psalm 27, The Lord is My Light and My Salvation. I sang it in public for the first time at her funeral on May 8th, 2019.
April 21, 2019. I stayed with Mom on the night before Easter Sunday. This was the first light of Easter morn.
2. Psalm 143, O Lord Hear my Prayer
On the 20th anniversary of the 911 tragedy, I was watching the television coverage of the remembrances. My sister, Rose, interrupted the view with a call to me in Guatemala and said, “There’s no way to make this simple, there’s been a horrible accident.” Porter Thomas Noecker, the son of my nephew, Jesse and his wife, Marie, was injured fatally in a farm accident. It brought me back to the inconsolable feelings I experienced when my brother, Kevin, died in 1978 from a similar kind of experience.
It’s a moment when family and a faith practice can help navigate. It did for us and my brothers and sisters offered to do the music for the funeral. I remember when I checked for space on the flight that afternoon, there was one seat left on the plane. It was my sign that I had to go.
I considered the psalms that I had already set and found the text of Psalm 143 had words to help us in this moment. Words like “harken to my pleading in your faithfulness,” “I stretch out my hands to you,” and, “my spirit fails me,” spoke to us at this moment. The community sang, “O Lord, hear my prayer.” We needed consolation and comfort as we stood with this young family in their deep sorrow.
Porter in light blue with his brothers, Nolan and Easton
Uncles and aunts musicians rehearsal
4. Intermezzo I: Humility
One of the ways I dealt with my Mom’s death in those months following May 2019 was to sit at the piano and let melodies come that helped me connect to my emotions. The music that eventually came out forms the little reflective piece “Humility.”
The piece in the left hand has a construct that repeats throughout the intermezzo. It’s not unlike the repetition of her work of over and over preparing meals for Dad and all of us 12 kids, the countless loads of laundry, and, in the later years her incredibly warm greetings when I would come home for visits. There were so many things she did with great humility.
The first few months of playing it, I sometimes had to pause and allow some tears to flow because this of all pieces captured for me my feelings of the time. I thought of all those things I forgot to ask her in those known last few months of her life. But today, I can usually play it with gratitude for the kindness she taught me.
7. Intermezzo II: Tic Toc Pandemic
Eleven of my brothers and sisters made their way down to Guatemala in February 2020. Nursing Heart was helping us and the family and donors were helping them build a clinic in memory of our parents in the pueblocito, Limonar in northern Chimaltenango. I remember figuring out that the letters of Limonar could spell my parents names (Loran and Mari okay… “I”instead of “Y”). We had such a cool time and in the midst of the chatter I remember hearing a remark or two about the Asians who were on the plane with masks. Little did we know what lay ahead.
On March 11, no travel between departments was allowed and by the 17th of March the country was closed. The first death from COVID in Guatemala was March 15, 2020. You could not be on the streets and if you had to, a mask was required. This went on for almost 2 years. I had been composing the arrangements for the psalms for a while when I realized that if I was going to record all these psalms, breaks between them were probably going to be needed. I had already composed “Humility” when I began listening for a way to express this crazy time that seemed to be subsiding here.
One of the feelings I had was the dissonance that comes from not knowing what was going to happen. The news was reporting that statisticians were saying that there could be millions of deaths worldwide. There was dissonance. Hence, the minor 2nd chord, E and F above middle C seemed to bring this to sound and it was used for the rhythm of the piece. It was like a ticking time bomb and people were dying. After a few months, people realized it was a worldwide pandemic and it was going to take a lot to get things back under control. The USA couldn’t seem to find an agreed upon strategy that all could hold in common.
In the intermezzo, Tic Toc Pandemic, I tried to show the panic and the gradual heightening concern of what was happening. Finally, the coda section is a dejected and despondent end to lots of tension. What was this all about I asked myself? It could not have a happy resolution. Too many innocent people had died.
The arrival of some of my family for the clinic build.
Dedication of the clinic day with the people of Limonar.
The plaque placed in the finished clinic on February 5, 2020. (In honor of my parents)
In July of 2020 I went back to the states. Because I am an official resident of Guatemala, I could take an embassy flight in 2020 to the USA and make my way back through Tapachula, Mexico. Crossing the river into Guatemala on August 20, 2020.
The barren park during Holy Week in Antigua 2020.
11. Intermezzo III: Cry Justice (Because I'm so Tired)
The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN on May 26, 2020 deepened the hurt people were feeling in this period of time. I went searching for a way to make sense of it all. Like the pandemic, by 2021 I was tired, it seemed we were all tired, and I knew my black brothers and sisters were just tired of all of this. In the composition, Cry Justice, Because I’m Tired, I meditated for sometime on the passage from Amos 5.24 “But let justice roll. down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” Of the three Intermezzo’s, this one took the most time. I am not black but I’ve heard enough
Darnella Frazier, Who Filmed George Floyd's Murder
May 26, 2021 10:43 AM ET wrote this as found in the NYT.
"A year ago, today I witnessed a murder. The victim's name was George Floyd. Although this wasn't the first time, I've seen a black man get killed at the hands of the police, this is the first time I witnessed it happen in front of me. Right in front of my eyes, a few feet away. I didn't know this man from a can of paint, but I knew his life mattered. I knew that he was in pain. I knew that he was another black man in danger with no power. I was only 17 at the time, just a normal day for me walking my 9-year-old cousin to the corner store, not even prepared for what I was about to see, not even knowing my life was going to change on this exact day in those exact moments... it did. It changed me. It changed how I viewed life. It made me realize how dangerous it is to be Black in America. We shouldn't have to walk on eggshells around police officers, the same people that are supposed to protect and serve. We are looked at as thugs, animals, and criminals, all because of the color of our skin. Why are Black people the only ones viewed this way when every race has some type of wrongdoing? None of us are to judge. We are all human. I am 18 now and I still hold the weight and trauma of what I witnessed a year ago. It's a little easier now, but I'm not who I used to be. A part of my childhood was taken from me. My 9-year-old cousin who witnessed the same thing I did got a part of her childhood taken from her. Having to up and leave because my home was no longer safe, waking up to reporters at my door, closing my eyes at night only to see a man who is brown like me, lifeless on the ground. I couldn't sleep properly for weeks. I used to shake so bad at night my mom had to rock me to sleep. Hopping from hotel to hotel because we didn't have a home and looking over our back every day in the process. Having panic and anxiety attacks every time I seen a police car, not knowing who to trust because a lot of people are evil with bad intentions. I hold that weight. A lot of people call me a hero even though I don't see myself as one. I was just in the right place at the right time. Behind this smile, behind these awards, behind the publicity, I'm a girl trying to heal from something I am reminded of every day. Everyone talks about the girl who recorded George Floyd's death, but to actually be her is a different story. Not only did this affect me, my family too. We all experienced change. My mom the most. I strive every day to be strong for her because she was strong for me when I couldn't be strong for myself. Even though this was a traumatic life-changing experience for me, I'm proud of myself. If it weren't for my video, the world wouldn't have known the truth. I own that. My video didn't save George Floyd, but it put his murderer away and off the streets. You can view George Floyd anyway you choose to view him, despite his past, because don't we all have one? He was a loved one, someone's son, someone's father, someone's brother, and someone's friend. We the people won't take the blame, you won't keep pointing fingers at us as if it's our fault, as if we are criminals. I don't think people understand how serious death is...that person is never coming back. These officers shouldn't get to decide if someone gets to live or not. It's time these officers start getting held accountable. Murdering people and abusing your power while doing it is not doing your job. It shouldn't have to take people to actually go through something to understand it's not ok. It's called having a heart and understanding right from wrong. George Floyd, I can't express enough how I wish things could have went different, but I want you to know you will always be in my heart. I'll always remember this day because of you. May your soul rest in peace. May you rest in the most beautiful roses."
14. Heart of Love
My dear Fremont friends, Dr Tom & Dr. Evelyn McKnight, and Dr. Greg Haskins and Mary helped Nursing Heart with a very successful fundraiser in Fremont, Nebraska. We called the evening "Milagro" which means "Miracle" in Spanish. At a planning meeting, I told the gang I'd compose the text and music for an opening prayer. We showed slides while I play the Bach, Prelude in C Major which transitioned into the piece, "Heart of Love." It helps me capture the spirit of Nursing Heart.
