Singing is a staple in Colleen’s life. She has been singing with the Fireside Choir off and on since returning to Iowa in 2006. Presently, she feels much more connected to both the choir and the church community and can’t imagine life without either. Colleen, at age ten, accompanied her mother to the Unitarian church in Des Moines. Her father continued to attend the Presbyterian Church, but in keeping with their agreement to disagree, they supported each other’s spiritual choices and took turns alternating churches every other week.
As an adult, Colleen joined Twin Oaks Community in Virginia. During the 18 years she lived in Twin Oaks she sang in the Yanceyville Christian Church choir (although she is not a Christian). Two influential musicians, Kat Kinkade and George Payne, shaped those musical years. Kat and George agreed that George would be present at Twin Oaks, on Sunday evenings to direct a community choir, and Kat and her Twin Oaks choir members would attend the Yanceyville Church to make their choir viable. Colleen dubbed Kat, a wordsmith, and George, organ builder and musicologist, the Rodgers and Hammerstein of the two communities.
Colleen currently works from home doing phone support for an account software package used by small towns all over the country. She feels incredibly lucky to have had many and varied work experiences including the commodities exchanges in Chicago, teaching school, accounting, being a sales and craft fair manager, health and labor director, and textbook indexer. Traveling is an important part of Colleen’s life. She has been to Hawaii, New Zealand, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, South Africa, Western Europe, England, and every state except Alaska. Colleen loves being near the ocean, but Iowa is still her favorite place to live.
When not working or singing, Colleen sews and knits. She wishes they could burn calories because she hasn’t found any exercise she likes as well!
Colleen loves any music she can sing. She calls her favorite music “hippie music” and goes on to list the Beatles, Grateful Dead, folk music (Joan Baez, Richard/Mimi Farina), and women’s music like Sweet Honey in the Rock, Holly Near, and Cris Williamson at the top of her list.
Colleen has become an able assistant for both the Fireside Choir and the Children’s Choir. “Miss Colleen” sits with the children at their rehearsal and helps with pitch finding, words, and getting the books opened to the correct page. Recently, Colleen, with Jonathan Tauscheck, conducted a Fireside Choir rehearsal.
Her dedication and contributions are highly valued.
—Submitted by your Music Director, Gloria Corbin