Our Very Own:  LaVerne Meline

 Heat rises, as members of the Meeting House Choir well know.  Still, the temperature in the choir balcony can't begin to compare with that engulfing the earliest "choir." Fifty years ago, they sat in a row of chairs facing the congregation to lead the singing – in a gym without air conditioning.  

Among these earliest singers was LaVerne Meline, and she's been in the music program ever since.  Her half century of service to the music ministry of First Congregational Church was recognized with a plaque and plenty of applause during a recent Sunday service.   

LaVerne found the fledgling church shortly before graduating from the University of Houston.   With Christmas pageant service as a singing angel under her wings, she joined the church in August of 1957.  She and her fiancé became the second couple to be married in the church.  

Her degree in music made her the ideal person to lead the new choir, which met in homes while the church building was conceived and constructed.   Because her husband sang in the choir, the first baby attended rehearsals as well.  After the fourth child arrived seven years later, LaVerne resigned as choir director -- but remained in the choir.  

When years later she was offered the position of church secretary, she remained in the choir, as well as in the handbell choir.   When Music Director Tracy Shirk is away, she often directs.   

LaVerne says that her multiple later-in-life roles were a bit overwhelming, at least initially.  But she knows the best way to stay sharp:   She works out at a gym three times a week and walks the mall twice a week!