A member who had not sung in nearly 20 years returned to singing at the Sheboygan choir’s first rehearsal. Director Carra-Lyn Conger told TMJ4 reporter John Kim that the woman approached her afterward with tears in her eyes. Kim’s Nov. 2 report pairs that moment with accounts from participants and organizers. Conger said she was moved by the singer’s return.
Kim reported that more than 30 people take part and visited a Thursday rehearsal, where he spoke with members and organizers. Conger told him the group welcomes anyone affected by dementia.
Lakeland University’s July report described the choir as a free, inclusive program for people with memory loss, their care partners and community members. It said no diagnosis was required and that familiar, engaging songs were planned for singers of all ability levels. The post describes Uptown Social as a Sheboygan-based location offering programs and activities to promote successful aging. Its new choir adds music to that community programming. That open design lets people with different relationships to memory loss take part in the same community music group, whatever their singing experience.
Lakeland’s July report says Friends of Uptown Social received a $5,000 grant from Giving Voice Initiative as part of its Rural Initiative to expand dementia-friendly choirs across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The grant is helping fund the Sheboygan choir’s creation, tying a local launch to a wider effort in both states. Kim’s Nov. 2 report says members were preparing for an upcoming concert at Uptown Social. He reported that organizers hoped the performance would showcase more than the songs members had practiced.
Conger, a longtime music educator, leads the sessions. Lakeland’s July report said she had recently retired from teaching music in Sheboygan schools and continued as a music director at First Congregational UCC. Rendall-Araujo, the City of Sheboygan’s director of senior services, accompanies on piano and administers the program. Lakeland reports that both women hold bachelor’s degrees in music from the university; Kim’s report also shows their musical roles in practice. Lakeland says Rendall-Araujo also accompanies at First Congregational UCC in Plymouth.
Lakeland also says the choir honors a longtime professor of music and director of choral activities at the university. She was a respected figure in Sheboygan’s music community, influenced both choir leaders, and died in 2025 from complications related to dementia.
Kim reported that members help one another keep up if someone falls behind in a song. Rendall-Araujo described a rehearsal where singers could ask for help without being judged.
Kim reported that Julie Messner has not missed a rehearsal and marks each attendance on a sheet. She first noticed changes in her mother’s behavior in 2011, including a moment when her mother mistook a bird at a feeder for a dog. Her husband later developed dementia, too. Both died in 2019. During rehearsal, Messner became emotional while reflecting on her husband and said she believed he would be proud of her. She told Kim, “Love them like they were still ones you fell in love with. Because that part of them is still in there somewhere.”
Messner’s experience is one participant’s story, not evidence that music changes the course of dementia. Neither source measures health outcomes for this choir. Lakeland’s announcement also makes broad statements about music and memory; this article does not present them as evidence that the program changes dementia or its effects.
Marilyn Zimmerman, who had recently celebrated her 96th birthday, told Kim that choir members are understanding at a time when people in everyday settings may not recognize what memory changes are like. She described ordinary interactions where people hurry her along, contrasting them with the patience she finds in the choir. Her account offers another participant’s view of the group’s welcome, alongside Messner’s experience.
Lakeland’s report describes an open invitation; Kim’s account shows members at a Thursday rehearsal. For people living with memory loss, care partners and community members, the choir brings them together around familiar songs and the voices of other singers.
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