Celebrating Bernice & Beethoven. . .

by Lisa Adamowicz Kless

This past Wednesday, I walked into Carolyn’s Coffee Connection, books in hand for the Kenosha Writers’ Guild’s children’s story time. As I took off my coat, I noticed a group of ladies gathered together around a few tables in the middle of the place, talking, with laughter punctuating the conversation every few minutes. While groups of friends or family getting together to catch up is an everyday thing at Carolyn’s, Francisco Loyola came over to tell me that this particular group was there to celebrate Beethoven’s birthday. Since there weren’t any little ones waiting for story time to begin yet, we asked the ladies if we could interrupt for just a second to ask why they decided to celebrate the maestro’s birthday. It turned out to be a far better story than any of the books I’d brought along.

As I was invited to pull up a chair and get comfortable, one of the ladies explained to me that the group had been meeting like this since about 1997 or 1998, in memory of their friend Bernice King after she passed away. Bernice used to host wonderful parties at her home, her friends said, deciding to celebrate Beethoven’s birthday every year in lieu of a traditional holiday party. From around the table, one by one, her friends raved about what a terrific cook Bernice had been, and how they always enjoyed fantastic, elaborate meals at her Beethoven parties. I learned a little more about the group over the next few minutes, but we paused in our conversation when one of the ladies began passing around sheets of paper. The person I was sitting next to told me that the friend handing them out had written “parodies” set to some of Beethoven’s songs, and that we’d be singing them together. Handing some of the papers my way, they asked, “Do you sing?”, to which I replied, “Not very well, but I’ll try!”, secretly relieved when the whole group joined in on the first sentence, muffling my voice. The tune was Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, with witty and fun lyrics about the type of lady Bernice was, substituted in. I tried my best to sing as well as I could, touched that the women had allowed me to share in this celebration of their friend’s life. After the second song was sung and the old friends started to catch up on what had been happening in each other’s personal lives again, I thanked them and said goodbye.

I shared this story with one of my closest friends, and he had the same reaction to it that I did; what a heart-warming and wonderful way for these women to honor their friend’s memory. ‘Tis the season for celebration, friendship and love.