Bill Hibbs stroked the keys and a tune gently spilled from the keyboard speakers. It wasn’t just any song. It was a love ballad written for his wife, Sharon, who died last spring.
Standing beside Hibbs in his Goodyear Heights home, Brenda Wise strummed a guitar and joined the white-haired man in song. The pair was tweaking A Souvenir of Love, with lyrics written by Hibbs and music composed by Wise.
A certified music therapist for Great Lakes Caring Hospice and Home Health in the Akron area, Wise works with hospice patients and their families to compose original songs about a patient’s life, often helping them write the words and music. The compositions are then recorded onto a CD, creating a gift for family and friends. (Hear a sample of Wise’s work with this story on www.ohio.com.)
“Sometimes when we really see that music has been part of the language through the hospice process, then we can identify that it [will be] … appropriate during the bereavement process,” explained Wise, noting that’s what is happening now with the 70-year-old Hibbs.
“I have … seen family members and surviving spouses like Bill find comfort through the songwriting process, knowing that he is creating a lasting legacy of his love for his wife,” Wise added.
Because Sharon, who suffered from a very rare type of lymphoma called Sézary syndrome, was too ill to go to church, Wise began playing hymns during music therapy.
“Somewhere along the line, I asked her to think about writing a song,” Wise said. “She pulled poems she liked and we … put them to music.”
Sharon asked Wise to compose music for a poem written by her husband in the 1970s. Bill had been working when he realized it was Sweetest Day. Unable to run to the store to buy a card for his bride of then about 15 years, he picked up a pen.
“… I’ll chase all your tears
Gather up rainbows
And comfort your fears …”
Wise sang the song at Sharon’s memorial service.
The couple had done a lot of traveling during their marriage. Sharon had told Wise that while on their adventures, she wished they had renewed their wedding vows. Wise suggested that the couple wait no longer.
“I took her out to Dillard’s and bought her the prettiest wedding dress,” remembered Hibbs. “We were married in the Chapel of Prayer. They let us have the sanctuary and reception room.
“We went out and got flowers, ordered a cake, food … and all of the hospice [workers] were there. We did our vows … Ten days later she passed.”
During all of the planning and shopping, Hibbs jokingly concluded that “men have no idea what a wedding means to a woman.”
Two weeks following Sharon’s death at age 67, Wise delivered a CD of songs and personal messages to Hibbs from his sweetheart. The last of the 12 tracks is a spoken message titled I Will Wait for You.
“He and Sharon could have taught a class on how to love one another,” Wise said.
For Sharon, the music was “the carrier of information to find closure in her life,” explained the music therapist.
For Hibbs, the tunes and messages on the disc are a reminder of the woman he was married to for 47 years.
“We weren’t just husband and wife,” he offered. “We were buddies and pals.”
Kim Hone-McMahan can be reached at 330-996-3742 or kmcmahan@thebeaconjournal.com.