Mary Ann Cantwell Barbara Fleischman Joy George Kristin is proof that even a busy mother of young children can find time for something as rewarding as singing with the Sisters. The oldest of her five children will be school age soon. She is the proud daughter of Mary Ann Cantwell and sings tenor (high harmony). Carol Jackson LuJo Karkovice Rebecca Roberson Imelda Sowers Earline Valentine Kathy Yemm Kathy is one of the officers of Sisters. She is known to many as queen of the Lake County Renaissance Fair. She is an educator, actress, wife, mother, and lead singer (not necessarily all in that order). Dottie Debretsky - (deceased)
Mary Ann is truly a neophyte when it comes to singing 'Barbershop.' She has been singing in church choirs since she was a teenager but has no experience with a cappella close harmonies. As a tenor with Sisters of Sound, Mary Ann is grateful for section-mate Becky's assistance and director Shannon's patience and instruction. Mary Ann lives in Clermont with her wonderful husband, Gene. She is a retired nurse who enjoys travel, the great outdoors, and spending time with family – especially her grandchildren.
Lettice Davis
Lettice is a new lead and we are very happy to have her in the chorus. We will tell you more about her as soon as she gets her bio to LuJo for editing.
Still a Brooklyn girl at heart, Barbara, joined Sisters of Sound in November 2008. While this is her first go at a cappella, barbershop music, she sang in the Marine Park Junior H.S. and Sheepshead Bay H.S. choruses. After attending Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, she took a “temporary” job working for “The Phone Company,” working her way up to a management position. Always the athlete, she played softball with the Coney Island Cyclones in the phone company league and on the East Brooklyn Management team. She remains the only Management pitcher to score a win against the Union team during an annual Craft/Management game. After 33 years in her "temporary" job, she retired from Verizon in 2003, moving to Clermont with husband Brian and dog Snoopy in 2005. She loves retirement and is excited to be one of our newest basses in Sisters of Sound.
Joy is a new bass and has become a solid addition to the section. We can't remember if we even told her about needing a bio for the web site so we aren't going to pick on her, at least not just yet.
Judy Goodgame
Judy is one of the few ladies in our new chorus with experience singing barbershop style a cappella harmony. She is a former Sweet Adeline and has recently been elected to be part of the Sisters' Executive Committee. As a talented keyboard player and musician, she tries to keep our director honest when he tries to change the key in one of our songs. Judy is being lobbied by her husband, Ray, to refrain from submitting a bio so we won't print on our web site the fact Ray is a member of Clermont City Council. Oops!
Kristin Gunasekera
Carol sang in another a cappella group of 200 women in Maine, featuring soul music and foreign language songs. She decided, after hearing of Sisters, to give it a try with the lead section. Her family and church are her priorities and she dedicates a lot of her time to both, singing in the choir, and serving as a Lay Leader and Sunday school teacher. Carol has a home-based business sewing and doing alterations. Wed 49 years ago, she moved here with Bill in 1998 to consider retiring. They have three children, five adult grandchildren and a great grandson. Besides Sisters she loves golf, bowling and sewing.
Marcia Julian
Born in Saginaw, Mi., this lead in Sisters moved to Clermont in 1992 from Illinois. A lifelong singer she directs her Children and Cherubs church choirs. Along with working as a chiropractor's assistant, she is studying for a position as a parish nurse because "nursing is my first profession and first love." Married 28-years ago to her "beloved Frankie" she refers to their marriage as "blended" with five grown children, seven grandchildren and a great grandson. Singing weekly with her newfound Sisters, entertaining, and competing keep her focused toward the future.
One of 11 children, Florida born Louise Josephine quickly embraced the moniker LuJo. Although separated from hero and hubby John, it is only by distance. He will retire here from NJ in late 2009. LuJo is mom to three, and having a ball grand-parenting Kristopfer, 14, and Tiana, seven. Along with bass section ventures, LuJo is active in Beta Sigma Phi sorority, fitness, and passionately volunteers for Relay for Life. Her freelancing skills include police news reporting, focusing on medical and senior crimes. Those coupled with more than 40 years of licensed care-giving have led to her being Operations Manager for Visiting Angels, a senior home care service. LuJo has "always loved singing, but is just learning how under the understanding, compassionate tutelage of Shannon and Sisters."
Nancy Lamba
Nancy is a true sister of Imelda Sowers. They joined the chorus together and have been welcome additions to the bass section. She hasn't submitted her bio yet but, as best we can tell, Nancy and her sister are mystery shoppers and writers for cruise magazines. They seem to take their work very seriously.
Liz Martinez
Liz is another dependable and valued member of the lead section. Liz joined Sisters several months after we started and is another one of the King's Ridge Mob. She works as a top fashion model and travels all over the world doing photo shoots (or that's what someone said, we're not sure because we don't have her bio yet).
Linda McMoran
Linda is the President of the chorus. She believes she was "born singing" in Miami, Oklahoma. Her singing debut was in church when she performed a solo at 19 months old, and continued as a member of various choirs. She moved around some in the Midwest, landing in Midwest City, OK., where she started high school and began competition singing . After marrying Scott, she lived in Fairbanks Alaska, then worked her way east through many states and finally settled in Clermont. Mostly Linda was wife and mother, however she also enjoyed desktop publishing, sewing and cake decorating, as well as volunteering in her church's office and at school when her children were young. In the forefront of her life, are her children, grandchildren and a new great-grandchild. She is looking forward to "getting back into the competition world" with Sisters.
Rebecca is a “switch hitting” Sister, singing Baritone or Bass as the need may be. As long as it’s harmony, she’s happy! Singing is a form of therapy that she just can’t do without; if she doesn't sing enough, she is cranky and out of sorts (so we like for her to sing a lot). A Florida native of Scandinavian descent, Rebecca works as a high school teacher for special needs students. She senses the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees she holds in social work are helpful in many settings – like chorus rehearsals. 8^) Besides singing, her interests vary widely and lead to lots of play time.
Imelda is a true sister of Nancy Lamba. They joined the chorus together and have been welcome additions to the bass section. She hasn't submitted her bio yet but, as best we can tell, Imelda and her sister are mystery shoppers and writers for cruise magazines. They seems to take their work very seriously.
Earline is truly a newcomer to singing Barbershop, although she traveled and sang with a madrigal group throughout college. She is married to Lionel, and the pair has two children and seven grandchildren. She moved to Clermont two and a half years ago to embrace a life of retirement. However, Earline admits "sometimes having fun is much harder than working." She is area coordinator for Stone Croft Ministries, serves on the Neighborhood Accountability Board helping children avoid a life of crime, and is involved in an array of other activities. As a lead in Sisters, she finds "the experience of singing with such a fine group of women, under our fantastic director, Shannon, rewarding and an immeasurable blessing."
Imogene Williams
Imogene is a new lead and we are very happy to have her in the chorus. We will tell you more about her as soon as she gets her bio to LuJo for editing.
Emeritus Members:
Dottie got the award for the longest drive. She rode in each week with her husband, John, who sings with Vocal Express. Dottie was a lead with another Area 6 Harmony, Inc. chorus, Harmony Sound Waves, and was a solid addition to the Sisters. We miss Dottie very much and will always remember her warm smile and friendly manner.
