Rolande Chesebro

It seems fitting that the memorial service for Rolande Chesebro will take place at the Oysterville Church this Saturday, the very day before our 2015 Music Vespers season begins. Rolande and her husband Glenn Leichman were frequent Vespers attendees. In fact, I think that’s where we first ‘met’ some years ago – or maybe became aware of one another more than ‘met’ in any formal sense.

Rolande was a woman who immediately made you feel comfortable. And, at the same time, joyous. She had a gift that way. No matter where our paths crossed – at house concerts here, at their Willapa Acres property on the bay, or out and about in the community, I always felt calmer, more centered, more me after visiting with her. Truly… it was a gift.

At Willapa Acres

Perhaps it had to do with Rolande’s work as a landscape gardener – her connection with the earth and with the people who love it. I recently learned that there is a memorial bench in her name at the Seattle Arboretum. I have no doubt that when I next visit there and have an opportunity to sit on that bench in the midst of all those beautiful plantings, her spirit will come through. And maybe I’ll hear a bit of music, as well.

Always there seemed to be music associated with Rolande. That old rhyme that ends “and she shall have music wherever she goes” seems much too trite. And yet… it is true, too. So I was not surprised to learn that many musicians – most local, but some from afar – will be involved in her service. In fact, it looks as though her memorial will be mostly music. Later in the day, Rolande’s and Glenn’s friends will celebrate her life with music and food at Willapa Acres – an old-fashioned hootenanny that she would have loved.

The Memorial Service at the Oysterville Church begins at 1:00 Saturday; the pot-luck hootenanny at Willapa Acres, around 4:30. Friends of Rolande’s and Glenn’s are encouraged to attend both. I wouldn’t miss either for all the world.