We will be holding a small, informal memorial gathering for Jean on Sunday, May 26, at 2:00 p.m. It will be held at Zion Lutheran Church, which is located on Highway 56, 8 miles west of Viroqua, Wisconsin. This is where she wished her ashes to be scattered.
After the service, we will gather for food and conversation. Details will be given at the service.
If you are able to come, please bring a favorite memory or story about Jean that you can share with the rest of us. If you cannot make it, and you have a story or memory to share, send it to me and I will read your story to the group.
Please let me know if you will be coming, so we have some idea of how many people to expect. You can email me at: [email protected].
Sincerely,
Greg Schaefer
Jean’s Nephew”
Jean Annette Tryggestad, born on March 27, 1943, died peacefully in her sleep on September 1, 2023. She was 80 years old. She was the last of her immediate family, which consisted of her parents (Lyle and Ethel) three sisters (Eloda, Janice and Mary Ann) and two boys (Wyman and Roger). She was the youngest. Her beginnings were modest. She grew up on her family’s dairy farm near Viroqua, Wisconsin until they moved to La Crosse, where she attended Central High School and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
While residing at her retirement home in Santa Ana, California, Town and Country Manor, she wrote a newsletter article about an early childhood memory. “As the youngest of six children, I spent summer days sitting on a rock with my doll, singing songs to the cows. When I was four, I sang, ‘Jesus Loves Me’ at our church. When the parishioners laughed, I ran to my sister in tears. She told me they thought I was cute. So, I returned and sang with gusto and never stopped after that.”
It seems that her singing debut in her home church would mark the beginning of a life devoted to music, particularly sacred choral music. After the move to La Crosse, she joined the fourth-grade church choir. Later in High School, she auditioned for and sang on the Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour television show. Although she did not win this nationwide talent competition, she was a runner up. Through the years, she sang as a soprano with many church choirs and choral groups, including the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse concert choir. On both of their European tours, Jean was a featured soloist.
During her 28 years as an elementary teacher in Peekskill, New York, she traveled for eight years “through rain, sleet, and snow” every Thursday evening for choir practice and for Sunday services at the Riverside Church in Manhattan. This extraordinary church choir was under the direction of world-renowned organist and choir conductor, Frederick Swann. In addition, she joined other choral groups, under the direction of other notable conductors, for concerts in Carnegie Hall and other venues. She remarked that she was “blown away” singing in one of the largest choral events in the world at the song festival in Tallinn, Estonia.
When she moved to California, ostensibly to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Swann, who assumed the organist position at the Crystal Cathedral, she enjoyed the blessing of singing every week in the Crystal Cathedral Choir. She always remarked about how fortunate she was to sing under the superb direction of Don Neuen, and to enjoy the glorious sounds of Frederick Swann on the organ.
At more humble family gatherings, like anniversaries and family reunions, people would always press her to sing, and she would balk until the unrelenting chorus of relatives wore down her resolve. It was often just a simple hymn, sung a cappella (without accompaniment). A hush would fall on the gathering as she sang with that sweet soprano voice. Hardly anyone was left without wet eyes.
Jean wrote of her love of music. “Music to me is a visceral experience, a powerful spiritual motivator. It brings me joy.” She went on, “Although classical choral music is my favorite, every note of music is an inspiration of the spirit in its many forms. As we age, we especially need these gifts of music. I call them Vitamin M.” Although she was unable to sing publicly in the last 5-6 years of her life, she enjoyed watching and listening to concerts and worship services on YouTube.
The other love of her life was teaching. She wrote, “Through teaching, I hope in my own way, I made the world a better place. Teaching also brought me joy.” Jean clearly had a positive impact on many of her students. She maintained contact with some students and their families even after the passage of so many years. On FaceBook, responses to her death included many students who wrote of how much they loved and appreciated her as a teacher. A couple of them even said that she was their favorite teacher growing up. Colleagues spoke of her positive example and impact on their teaching.
One of Jean’s passions, not known to many, was basketball. Her interest in basketball began when she started following the career of Elton Brand, a Peekskill native, who first played for Duke University and then the Los Angeles Clippers. She even got season tickets to the Clippers a couple of years and watched their games regularly on television. Who would have known?
Jean will be missed. Each of us in our own way has been touched by her music, her teaching, her faith, her sense of humor and her generosity of spirit. Those of us who have known and loved her are a part of the legacy that she leaves behind. She lives on in us. And most certainly, she lives on…as a soprano in that great chorus on the other side. Heaven has never sounded better.
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