The Jewel Tea Pavilion of Citizens Park in Barrington, Illinois will be the location for the Pepper Family Hospice Home and Center for Care Tree of Lights – A Remembrance Celebration on Sunday, December 5th, 2010 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. This special event allows those who have lost loved ones the chance to remember, honor and celebrate those who have been lights in their lives. Joining this year’s remembrance will be Chicago’s favorite strolling violinist, Jennifer Silk for a special musical program. A reflection ceremony will be followed by a fellowship gathering with refreshments. Silk will be performing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” as the candle-lighting ceremony begins outside. Bereavement counselors from Hospice & Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois will be in attendance as well. For more information, please contact Mary Ann Green at (847) 381-5599.
The Pepper Family Hospice Home and Center for Care is an inpatient hospice unit providing care and support for patients and their families facing terminal illness as well as a care center for those seeking grief support, palliative care (pain and symptom management), and complementary therapies.
A music education graduate of Western Michigan University and Arizona State University, Jennifer Silk has been delighting audiences as a full-time professional freelance musician for the past 20 years. Members of her audience have included Hollywood celebrities, political dignitaries and even the Chicago Cubs season opener! When the opportunity to move from California to Arlington Heights, she teamed with her mentor and strolling violinist, Franz Benteler. “Wherever I play,” says Silk, “people always tell me of how much it meant to them to hear Franz play ‘Edelweiss’. My wish is to follow in his footsteps and continue providing people enjoyable memories of being serenaded.”
Having played professionally for many families grieving, Silk is no stranger to the angels that make up hospice care. On a more personal level, when Mr. Benteler passed away in March of this year, she played by his bedside his beloved “Edelweiss”. The family requested her leadership to plan and conduct his 20 piece Royal Strings Orchestra at his funeral mass. “They say that hearing is the last of our senses to leave us. Being in the hospice environment was so comforting that it took away the fear of losing someone so near and dear to me”. The experience prepared her when her own father suffered a massive stroke the following month. His hospice stay in Arizona convinced her that music truly is healing and that there are angels masquerading as hospice caregivers.