MOORHEAD — What longtime Moorhead High School choir director Kathie Brekke will miss most might surprise you.
As Moorhead High choir students got ready for their last spring concert it was a reminder that this is it for Brekke, who is not only being remembered for concerts with kids but songs of students caroling around Fargo-Moorhead.
The Moorhead High Christmas carolers have been a part of the holidays and Fargo-Moorhead for decades. According to Brekke, the group has 50 to 100 performances in any given season.
Going back to the 50s, the caroling group performed on WDAY TV.
Brekke has worked to helped keep that tradition alive.
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"I think it's one of the main things in our community that our students give away, and they're giving back, and anybody who has been a part of that feels a connection," Brekke said.
At times her carolers are even called upon to be there for those in hospice care.
"And my kids, you can't prepare them for that, I would just say, 'This is an important moment, let's go be salt and light,' and we'd go into the room and sometimes the person in hospice bed was wide awake and would say, 'Would you sing "Angels We Have Heard on High."' and it was such a gift that music brings peace at that moment," Brekke said.
But as Brekke approaches these final days at Moorhead, it's not the singing, the concerts, or the rehearsals she'll miss.
"I just love creating good humans that go out and do their thing with joy and they show up, they do it with passion and honesty and integrity and that is what choirs have been to me. It's a place to create that community," Brekke said.
"I don't regret one moment here because every year has had so many triumphs through the trials," Brekke said.
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