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Telling a story: Local league fighting to preserve dying art

Gloria Bille-Dugan had several stories to share from her “haphazard trip to the Holy Land,” including one about a Jewish wedding where the rabbi forgot the names of the bride and groom.

“He called up those who wanted to be married, and up walked nine single ladies, four widows, four widowers and six single men,” she said, to a smattering of quiet laughter on a recent afternoon at Garvey Manor Nursing Home near Hollidaysburg.

Bille-Dugan likes telling jokes, but sometimes, she will read a more somber story about miracles, as she did on another afternoon at Valley View Nursing Home in Altoona. Her colleague, Linda Sommer, recited a poem from memory.

Bille-Dugan and Sommer are two of the roughly 22 members of the 80-year-old Altoona Story League that seeks to entertain and “preserve the tradition of telling stories that appeal to all ages,” said Jan Krusell, president.

“It’s almost a lost art,” Krusell said. “History says we’ve told stories since time began, but for some reason, our children are texting. They’re not talking. … We are becoming more and more isolated, but that human contact is still important.”

Krusell is recruiting new members and “being able to read is a real plus,” she said, showing her sense of humor.

Seriously, “they have to like people,” she said. “That’s the main thing. If they like people, they can tell a story and get along.”

The club meets once a month and, ideally, each member attends at least one storytelling event, such as visits to nursing homes, libraries, churches, schools and other audiences.

For years, most members were teachers, but today, the local group has diversified and even has an archeologist.

“We’re not a women’s organization,” Sommer said, adding that most members are women, but males are more than welcomed to join.

And, it’s not just for older or retired people. One member is 19.

“We’re a service organization. I enjoy sharing stories,” Sommer said. “The thrill of an art form that uses a wonderful story, the voice, eye contact. You have to tell a story you like.”

Added Bille-Dugan: “I find my life is so dull. I’m boring. But I like to read, and I like to tell stories. It’s an adventure, too. I get to meet a lot of new people, and we learn a lot by exchanging information among ourselves.”

The club is active from September through December and March through June, meeting regularly and members volunteering to spread their art.

Some tellers write their own material; others borrow and credit. Every year, the club comes with a loose theme to guide members. Last year, it was the Appalachian Trail; this year is about poets and poetry.

Sommer recited the poem, “Little Orphant (sic) Annie,” by James Whitcomb Riley one afternoon. Another time, she recited a story “Daddy’s Little Girl” that visited the classic short story, “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry.

Bille-Dugan relayed that while traveling in the Holy Land, she was at a sidewalk cafe where a little girl was sitting on her grandfather’s lap, stroking the wrinkles of the old man. She overheard the little girl ask, “Grandpa, did God make you?” “He sure did, a long time ago.” The girl mulled over and realized that she had been made more recently. She quipped: “He sure is doing a lot better job these days, isn’t he?”

Bille-Dugan also overheard an older man telling a younger relative: “When I was your age, the Dead Sea was just sick.”

And, she heard still another man saying he still was mad at Moses for leading his people around the desert for 40 years and “bringing us to the one place in the Middle East that has no oil.”

What’s even funnier? Gloria has never been to the Holy Land; she was just telling a story.

For more information on joining the Altoona Story League, call Krusell at 942-7344.

Mirror Staff Writer Cherie Hicks is at 949-7030.

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