Hospice Show

This entry preserves what survives of a benefit show Ken Bradbury put together in support of a hospice. The surviving material for this specific show is slight — a single piece of correspondence — but it points to a project rooted in the community Ken knew so well, built around the experiences of the hospice's volunteers. It belongs to a larger body of hospice-benefit work Ken wrote and performed across several years and towns: spoken addresses on "the joy of giving love" and narrated music programs given for Rushville Hospice, Schuyler Hospice, the Festival of Trees / Woodhaven Hospice in Jacksonville, and Beardstown Hospice.

The one document that survives in the dedicated archive folder for this show is a warm note from Pat Frost, a contact gathering material for the show. Responding to an encouraging letter from Ken, she wrote: "Thank you so very much for your encouraging letter!!! You just made my day!!! I will be sending you information as I collect it from the volunteers." That exchange captures Ken's habit of writing shows from the lives and voices of real people, gathered patiently and with kindness.

A recurring image threads through these programs: a friend's mother under hospice care whose final goal was to finish Easter baskets for each of her twelve grandchildren — "her morphine pills allow her to have one coherent hour out of five" — who finished the last basket and "died in a room full of people who love her." The same care of dying ran through Ken's play A Room Full of Strangers, written in the months after his own mother's death, about "the American way of dying."

Songs

The songs below are the union of Ken's hospice music programs across multiple years and venues — chiefly the Schuyler Hospice program with Dave (2002) and the Beardstown Hospice programs (2009 and 2013). They are not a single verified set list for one performance; each is attributed to the program it appears in.

Alabama Jubilee — Schuyler 2002, Beardstown 2009
Darktown Strutters' Ball — Schuyler 2002, Beardstown 2009 (Shelton Brooks, "born on the Northern end of the Underground Railroad")
Waiting for the Robert E. Lee — Schuyler 2002, Beardstown 2009 and 2013 (the boat declared fastest on the Mississippi by beating the Natchez in 1870)
Mississippi River Boat — Schuyler 2002
Just a Closer Walk with Thee — Schuyler 2002 ("in C"); Beardstown 2009 and 2013 (pump organ)
The Entertainer — Schuyler 2002 ("First played in Rushville in the late 60's... bowling alley... Harold Davis")
Liechtenstein Polka — Schuyler 2002 ("born on the accordion"), Beardstown 2009
Tennessee Waltz — Schuyler 2002; Beardstown 2009 (written 1947 by Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King, popularized by Patti Page)
Beer Barrel Polka — Schuyler 2002 ("born on the accordion"); Beardstown 2013 ("Churchill, Roosevelt")
In the Garden — Schuyler 2002 (learned from Mom, church organist on the pump organ); Beardstown 2009
Amazing Grace — Schuyler 2002; Beardstown 2009 ("Cherokee"); Beardstown 2013 closing (the friend's mother and the twelve Easter baskets — her favorite song)
What a Friend We Have in Jesus — Schuyler 2002
In the Mood — Schuyler 2002 (with the aside that his mother never played it in church)
Five Foot Two — Schuyler 2002
Alley Cat — Schuyler 2002
Sentimental Journey — Schuyler 2002; Beardstown 2009 (Les Brown, 1945, "an unknown girl singer named Doris Day"); Beardstown 2013
I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover — Schuyler 2002
When You and I Were Young, Maggie — Beardstown 2009 (George Washington Johnson; Maggie was Margaret Clark, married 1864, died 1865); Beardstown 2013
Sweet Georgia Brown — Beardstown 2009 (recorded on spoons and a single man whistling)
This Little Light of Mine — Beardstown 2009 (the Civil Rights movement)
God Bless America — Beardstown 2009 (Irving Berlin, 1911/1939, Kate Smith)
Battle Hymn of the Republic — Beardstown 2009 (Julia Ward Howe)
Victory in Jesus — closing number and closing message, Schuyler 2002 and Beardstown 2009 ("a message for you in Hospice work: Victory in Jesus")
Georgia on My Mind — Beardstown 2013 (sung by John)
New York State of Mind — Beardstown 2013 (sung by John)
You Are My Sunshine — Beardstown 2013 (sung by John)

Cast

Ken Bradbury — wrote and performed the hospice-benefit material
Dave — piano and accordion duets with Ken (Schuyler Hospice 2002)
John — guest singer (Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and You Are My Sunshine, Beardstown Hospice 2013)

Production Notes

Source material for this specific show is limited to a single email from Pat Frost (freil@aol.com), who was collecting information from hospice volunteers on Ken's behalf — establishing that the show was being assembled from the volunteers' stories. No cast list, script, songs, or performance dates for this one performance have survived in the dedicated archive folder.

Everything richer above — the song lists, the performers Dave and John, the venues, and the recurring Easter-baskets motif — comes from Ken's companion hospice-benefit talks and narrated music programs, which span multiple years and venues: Rushville Hospice (April 2001), Schuyler Hospice (2002), the Festival of Trees for Woodhaven Hospice in Jacksonville (2004), and Beardstown Hospice (2006, 2009, and 2013). In 2013 Ken noted, "I played for you folks 4 years ago," referring to the 2009 Beardstown program.

The Schuyler Hospice 2002 program was a music set by "Dave and I" on piano and accordion, opening with Mother Teresa's Nobel acceptance speech; the duo learned its songs by listening to Ken's mother, a church organist who played a pump organ. The Festival of Trees 2004 talk credits Bette Jackson and friends with first bringing the Festival of Trees to Jacksonville and names Woodhaven Hospice's mission "to make the final chapter of our lives as sweet as the others." A recurring quotation Ken used in these talks: "Service is the rent we pay for living," attributed to Lisa Caputo.