Louise is still singing along at 89

Louise Kanold doesn’t have to sing for her supper, but she has led

lunchtime singalongs for 21 years.

For the past 12 years, the 89-year-old Costa Mesa resident has led

the members of the Costa Mesa Senior Center in song before lunch

every Friday. She is accompanied by the center’s 98-year-old pianist

Genevera Gustafson. Before her days at the senior center, she led

singalongs before senior meals at Rea Elementary School.

A child of German immigrants, Kanold was the first member of her

family to be born in the United States. She grew up in Baltimore and

Highland Park and moved to Newport Beach soon after she married. She

took time out of an afternoon for a quick talk with the Daily Pilot’s

Andrew Edwards.

What are some songs you like to sing?

Everything that [Gustafson] has music to. We like the ‘40s and the

‘50s rather than the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Do most people participate at the singalongs?

Oh yeah. [We sing] “Home on the Range” and “I’ll Be With You” and

“Apple Blossom Time.” All the old songs, the real old songs. Now, of

course, we’re working on Christmas carols. I have about 40 of those:

“Joy to the World,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “I’m Getting

Nothing for Christmas.”

Has singing been a part of your life for a long time?

Well, just generally household singing. I used to belong to the

Girl Scouts, a leader for Girl Scouts, and we always took a visit to

Yosemite every year, and they always have a great, big, general

singalong arrangement in the evening underneath the stars. And riding

in the car, whenever you’re riding along in the car, going on a trip,

we always sang.

What was it like being the first person in your family born in

America?

My folks were in their forties, and in those days, you didn’t have

babies when you were in your forties.

So you had an old father; well, my father died when he was 56, so

he didn’t have to put up with me too much. I was 13 when he died.

It’s tough when you’re from the old country like that and been

raised Catholic ... and you come along and you get a teenage daughter

that doesn’t want to listen. It’s rough.

How have you seen senior services change?

I think [the senior luncheon program] is the most tremendous

program that they ever came up with for senior people, because most

of us are not going to cook a decent meal every day. We can’t go

shopping.

I’ve never driven a car, so I don’t have a car. I can’t go

shopping and buy a bunch of stuff. I don’t know what I’d do if it

wasn’t for the center.

I wouldn’t have a life, because this is my social life. I come

here every day to eat. I walk a mile getting here.

How many men would fix themselves a decent meal everyday if they

were widowed? A lot of them would, but a lot of them wouldn’t either.

And you know, when we first started, it was 25 cents; then it went

it up to 50; later it went to a dollar and a dollar and a half; and

now its only two.

You cannot get anything to eat with a cup of coffee for two bucks.

What’s your favorite song?

All of them. You know what’s so funny, you have all these words of

these songs in your head up here. Somebody will start playing

something, and I know the words to it; maybe I haven’t sung it for

years.