Anna Lisette Perez Deemer
1960
-
Lisette Deemer, a
singer, voice teacher, and choir director, has taught music in the Seventh-day
Adventist school system for nearly thirty years, most of those at one school.
She is also active as a choral clinician, accompanist, and occasional soloist
for local events.
Lisette was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, one of
four children of Eli and Estela Perez Morell, who
came to Lincoln from Antillian Union College in Cuba
in 1959 to study at Union College. Lisette's
great-grandfather, August Emil Doering taught German
at Union College and then was secretary of the North Dakota Conference before he and his family moved to Cuba in 1909, because of his
ongoing health problems.
Music was an important part of life in the
Perez home, parents having sung in choirs while attending college and Estela
being an accomplished singer who started Lisette on
piano. She later recalled her first studies outside the home:
My
first piano lessons were from Marguerite Woodruff Widener, who charged a dollar
a lesson. I sometimes had my lesson before school in the morning and then she
would drive me to school in her old car, known as the "Blue Bomber."
In order to select drive, neutral, reverse, you had to push a button on the
dashboard! Very cool! She would not pass you to the next piano piece unless you
also colored the picture in your John Thompson piano book. If you did it all
just right, you got your sticker and passed to the next piece! We worked
together about three years.
In
high school, I studied piano under Florence Kitching.
She was a kind and an outstanding piano teacher. She introduced me to music
theory and with that deeper look at music she changed my life forever. My love
of music theory began at a card table in her living room.
After she graduated from Lincoln Southeast
High School in 1977, Lisette enrolled at Union
College as a biology major then later switched to
nursing. Still uncertain about nursing, she served as a student missionary in Busan, Korea. That experience helped her decide to major in
music upon returning to the U.S. in 1980:
On
weekends we held evangelistic meetings. I was fully in my element: singing and
playing piano! When I returned to Union, I was sure God wanted me to pursue
music, so I changed my major. I studied voice with Marge Fuller and later Lynn
Wickham. In 1983, I graduated with a B.Mus.Ed, broad
field endorsement, K-12, with a vocal and choral emphasis.
I
th en enrolled at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study vocal performance with Donna Harler-Smith and choral conducting with Ginger Calkins. I
graduated in 1985 with a Master of Music in vocal performance and choral
conducting.
While doing graduate work, Perez was an
adjunct voice teacher at Union College. Following graduation in 1985, she
continued to teach voice at UC and was hired to teach music at nearby College
View Academy, positions she has held to the present. In 1988, she married Gary
L. Deemer, a trumpet player with many musical
interests. During this time, she sang professionally in many Lincoln church
choirs and directed the choir at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ for several
years before the birth of her first son.
From the beginning, Lisette’s
students noticed her dedication and total involvement with them, which led to a
highly successful program and popular groups noted for their achievements. Her
choirs have been successful in a number of competitions, and in 2005 her choir
was chosen to perform at the Nebraska Music Educators Convention.
Additionally, she has produced several
successful benefit concerts that included elementary through college level
school ensembles and performers, community professional groups, and civic
leaders. These programs raised thousands of dollars for victims of the 2004
Tsunami and 2010 hurricane in Haiti. Yet another concert, an
SOS (Save Our School) program, directly benefited the academy. These programs,
which were given in the College View Church, drew attendees from all of the
Lincoln community and filled the sanctuary.
In the past 26 years Deemer
has been a guest conductor at a number of elementary music festivals in the
Mid-America Union and Florida Conferences of SDAs. For most of those years she
also enjoyed singing in Trans4mation, a trio, performing in the U.S. and in
Toronto, Canada, for a North American Division Women’s Ministries Convention.
In 2008 she was invited to direct the Lincoln Public Schools All City 8th
Grade Honor Choir.
In 2009 the editors of the CVA yearbook, The
Sower, acknowledged her contribution at the academy and paid an extended
tribute to her for the role she has played in students' lives:
Dear
Mrs. Deemer,
It's
hard to believe how long you've been impacting our lives. With many of us
starting with you in 5th grade and over half the school in choir this year,
it's easy to see how much you touch all of our lives here at CVA.
People
always comment about the amazing music you can bring out of us. Students who
didn't think they could even carry a tune find that they have music in them
after all. Who knows what the secret ingredient in your cookies is to inspire
us so much: or maybe it's your belief in our potential.
You
may not know it, but we notice the countless hours you spend making costumes,
practicing lines, and giving up your sleep to make the musical a success. Even
after the musical is over, you're on to the next thing - like planning a
musical revue or a fun-filled choir tour. You're always so busy! You don't even
have time to eat - sneaking lunch between your many classes or the voice
lessons you manage to fit into your crazy day. Somehow among all the chaos, you
manage to stay sane and instill the love of music in us that stays with us long
after high school. We know all of us seniors can't imagine music without you.
Everyone
knows that choir isn't just about singing - it's about life! Aside from all the
life lessons in choir, you've also taught us how to wash dishes and make mashed
potatoes in Independent Living class. We can't believe how brave you are
letting us near the stoves and sewing machines. Surprisingly, we didn't destroy
anything - and you always found some way of complimenting us. That's just the
mom in you - you always take care of us, like your corn packs and lying on the
couch in the choir room. Not only do you take care of us, your "kids"
here at school, but you have two great gentlemen of your own.
We're
running out of room, and there's still much more to say: like NHS, your cool
duct tape creations, and millions of hot dogs on
Fridays. This year especially, when you've been going through so much [her
mother had died shortly after Christmas after a long bout with cancer], you've
remained strong and kept sharing your faith in God with us. We wanted to try to
express in this small way how much you mean to all of us.
We
love you!
The
Editors
Yet another page in the yearbook consisted
of paragraphs pieced together from one-sentence comments made by many students
about their relationship with her. She was praised for her patience, sense of
humor, inspiration, creativity, and passion for music. One student observed she
was like having an empathetic and kind-hearted mother at school who cared deeply about them.
The Deemers have
two sons, David and Jonathan, who are active in church, school, music, and
sports.
ds/2012
Sources: Information
provided by Lisette Deemer,
September 2011 and February 2012; The Educational Messenger, 10 June
1909, 8; The Inter-American Division Messenger, December 1943, 10, The
Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 27 April 1916, 14; 17 June 1943, 23;
personal knowledge.