Chaplain arranges for hospice patient to play the Tabernacle organ, fulfilling her bucket list

Teresa Hirst Dec 7, 2022

Krista Quintana had an end of life wish to play the organ in the Tabernacle on Temple Square, and Chaplain Sheila Kennedy, helped her fulfill it.

Kenny leads Krista to the organ in the Tabernacle

Sheila, a new chaplain, was visiting with Krista, who was in hospice care, when Krista shared this recently added dream to her bucket list.

A few months earlier, Krista’s brother-in-law visited from Spain, and they went to the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

“Someone was playing the organ,” says Krista’s husband, Kenny. “My wife and my brother were talking, and she said, ‘You know what would be wonderful? To play that organ.’”

“When I was doing my chaplain training, I shadowed Mike Jenkins, who is the hospice chaplain for Utah County,” Sheila says. “I was able to go on visits with him, and we had an initial visit with Krista and Kenny.”

Later Sheila was filling in for Mike and visited Krista again. That’s when Krista told Sheila about the bucket list she’d started after her cancer diagnosis. Some items she’d already fulfilled, like visiting the Redwoods and making a professional wedding cake.

Krista still needed help fulfilling one bucket list item – playing the Tabernacle organ.

“With the bucket list, sometimes you ask and you will receive. So she asked,” Kenny says. “Music is very big and important to Krista. The first piece of furniture in our house was a piano. She's been playing it ever since.”

Sheila asked around and eventually connected with the wife of Joseph Peeples, a Tabernacle organist, who said her husband’s assistant could help.

Bill Luker, the assistant, arranged a visit to the Tabernacle for Krista and Kenny, and Sheila and Mike were able to go, too.

Playing on the Tabernacle organ was a great experience for Krista, Kenny says. The song she played was “Master the Tempest is Raging,” which according to the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square blog is a hymn about calming the storms of life.

“She went up there, and she played her little heart out,” Sheila says. “It really touched the heart tremendously, especially as she was sitting at that organ. There aren’t words to describe how warming and heartfelt it was.”

Mike says he was impressed watching Krista achieve this goal in her life, recognizing the physical and spiritual strength she needed to do so.

“When Krista took a break, Bill sat and talked with her about the history of the organ,” Mike says. “He eventually offered to help her back to the organ. She declined, so he asked if he could play.”

Bill began to play, “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.”

“Bill made it a beautiful experience for her and Kenny,” Mike says. “I was impressed knowing this was important to Krista, seeing the smile on her face and the wonderment of a child as she gazed around the Tabernacle.”

Kenny is grateful to Sheila for helping Krista achieve her goal and for Mike and Sheila supporting the couple’s wellness.

“The chaplain's role is to listen to, companion, and either perform or provide spiritual ritual or blessings,” Mike says. “Sheila demonstrated this as she not only heard what was important to Krista, but she followed through with the ‘perform or provide’ portion.”

“That became a catalyst for achieving this experience which was both spiritually and emotionally beautiful,” he says. “Many times it’s easy to perform or provide a prayer or a blessing, but I was impressed and shared with Sheila that she, like me, looks for the ‘yes’ when it comes to making our patient's end of life experience as beautiful as it can be.”