Community Corner
Gospel Choir Fosters Bond Among Residents At Retirement Community
A resident at The Watermark formed a gospel choir last year that's become wildly popular among both resident performs and their audiences.
BOWIE, MD — There's plenty of activities available to residents at The Watermark retirement community, including an inspirational gospel choir that performs for family, friends and fellow residents.
With more than two dozen choir members, the group performed for Juneteenth at The Sky Bridge at Town Center and has other performances lined up.
The choir’s co-founder and director, La Quetta Golden, told Patch that the choir is "the talk of the community."
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"The residents that are involved give it their all and that some even get emotional with the power of the music. I felt the opportunity was ripe for a resident choir after myself and my husband moved into the community and the head of community life at The Sky Bridge at Town Center was overjoyed for me to start one," Golden said.
The Juneteenth performance included spiritually uplifting songs such as Sounds of Blackness (Africa to America), Down by the Riverside, I Will Trust in the Lord, Precious Lord, Oh Happy Day, Order My Steps and God Is, she shared with Patch.
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A long-time performer and accomplished choir director, Golden led her first church choir in the 1970s as a teenager.
“We had an awesome church choir where I grew up and that inspired me to sing and direct. It all started in the church,” she said. “I sang all through grade school, junior and high school.”
Drawing from her experience as a previous choir director, Golden launched a casual sing-along at The Sky Bridge at Town Center with the full support of the community’s associates in November 2024. The overwhelming and enthusiastic response from fellow residents who were interested in singing, too, led to the formation of a full choir.
“To see the glee and joy in people’s eyes and the excitement in the air, it’s amazing. It’s like putting life into everybody around. We came here to live and through singing we get to do that," Golden said.
Since its founding, the choir has performed for several holidays, from Christmas caroling to a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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