Late teacher gets salute with musical memorial

Valparaiso church site named in honor of longtime educator

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Children at Valparaiso Christian Academy play in Sherri’s Musical Garden at Faith Lutheran Church in Valparaiso on Oct. 27. Deena Lawley-Dixon/For Post-Tribune

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Paul Nord and his daughters, Melodie and August, cut the ribbon at an Oct. 27 ceremony honoring Paul’s wife Sherri, who died in 2023. Her wish was to have a musical garden and playground at Faith Lutheran Church in Valparaiso. Mackenzie Dolph

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Children at Valparaiso Christian Academy play in Sherri’s Musical Garden. Deena Lawley-Dixon/For Post-Tribune

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By Deena Lawley-Dixon Post-Tribune

Beloved music teacher Sherri Nord’s memory now lives in a musical garden bearing her name at Faith Lutheran Church on the north side of Valparaiso.

Sherri’s Musical Garden was dedicated on Oct. 27 in a small ceremony honoring the late orchestra director of Valparaiso Community Schools, who died July 4, 2023, after battling cancer.

Nord was the board president of Faith Lutheran and it was a longtime dream of hers to have a new playground and the musical garden.

“I have put a lot of effort into making sure it happened,” said Angie Reyes, director of Valparaiso Christian Academy, the preschool housed at Faith Lutheran.

According to Reyes, the musical garden cost approximately $12,000. The funds were mainly from memorial donations for Nord per the family’s request.

The musical garden was put up in conjunction with a new playground at the academy, which allows older and younger children to have separate fenced-in play areas. The musical garden has seven weatherproof musical instrument stations, some made from 100% recycled plastic.

“The project’s design was made possible by long hours and many fundraisers coordinated by myself and my staff,” Reyes said. “Our families, our beloved Valparaiso community and so many NWI businesses then donated and supported.”

“We met so many wonderful people along the way that showed up with stories of how Sherri had touched their lives, their children’s lives,” Reyes said.

Many of Nord’s family members and friends were at the playground and musical garden dedication.

“I know that Sherri didn’t want any speeches or eulogies, but she did want this,” said Paul Nord, Sherri’s husband. “She worked with our pastor and with the preschool on this memorial idea.”

“I am very grateful for all of the people who have donated and supported this opportunity,” said Melodie Nord Keller, Nord’s daughter. “I know that my mom would be proud to know her musical talents are being passed down to young children.”

“It was so fulfilling to get to present the finished product to Sherri’s family,” Reyes said. “To watch their smiles and laughter as they shared memories and inside jokes, and their thoughts with me on how much she would have loved it.”

“Her adult children played a song she knew on one piece in the playground, as her mother and husband pretended to know how to play another,” Reyes joked. “They laughed and carried on. It let me know our work here was done.”

“This is what we set out to do, to create a special, magical place in her memory,” Reyes said. “Mission accomplished.”

“I’ve mourned her loss for more than a year now, but a few weeks ago I was listening to a song that we enjoyed back in college,” Paul said. “And I remembered the pure joy that music brought Sherri, and then I realized that I’d forgotten to be joyful.”

“I hope the children find the simple joy of making noise when they play with these instruments.”

Deena Lawley-Dixon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.