Click to read more Resident Stories
Resident Musical Depicts Senior Living

While some people consider retirement the denouement of their lives, 84-year-old Terry Nestor is spending his on a high note. A retired physicist, Nestor has written and produced three musicals since moving to Carol Woods in 2001— and enjoyed a packed house for each one.

“He’s very creative, very interesting,” said Carol Woods’ Pastoral Counselor Mark Weber, who has performed in all of the musicals. “His lyrics are always insightful and whimsical, a little of each.”

Nestor is originally from Ohio, where his parents sang as soloists and in choruses. After two years of piano lessons and a short, reportedly unpleasant tryst with the violin during his childhood, Nestor went on to earn a doctorate in physics from the University of Buffalo, now SUNY Buffalo. He worked for more than 40 years conducting materials research for chemical companies in the Midwest.

“Whatever I may be able to do with music is genetic luck,” he said. “I haven’t had the formal training, but it’s worked out well.”

Nestor moved to Chapel Hill in 1989 and “got the yen” to try his hand at music after his wife’s death in 1995. Since then, Nestor has written 140 songs, from which four musicals and a collection of contemporary hymns have been drawn.

“Sometimes it’s accidental,” he said. “I’ll let my hands fall on the keys and if something sounds right, I’ll try to develop it.”

In his first three musicals, Nestor focused on the piano arrangements while his collaborator and friend, Kathy McWilliams, added lyrics and narrative. In his latest musical, titled “All About Carol,” Nestor was composer, chief lyricist and author of the narrative.

“It’s really clever,” said Charles Paddock, a Carol Woods resident who sings in the musical. “He’s done some really clever work with the lyrics, and the music, too, for that matter.”

Two Carol Woods staff members and five residents, including Nestor, took part in the musical, which aims to humorously depict the highs and lows of senior living.

“I wrote it strictly to entertain,” he said. “I had been struggling for a while for an idea and finally it just came to me in conversation with friends and laughing about some of the things that occur.”

Though there is no exact count of attendees for the debut, Nestor said he ran out of the 160 programs they had prepared for the audience. An encore presentation is planned for the spring.

“They found it quite entertaining,” Nestor said with a smile. “We got a lot of favorable comments.”

Fred Simon, a singer in the musical, got the same impression. “I think we were very pleased,” he said. “And the audience seemed to appreciate it, and that’s really the benchmark of whether or not it was a success.”

Carol Woods resident Dolores Parry attended the performance and said she thought it was not only funny but also meaningful—and deserved the standing ovation. “He did a superb job,” she said. “He gave us something to think about.”

She also said the cast members were all well selected. “They didn’t have to act,” she said. “It was all very natural.”

Barbara Clyde, the musical’s pianist, earned a master’s in piano performance and has taught both at the college level and in her home. She said Nestor heard her perform and asked her to participate in his program.

“The musical is really hilarious, and he’s a really nice person,” she said. “I can play on the piano but I’d never be able to make up words like that!”

Nestor’s co-narrator, Carolyn Mercer, said she had never participated in a performance before – her field is sports education – but was giving it “her best shot.”

“This is not my field. I’m not a performer. Anyway, I’m trying,” she said with a chuckle. “The group has been fun to work with.”

Triage nurse Donna Mayo sings a catchy song about hairy hallway traffic, “Better Scurry, Residents,” to the tune of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Surrey With the Fringe on Top.” Mayo says she is delighted every time she is invited to perform.

“It’s a rewarding and fun thing for me to do to expand my relationship with the residents,” she said. “It’s like getting up in your living room and singing for your family. It’s easy to do it.”

The expression of community is a common theme for the cast members. Weber said the connection adds a special dimension to the performance.

“This particular one is about Carol Woods so it expresses feelings and thoughts almost everyone here has, the challenging and difficult as well as some of the joys, with a sense of humor,” he said.

“People enjoy seeing the Carol Woods talent, too. There’s a special excitement when it’s Carol Woods people doing the programming and performing. They know us all.”

Click to read more Resident Stories