"Little miracles happen a lot when we are singing,” says Robert Stelling, who works in the clinical lab at St. Helena Hospital and is a baritone in the SHH Men’s Chorus. “We were in a little Adventist church in Fallon, Nev. A member of the congregation had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and was to be operated on the Monday after our performance. We prayed and sang for her.”

Later, the chorus discovered that the woman was found to be free of the tumor just before surgery. Stelling likes to think that the healing effects of the choir’s music made a difference.

It is just this level of spiritual conviction that has united the Napa Valley chorus for 25 years. Thirty-five to 40 men come together to rehearse weekly in what many call the highlight of their week.

“Sometimes I feel tired and I don’t want to go to practice, but I feel so much better afterwards,” says George Hilton, a math professor at Pacific Union College and a baritone and devotional speaker for the chorus.

Bass singer Jim Vye, who works in the security department at SHH, echoes Hilton’s sentiment. “There is a great spirituality and camaraderie within the chorus,” he says. “We have worship every practice, which most members get to lead.”

The chorus was formed during a Spiritual Emphasis Week at SHH in the spring of 1981 when a small group of hospital professionals came together to prepare a musical number for the event.

“It started as a one-time thing, but by fall we were regularly performing in churches,” says Wendy Skeels, director of the chorus since its inception. Skeels pens original music for the group as well as arranging familiar hymns and traditional Christian music.

The chorus’s musical programs are combined with the spoken word. Hilton is responsible for this. “Wendy will give the order of the program and indicate where I should speak. I try to tailor my remarks to the songs,” he says.

Skeels calls Hilton’s remarks food for thought. “He speaks straight from the heart, but he does it with humor. He never reads or seems to make any preparation. He has a real gift,” she says.

Hilton recalls one evening that was particularly powerful for the congregation and the choir. “We sang ‘No More Night’ (by Walt Harrah) about the new earth. I shared a story about my mother who went blind at age 63 and several years later passed away from cancer,” he said. “The refrain, 'no more night, no more pain,' dovetailed with my spoken message. I felt the chorus touched a chord with the congregation that day and gave them new hope.”

The chorus takes its musical ministry to churches one Sabbath a month. “We have traveled as far north as Oregon and as far south as Fresno,” Skeels says. The group also has performed in New Orleans and Nevada. And while they sing mainly in Seventh-day Adventist churches, the men also have sung in Presbyterian, Baptist and Catholic churches.

The 25th anniversary reunion of the St. Helena Hospital Men’s Chorus will take place the weekend of May 12 on the Pacific Union College campus. For more information about the event, e-mail Wendy Skeels at wendy@fcs.net.