Doris Wethington knows how to capture an audience.
The Village of Fenney resident, who spent nearly 60 years as an opera singer and is known as a triple threat, said performing makes her feel like she is somebody.
Dressed in a red velvet colored dress she picked out herself while shopping with her daughter-in-law, Doris dazzled family, friends and others in her village while celebrating her 100th birthday.
Shawn Wethington worked hard to coordinate the special centennial birthday celebration on Dec. 6 for his mother. He did it because he said his mother’s love and guidance carried him through a lifetime.
“It’s surreal,” Shawn said. “My mother pretty much taught me everything I know today in terms of discipline, setting goals for myself and making contributions to society.”
To him, she always was a community outreach person.
“She was always a giver in terms of scholarships and helping to bring other adults into the fold and explain to them the do’s and don’t,” he said.
Doris made her mark during the eight years she has lived in The Villages by being involved with clubs including The African American Club of The Villages, Spicy Ladies, the Colored Pencil Painters Guild, Fenney Beaders Club and the National Council of Negro Women Lake, Sumter, Marion Counties.
Shaun Wethington, the founder and president of the local section of NCNW, feels her mother-in-law has been an inspiration for her continued community service.
Shaun gave tribute during the birthday celebration along with several other leaders from local organizations and family members.
The entire experience has been exciting for Shaun as someone who has never met a person who was 100 before.
“For her to be as independent as she is, to be able to live by herself and still be involved with her church, it’s amazing,” she said. “It’s exciting for me to witness and be a part of that.”
Though Doris was born in New York in 1925, she was sent to live with her grandparents in Dominica during the Great Depression where there was more opportunity.
The seemingly small act led to a life on stage.
From Catholic church on Sunday to opera on stage, Doris has performed around the world. She participated in several school plays while attending Catholic school in Dominica, making her earliest performances occur when she was around 7 years old.
After moving back to New York in 1947 and graduating from Columbia University, she started to attend St. Marks the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church.
There she was convinced to audition for the church choir and take vocal lessons from James Wethington, the church organist who would later become Doris’ husband.
Doris’ love for music caused her to push her talents further and join the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir.
During her time with the liturgical choir, she performed for Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI during their travels to New York.Later, she traveled to Rome and Vatican City to perform for Pope Benedict XVI during the IX Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra in 2010.
Before that, she also had the opportunity to perform for former President George W. Bush at the White House in 2008.
But participating in two choirs didn’t seem to satisfy Doris’ love of music — causing her to join a third group, The Bronx Opera.
During her birthday celebration, six opera selections “Summertime” by George Gershwin, “Gretchen am Spinnrade” composed by Franz Schubert, “O mio babbibo caro” composed by Giacomo Puccini, “Visi d’Arte” composed by Giacomo Puccini and two songs from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly “Un Bel Di” and “Depuis le jour” were sung live.
They were meant to reflect on her favorite songs from the times she performed as a soprano aria during several operas.
“I like opera,” Doris said. “Singing songs like ‘Summertime’ makes me feel like I’m a kid out picking flowers or picking fruit. It brings good memories.”
During her career, she learned how to perform songs in different languages.
Being raised in the West Indies allowed her to already be familiar with French and Patios, a language similar to Creole.
Later, she learned how to sing in Italian and a little Spanish.
She said she is still able to pronounce some of the words today.
“In order to learn how to pronounce the words the way they needed to be sung, I would record it and play it back every day and learn the pronunciation of each word like that,” she said.
Bettye Stevens Coney, the mistress of ceremonies for the birthday event, said it was all class and sophisticated.
“(Doris) is a typical New Yorker, she still dresses with style,” she said. “She takes pride in how she lives life.”
Coney said it was a pleasure to hear the pieces performed.
“It took me back years to my days as a voice major at Florida A&M University,” Coney said. “It was amazing Doris still remembered the songs at 100. The event was a mix between a Broadway production and Carnegie Hall.”
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
