But she can still conduct the choir’s traditional Christmas program Sunday, accompanied by a full orchestra, at the east-side Salt Lake City chapel.
Nothing could stop her from leading the hourlong musical service this year, concluding with scores of former ward members emerging from the congregation to join in the triumphant Hallelujah chorus. The chapel will be filled, as they say, with a “joyful noise.”
Doctor-ordered chemotherapy for her bone cancer will have to wait.
“She has persisted in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges — a bunch of amateurs and a deadly disease,” says Jack Ashton, a violist with the Utah Symphony who assembled the orchestra. “She has never complain
ed or lost heart. It’s good for us to see.”
Degn has spent a life and career navigating around obstacles. She is known as a fearless journalist, working for a time as the only woman in Salt Lake City’s broadcast news. She has written and produced hard-hitting documentaries on controversial topics. And she spent the past two decades as a journalism professor at the University of Utah, pushing her students to read critically, analyze deeply and critique thoroughly the issues and assumptions in their world.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.