Sunshine Ladies big hit with senior adults

By By Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Singing at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, revival meetings, funerals and senior centers has gotten to be a habit for the Sunshine Ladies, a group of senior women who have performed together as gospel singers for more than 12 years.
Christine Newman and Edie Wilhite combined their musical talents and began performing under the name of “The Uplifters” about 15 years ago. Later, they invited Jo Helen Woodall, Linda Curtis and Paula McCravy to join them under the name of “Sunshine Ladies.”
The singers, ranging in age from 62 to 83, conduct a practice session and perform two 45-minute programs somewhere just about every week. They stick with old-time gospel songs—like the ones found in church hymnals a half-century ago—and encourage their audiences to sing along with them.
The Sunshine Ladies are all active in music and missions ministries in their respective churches in addition to conducting an outreach ministry of their own. They choose four families to receive gift boxes each month and also distribute Bible verses to people they meet on a continuing basis.