For all they’ve done for the VSA, we dedicate our season 52 fall performances to the Neills, for their early influence on the VSA Chorus, and for Wendy as our longtime webmaster.
Kelly grew up in Paonia and learned to love music as a student of Jan Tuin, Vivian Cheney, and Karl Hunerwadel. After earning three college music degrees and marrying Wendy, Kelly moved back to the Western Slope as the band director at Delta High School and Middle School. No community choir existed at the time, so the couple started the Grand Mesa Singers in 1998, with Kelly as the music director and Wendy as the administrator. They started with just 13 singers at Delta’s First Baptist on April 4, 1998. Word spread, and the next year the group expanded to 44 singers from all over the Uncompahgre, North Fork, and Grand Valleys. By 2002, they had a group of 70. That year, they combined with other vocal groups to become the VSA Chorus.
Christmas 2001 is one of Wendy’s fondest memories. It was just three months after the 9/11 attacks, and she and Kelly sang the duet “The Prayer” with 100 chorus members and a small group of VSA musicians. It was a magical evening of musical supplication to God for peace. The lyrics carried extra meaning that Christmas: “Lead us to a place, guide us with your grace to a place where we'll be safe.”
In 2004, they moved to Arkansas when Kelly was hired by Harding University to teach vocal and choral music. From 2007-2009, Harding gave him leave to get his doctorate in voice performance from the University of Missouri -
Kansas City Conservatory. He returned to teach at Harding for another 13 years, conducting the concert choir and the chamber singers, and teaching various music classes. Wendy began Perfect Fit Web Design in 2004 and has been the VSA’s webmaster since 2006. She builds and maintains websites for about 70 churches, non-profits, and businesses.
In 2022, Kelly finished a master’s degree in counseling and went into full-time ministry. He is now the lead minister at the Bentonville Church of Christ in Arkansas and recently opened Wilderness Counseling, LLC.
Wendy is about to release a six-week Bible study entitled “Looking Forward to Heaven.” She is a speaker at women’s retreats, works part-time for Iron Rose Sister Ministries, and sings in the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas’s SONA Singers.
The couple have three grown daughters (two who were born during their time on the Western Slope), two sons-in-law, and a precious two-year-old granddaughter.
If you’d like to reconnect with them, Wendy can be found on Facebook. They send their love to all the VSA chorus and musicians.