Two talented players sat at a black piano Monday afternoon at the Briarwood Health Care Center, separated by 80 years and brought together by their passion for music.
At first, it was 11-year-old Amy Zhou who played while 91-year-old Joseph Svozil Jr. watched with admiration from his wheelchair. When she finished, a wide smile swept across his face.
They don’t call him Jolly Joe for nothing.
Amy and Jolly Joe met through Bessie’s Hope, an organization that encourages relationships between the elderly living in nursing homes and the young. Until about a year ago, the group was known as Rainbow Bridge.
Amy has been playing piano for three years, Joe since he was 4. In his career, Joe has played with an all-star cast, including band leader Glenn Miller and singer Frank Sinatra.
In fact, it was the “King of Swing,” Benny Goodman, who gave Joe his Jolly nickname.
“If music is in your heart and in your mind, never, never give it up, because it loves you too,” he said to Amy.
Bessie’s Hope has been serving the metro area for 15 years. Amy volunteers with the program through the Great Wall Chinese Academy. Amy attends Northridge Elementary School, where she is in the gifted- and-talented-students program.
Bessie’s Hope development director and co-founder Linda Holloway said the group was started because of a passion for the elderly, who she said are often forgotten in society.
The organization was renamed Bessie’s Hope as a legacy to Holloway’s grandmother, who first had the idea to bring children and the elderly together.
“We bring generations together into mutually rewarding relationships,” Holloway said.
A smile still on his face, Jolly Joe on Monday came forward to take his turn playing for Amy. He offered her a rendition of the Sinatra classic “New York, New York.”
“New York. That’s a city, honey. It’s a little bit bigger than Denver,” Joe said to Amy, both of them chuckling.
Joe kept playing, moving into a rendition of “The Sheik of Arabia.” Again, he shared a story and a laugh with Amy after he finished the song.
“The sheik, they wear different clothes than we do. And they have the prettiest horses,” he said to her.
After a while, Amy needed to leave for her piano lesson. She said goodbye to Joe, who was still smiling. She said she hopes to play with him again.
“We get to connect, and we both have the same interests in piano,” she said. “He gave me the advice that if I love music, I should keep on doing it because God gave me the gift.”
George Plaven: 303-954-1638 or gplaven@denverpost.com
This story has been clarified in this online archive to reflect that 11-year-old pianist Amy Zhou, while a student at North Ridge Elementary School, also volunteers with Bessie’s Hope through a program in which she is involved at Great Wall Chinese Academy.
