A beautiful tenor voice floated out through the Maple Crest halls last Friday afternoon as Luis Torres led a hymn sing for residents. 

His wife, Pearl, accompanied the singers on the grand piano. Luis and Pearl, from Puerto Rico, are personally connected with Bluffton and with the Maple Crest community. 

In the 1940s, several Mennonite couples from Bluffton served under the Civilian Public Service program in a hospital in Puerto Rico and made an initial contact with Luis’ church. 

Then, a Bluffton College roommate of Burton Yost (Maple Crest Duplex resident) turned out to be the Puerto Rican pastor of Luis and influenced Luis to go to Bluffton College.  Luis ended up singing in the choir at St. John's United Church of Christ during his college years in Bluffton, and friends from there hosted his recent USA stay and encouraged his visit to Maple Crest. 

To close the sing-a-long, Luis called for a quartet to come up and serenade the audience.  His long-time friend and fellow choir member, Morris Groman, responded, along with Claralice Wolf (Maple Crest resident) and Debbie Mohr (Maple Crest Activities’ Coordinator).