Justa “Ana” Garcia, a beloved member of the Young@Heart, passed away on February 1, 2024. Ana joined the group in the middle of the pandemic in June 2021. She had an auspicious debut at her first rehearsal with the group where she sang the classic Puerto Rican song "Lamento Borincano" and blew everyone away – she then made her way to the stage with us in the spring of 2022.

Ana was the first person to ever join the group already in her 90’s. Everything about Ana was a treat. She had a fabulous voice, a great sense of humor and beautiful spirit. She was loved by all in the 2.5-year period she was a member of the group. One of our fondest memories of Ana was during a rehearsal where we asked everyone to basically sing us their life. The band played a traditional blues to Paul Butterfield’s “Born in Chicago” and the singers would sing us their life story. Most people gave a short 30-second rendition – Ana, on the other hand, had a lot to say. She gave us a pretty thorough run down of her 93 years while having both the band and chorus in stitches.

Ana backstage at "Twist & Crawl", November 2023, photo by Julian Parker-Burns

Although our time with Ana was too short it was amazing how much she packed into those two years, with four performances at the Academy of Music, shows at Green River Festival, The Big E, Mill Pond Festival, the South Hadley Festival, The Florence Porch Series and a touring gig at the Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford. Ana came to our rehearsals up until only a few weeks ago, and at her last show with the group in November she made a powerful speech to the audience (in both English and Spanish) about music & love being the key to happiness.

We are dedicating our February 25th show at Bombyx to Ana. She was the real deal. Our deepest condolences to her loving and supportive family and we thank them for allowing us to spend some very quality time with their beloved Ana.