Mary Bussman, a 1983 Stewartville High School graduate, directs Twin Cities Women’s Choir

Growing up on a farm near Stewartville, Mary Bussman learned about kindheartedness and the value of hard work by watching her parents, Lawrence and Anna. Now, years later, Bussman still applies simple friendliness and a strong work ethic to her job as a principal of Valley View Elementary School in Columbia Heights. Those traits are also on display when Bussman welcomes new members to the Twin Cities Women's Choir, a group she has directed for more than 10 years. Thanks in part to Bussman's warmhearted spirit, the choir now boasts a current membership of 110 strong, up from the 14 singers who joined the group in fall 1997.

"My parents were about hospitality," she said. "That's something I take with me every day. I enjoy greeting new people and asking them to tell me their stories." Bussman is the 13th of 14 children. The oldest of her siblings graduated from Stewartville High School in 1964, the youngest in 1986. She enjoyed growing up near a small town and still has many good memories from her days in Stewartville schools. "Knowing everybody was wonderful," she said. "I got a great education." She fondly recalls her time as a student in Gordy Koehn's Stewartville High School choir and also has good memories of Frank Winkels' choirs at St. Bernard's Catholic Church. After graduating from Stewartville High School in 1983, she attended the College of St. Benedict, where she earned a bachelor of education degree in music education and minored in theology. She taught music in the public schools from 1988 through 2001, including six years in Upsala, a small town near Little Falls; and seven years in Minneapolis. She was an administrative intern and an assistant principal for two years in Minneapolis schools, then served as an assistant principal and principal for the West Metro Education program from 2003 to 2006. She has been the principal at Valley View Elementary School for two years. She enjoys her job as a principal, but being the director of a choir allows her to tap into her artistic side. "My day job is about administrative things," she said. "The evening thing allows me to be creative 100 percent. It's a big relief for me." The choir practices once a week from Labor Day through the middle of May. It gives two major concerts each year, the first in February and the second, known as "Divas and Desserts," sells out two performances each May. This year's spring concert will be held at St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church at 34th and Irving in South Minneapolis this Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. each evening. About 350 people attend each May concert. "We have a great time," she said. "We get out there and perform our music and get some instrumentalists to join us. We have a silent auction, and the wine flows. It feels like a big party." Part of Bussman's job as director is to select the choir's music. She says she prefers pieces that speak to today's contemporary woman. "I do things that talk about women's strength and self-reliance and that recognize women's place in today's society," she said. "The music we sing is very challenging. Some women have joined for a few weeks and then have said, 'This is just too hard.' " She loves the challenge of bringing 110 voices together to assemble music that stirs the soul. "Choral music longs to lift the human experience in a really full way," she said. "We're bringing beautiful music to life. As a group of 110 we're really making this one unified, beautiful statement. It's very exciting. It's very rewarding." The choir has performed at a number of popular venues. The group sang the National Anthem at a Minnesota Twins game last June and at a Gopher women's basketball game at Williams Arena on Jan. 24. The choir will also sing The Star-Spangled Banner at a Minnesota Lynx game at the Target Center on June 24. The TCWC includes singers who range in age from 25 to 72. Members are doctors, lawyers and young people looking for a job just out of college. "We have women who are blind or handicapped in some other way," Bussman said. "We have folks who are retired, and this is the thing for them to do." Singing in a choir has given some of the members the opportunity to become good friends. "We have folks who have been friends for 15 or 20 years," she said. "These new friendships are growing all the time." There are no tryouts for the TCWC. Members are required only to be able to sing their own part in tune. "If they can do that, they'll self-select into the group," Bussman said. "For the most part, people can meet those two requirements." She plans to continue as the TCWC's director as long she's able. "I sure hope so -- as long as they'll have me," she said. "I'm making room for it in my life."