From Della Molloy

I first met JT when I had the opportunity to work with him weekly as a student music therapist. JT and I had a very special relationship and I still consider him to be the best professor I have ever had. He is where I got my music therapy "chops". We sang and played so many wonderful songs together. We wrote songs about his work "I Had a Great Day at Work Today" and about his family "Katie, Katie, have you seen my sister Katie?". We did performances for friends and family. We also worked on tough things like how to deal with changes in our routine with frustration when we may not have the right words or actions to express it. He pushed me to learn song after song after song, playing guitar and keyboards and piano, everything from the Beatles to America to Peter Paul and Mary to Gordon Lightfoot. I would not be the musician or music therapist that I am today if it weren't for Jay Turnbull.

Because of JT, I have met the most fabulous people that I would have never crossed paths with otherwise. His wonderful parents, Rud and Ann; his charming grandfather, A-Dad, his terrific sisters Amy and Katie, Shalah and Jesus, Tom, Cory - all roommates that JT had that are amazing people; Mary Morningstar and Dana Lattin, fabulous people in the fields they work in; and countless other folks along the way that are far too numerous to mention. We all came together to be a circle of friends for JT and his family, and in this, I was a part of such an amazing circle of individuals and families that continues to impact my life significantly even today, years after working with JT at KU.

As I worked with JT many years ago, I introduced him to my circle - friends and family. He came to my house in Lawrence and ate meals with my folks. He came to the Bottleneck and the Jazzhaus and was always the first one out on the floor to dance when my band was on stage; he met my new extended family at my wedding reception and was remembered even this week, years later, by folks who had the pleasure of meeting him at my wedding. My folks remember him celebrating one of his birthdays at our home, with silly hats we wore and cake and candles; they remember him hanging out at the Jazzhaus stage, waiting for Black Cat Bone to play, and everyone there - audience and band - hanging right there with him.
My mother said, "JT really brought out the best in everyone. He taught me a great deal about how to just be with others, and to be accepting of them."

JT said his prayers every night. Years and years ago, when I was highly involved in JT's life, he would "God Bless" everyone under the sun that was in his life. I know I got lots and lots of "God Bless Della"s. I would even bet that he still, up to the time he left us, still God Blessed me a time or two, because JT never forgot a friend.

JT, God has blessed me. He blessed me with bringing you into my life and teaching me so much about family and friends, about the power of music to bring us all together and to help us through the good, the bad, and the ugly. JT was and will always be an ever-shining light in my life.

God Bless Jay Turnbull.

Respectfully submitted,

Della Molloy
Music Therapist and forever friend of JT