Mickie Singer - writer, storyteller, teacher, advocate for those with mental illness - has died
Mickie Singer wore a lot of hats.
She liked wearing hats, the more eccentric the better.
And she did a lot of different things. She was a writer and storyteller. She was an advocate for those living with mental illness, as she herself lived with multiple mental illnesses.
She delivered singing telegrams. Recently, she was working to help organize a mayfly festival to be held on the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge to celebrate the annual invasion of the insects.
She was a small person — she wasn't quite 5 feet tall — but as her friends and family would attest, she had a huge personality.
She was, her step-daughter, Wendy McMullen, said, "a unique individual."
Her family reported Friday that she passed away, unexpectedly and suddenly, Thursday afternoon. She was 63.
The family said they are awaiting tests to determine how she died. They said they suspect it was from complications from diabetes.
Singer was well-known in York County. Her friends would attest that she was hard to miss.
"She was one of the most creative, passionate and life-loving people we have ever met," McMullen, who considered Singer her second mother, said. "She marched to a different drummer."
Singer was over 40 when she was diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses — bi-polar, panic, anxiety and attention deficit disorders, among other things. She was always open about it and wrote a memoir, "The Mystery That Binds Me Still," that described her struggles with her illness.
"In spite — and because — of these conditions, Mickie has lived a full, intriguing and often fun-filled life," the description of her book on Amazon.com states. "She is an eccentric and humorous person who enjoys the adventures of living even though the ravages of mental illness are a constant threat and have, at times, shut her down."
She worked in the mental health field, serving as education director for the Mental Health Association of York and Adams Counties. Even after leaving that job, she continued to advocate for those living with mental illness and worked to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental illness.
On her Facebook page, she described herself thusly: "I have passed through several professional permutations including journalism, teaching and mental health work — and now I deliver songs by doing singing telegrams."
She recently found out that she was going to become a grandmother.
And on Sunday, she was scheduled to sing at the Small Memorial Zion AME Church in York, the featured performer in Tony Cameron's gospel music program. Cameron said he met Singer just recently when she showed up at his regular gig at the Healthy World Cafe on South George Street in York and asked, "Can I sing with you?"
Cameron said, "Sure."
They performed together a few times after that.
"She was a ball of fire," Cameron said. "She was so full of joy and life."
Among the songs she requested to sing Sunday was the spiritual "Swing Low Sweet Chariot."
The song's second verse goes:
"Well, I'm sometimes up and I'm sometimes down.
"Comin' for to carry me home.
"But I know my soul is heavenly bound.
"Comin' for to carry me home."
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