Laurie Solheim: From her grief came a reason to sing

It took years of searching, but it was song that helped Laurie Solheim reconcile her brother's 2005 fatal highway accident.

"I'm a Christian and have faith he's in heaven," she said of her brother, Daniel J. Johnson. "But when you're depressed, it's hard to visualize heaven."

Solheim, 43, began writing her feelings in a journal at the suggestion of a grief counselor, and she found that her words and thoughts began reading like poetry. She has sung all her life — ironically, often at funerals — and with her lyrical words, she decided to record an album: "Offerings."

Johnson, a 46-year-old University of Puget Sound professor, and Tony Qamar, 62, a fellow scientist from the University of Washington, were driving toward a seismology mission north of Hoquiam in October 2005. A northbound Kenworth truck lost its load of logs, causing the accident that killed the two men. The driver of the truck was convicted of vehicular homicide.

Last spring, Solheim began writing "You're in Heaven," or what she refers to as "the Dan song."

"When I first began singing the Dan song, it was mournful," Solheim said, "but after singing it over and over for six months, it became a pop song. It has given me a springboard. I hope it will help others to get out of that fetal position of grief."

She began recording the four songs on her album last fall, and she'll perform songs from "Offerings" at a free concert at the Wedgwood Presbyterian Church in Seattle on June 14.

Solheim called the process of creating music from her grief cathartic, and she hopes others can use the songs to find peace, too.

Learn more about her story and work at Solheim's MySpace: www.myspace.com/lauriesolheim.

Richard Seven: 206-464-2241

or rseven@seattletimes.com