Helen Noh Lee, who began performing as a singer in various venues some seven decades ago, is stepping down from a 13-year stint as Community Church of Honolulu’s choir director.

But the 86-year-old she intends to continue singing with the group. Well, that is, “if the new director doesn’t mind — because it’s like having a mother-in-law around,” with the former director around, Noh Lee said. Still, she added, “I want to keep singing.”

A mezzo-soprano/contralto who once “brazenly” auditioned to win a one-year voice scholarship in 1948 at the prestigious Juilliard School of music in New York, Noh Lee said, “To keep your voice you gotta keep singing.”

Noh Lee will be honored Sunday for her decades with the choir at a 9 a.m. service. Also, the church is celebrating the congregation’s 81st anniversary and rededicating a restored Rogers Oxford organ.

The historic three-manual classic pipe organ was donated to the United Church of Christ parish, which has a strong Chinese heritage, by the K.J. Luke family in 1995. Members will also say goodbye to Young Pak, the church’s accomplished organist since 2008, who is moving to be with family in New York.

Noh Lee said she joined the choir in 1981 on the condition her husband, Edwin Lee, could sing in the bass section. Her old friend Sally Kim, with whom she started singing as part of a duet at age 12, has been in the choir just as long, even though Kim is a member of the Korean Christian Church. As a preteen duet, Noh Lee and Kim were a popular act at military USO shows and community functions.

Noh Lee started formal voice training at 16 and earned a bachelor’s degree in voice from the University of Hawaii. She taught voice at Punahou and ‘Iolani schools, and sang with the Honolulu Symphony, at Oratorio Society concerts and at various churches.

She jokes that the age range of her 20-member church choir is now “68 years and up.” The longest-standing member is Wilfred Chong, a tenor for more than 50 years.

“They are the sweetest group,” she said of the choir — very cooperative, and experienced readers of music. Because most of them don’t want to drive after dark, they only rehearse once a week after the service and regular “aloha hour” lunch are over.

“Directing the choir is my passion; I love it,” Noh Lee said, but not so much the busyness and responsibility that comes with it, she noted.

The theme of this Sunday’s celebration will be “Music Is the Voice of Soul,” which could also be Noh Lee’s personal motto as she is able to convey feeling and emotion through both singing and directing.

“Some pianists play like they’re typing — there’s just no expression. Some singers do the same thing. You see it in hula dancing, too. I can express myself just as much in directing, and you can also teach,” she said.

Noh Lee starting singing in church at age 10. And the music continues. Even today, she said, the pastors notice that “I’m always whistling or humming when I’m in the office.”