When our children were old enough to travel, we went each summer to visit my mother, Varney Faye. It is not strange that this photo would be at the piano because my mother would always play the piano every day even when she was older and her fingers were arthritic.
The piano that you see was not the piano that I learned to know as a child. We had an old upright piano, but I loved the instrument as a child that I too spent hours learning to play all kinds of music. I was never taught by a teacher. My oldest sister did not want to learn to play but Mother had already purchased the beginner’s books for her. I taught myself! I did not practice scales but I certainly new how to sightread. I spent hours playing duets with Mother. I was always the bass and Mother played the treble or melody. Her training was extensive and she had amazing abilities to do difficult passages. I played every hymn in our church hymnal and we bought countless top sheet music for ten cents. I entertained my youngest sister when she was taking a bath and made her clap when I finished.
Mother received the piano that you see here as a birthday present. I can still hear my mother playing classical pieces and “He Touched Me,” her favorite hymn.