Author: OldHarley
Date: 2013-09-21 23:05
Hello, photocurt and others on this thread,
Interesting read. Add this to the story, though.
My great aunt taught piano in the small town of Farmersville, TX (Farmersville is located just NE of Dallas).
Around 1955, as a small boy, I would visit there occasionally. During summer vacation and off from school, I took piano lessons from my great aunt when we visited there.
About that time, I was thinking about beginning band in school and was looking for an instrument. I wanted to play brass of some type, but my folks did not have the funds at that time to buy or rent the trumpet, coronet, or trombone (I couldn't decide) that I had my heart set on.
During the next Farmersville trip, my great aunt went to her closet and pulled out a clarinet, and told me this story... She said a salesman had visited her some years earlier and had given her this clarinet to show to her piano students and maybe encourage them to take up the clarinet.
There was some hesitation on her part when she offered the clarinet to me, since she said the salesman had promised faithfully to check back with her on his next trip and that he might have wanted the instrument back.
Since she never heard from him again and several years had passed, she decided it would be OK to pass the instrument to me. She said that maybe he forgot he left the instrument. She even said "..you know, I wonder if he died..."
My great aunt passed away many years ago, but when I recently cleaned out my mom's closet after her passing - lo and behold - she still had the old clarinet. It was marked W R Yerke, on the bell and on at least two other sections, along with a serial number.
Based on the info from this thread, I can't imagine how the salesman made it all the way to Texas. That is a long way from Indiana, but that is exactly the story I heard 60 years ago. Maybe it WAS in 1950 and he DID die, altho' that would only be a guess based on your info.
Anyway, kind of interesting to read about the history, now.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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