[Magdalen] Grace's Birthday.

[cantor03 at aol.com]

This is my Cousin Grace's birthday.  She would be 120.
She lived three doors away in my hometown in Wisconsin,and she was also my piano teacher and the O/C of thelocal Methodist church where I sang alto until thevoice change at about 11.
Grace taught piano via her treasured Mason & Hamlin grand piano.Though not a concert grand, the piano still filled her front parlor andI recall that tunes sounded better on her M&H than my familyupright.  We eventually bought a Knabe spinet which even in thatday (1950) set my father back somewhat more than $1,500.This was a step up musically, but it still wasn't a grand piano.
Grace was an advocate of USA brands of pianos such as the M&H.Chickering, Knabe, Steinway and Baldwin.  Japanese pianos were not onthe horizon then. 

If you can imagine, I rented, for pittance, a real Bosendorfer grand whenI was living in Frankfirt/Main, Germany.  What a thrill that was, andGrace played it when she visited us in Germany. Bosendorfer is nowowned by Yamaha.
But Grace's real claim to fame was her chocolate cake with crushedwalnut frosting.  No one seemed able to duplicate the recipe.
RIP. Cousin Grace.


David S.