My step-grandmother, Mable Bigley was set to be a 'star' an Opera singer in the Twin Cities. She was offered a singing contract.

 

Instead, Mable declined the contract and move and chose to marry my Grandfather Albert Ray Burns who was firstly married to my Grandmother Laura Irene Bailey who did pass to soon of this life.

 

In my childhood on visits to Grandma Burns home, in Gordonsville, Minnesota, the piano music roared from the Victorian-styled front room of her home, as we were treated to an impromptu session at the ivory keyboard.

 

Mable played piano at the Baptist church in Gordonsville, Minnesota, which was across the railway tracks and highway 35, she'd been a parishioner for more than sixty years. Eventually she'd turned this duty over to another with sadness and joy her tenure was complete.

 

What a pianist Mable was.

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Mable shared with me the attention she'd expected of lesson by my mother in her youth, who did let this pass,

fraught with deliberation of the boredom of it all.

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My mother could not find the desire to play as Mable,

my parents and Mable did instead hope for me to take the reins of the discipline

and cause the piano playing to become a part of my soul.

 

Many of visit to Grandma Burns home gave way to a play at the piano and a sing along of 'How Great thou Art' or

'Here comes Peter Cotton Tail', or perhaps, 'When the Saint's come Marching In', or

just my parents and siblings standing quietly near the piano as Mable played the many tunes in her repertoire.

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Mable was indulgent with our childish request.

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Kind and generous with her demeanor and always had a willingness to engage our family at the piano.

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I wish you could have known her caring nature towards us, her step-grandchildren.

 

Mable never waivered in her kindness and assurance of our safety, health and love offered of her to us within her home.