“I felt very sad that no one’s been playing it for a long time,” Lynne said.
When Lynne began volunteering at Old St. Peter’s Landmark, the idea of donating the piano slowly took shape.
“I love St. Peter’s,” she said. “I thought, ‘Wait, I have this baby grand piano.’ It could get played down there and people will enjoy it.”
Linda Miller, president of the Old St. Peter’s Landmark Preservation Board, immediately recognized the instrument’s value. Linda herself took piano lessons as a child on a baby grand inside St. Mary’s Academy in The Dalles in the late 1950s.
“Well, I didn’t want to get rid of it,” Lynne said. “I just wanted it to have a better home.”
Moving the piano into the historic structure required careful coordination.