While I was tuning the pianos at St. Joe Manor Nursing Home a lady visiting there approached me and said, "My husband is a piano tuner too." I asked, "Who is your husband?" She said, "Marvin Cook." Mr. Cook was THE piano tuner in this part of Missouri for years. He tuned my piano when I was a child. She took me back to his room to say hello. He no longer remembered me and could not speak. His once bright red hair was now white. After I went back to tuning, I looked inside of the piano I was working on and saw the initials "M.C" and all of the dates the piano had been tuned. Mr. Cook had tuned this very piano, now located in the very nursing home where he now lives. Life is funny like that sometimes isn't it? What will our mark on the world be? For what will we be remembered?

Stick your finger in a glass of water, pull it out, and see if it leaves a hole.

You leave only your reputation behind you, and only to those who care. I remember reading about a woman who suffered from hypochondria her whole life. Visited a doctor or a hospital several times a week but ended up living to be over a 100 years old.
When she passed on, all that appeared on her gravestone was her name and underneith it one line that said..."I told you I was sick".

I like to see old marks in pianos left by tuners from that time. I feel deep respect for them. I leave my marks too, knowing that one day somebody would see them, just like I see the mentioned marks now.

Hi Bojan - Hopefully you're leaving your marks in a lot of pianos in your area!

One of the more interesting things I've seen here in Iowa are a great number of pianos which are signed "Geo. W. Powell - Moth Treatment," followed by a date, usually in the '20's. It never mentions tuning, so I assume the man just marketed a moth-treatment - probably going door to door. Must have been a legit process, because I don't recall every seeing a piano so labeled that had any sort of insect damage to the hammers or other felts.

I saw a tuning date (by another technician) one time that was dated 4/12/50 - the day I was born. That one caused me to stop and ponder how things come full circle.

Anyway, an interesting topic. Chuck Behm

Ryan, that's a great story.

Your story reminded me of a friend of mine's mother. She ended up in a nursing home. All her life, she had listened to her son repair pianos at their home and at his workshop. He is piano tech by trade, and started working on pianos when he was 12 yrs old. At 86, she was admitted into a nursing home, due to the onset and progression of Alzheimers.

In the main dining room of this nursing home, was a working, upright player piano. One day while visiting his mother at the nursing home, he turned on the player piano for his mother and the other patients. After a few minutes, his mother turned to him and said, "turn that damn thing off[". Of course it was the Alzheimers talking, as she always loved to hear the pianos play. She passed not too long after that incident.

It's so important to appreciate everyone's work, no matter what they do, since life is so short, and unexpected things do happen to each of us. I think it's great piano tuners leave their mark on their work.