Week 35 - Unforgettable. This week I'm making this a tribute to my grandmother who is still alive, but can't remember any of us anymore, because of dementia.
When grandma was a young child, she was given a toy piano and was overheard one day, playing little tunes on the toy, by a piano teacher. This piano teacher recognised her talent, and gave her free lessons up into her late teens. She became the regular pianist for her school, and was offered a scholarship, and I believe was asked to be the official pianist for Melbourne Councils Town Hall. However she turned this down, because she wanted her skills to be used for glorifying God instead of man.
So she went on to become the musical director for the Keswick conventions at Upway and Belgrave Heights, holding the position for forty years. She also played piano and organ regularly at her own, and other local churches, right up until recently. She also offered free piano lessons to any local children in the neighbourhood. She produced several albums, playing lots of hymns, and later produced some CD's of hymn music, for churches who didn't have musicians. The proceeds from her albums, were all given to missions.
At one stage, a number of years ago now, she came across a fellow who had started to go blind at 18, and set about memorizing massive portions of scripture. He went on to write the lyrics for over 700 hymns. Grandma scored the music for all of them. He sometimes had an idea for a tune, but often just left it up to Grandma.
Grandma once played for the conductor in the London Philamonic Orchestra, and he commented that she was the best accompaniest that he had played with.
Grandma still goes to the piano everyday, in her nursing home. She can't remember us, but the tunes all still go through her head, and she sits down and plays for an audience everyday. She may not remember us, but I'll never forget her genuine love and care for everyone, and her amazing talents on the piano.