Vera’s
Legacy Thousands Benefit
The Pontotoc Music Study Club presented
a program of piano selections at the First Baptist Church in Pontotoc, last
Saturday night. Patricia Henry orchestrated the program, and in her opening
comments dedicated the musical program to her former teacher, Miss Vera Salmon.
It was then I began to visualize the magnitude of Miss Vera’s influence
on today’s generation. If one were to equate Miss Vera’s piano
students to her offspring, then Miss Vera’s descendants would number
in the thousands. In fact, just the students of Patricia Henry would number
in the thousands.
Vera Salmon was born in 1895. After graduating from the American Conservatory
of Music in Chicago, she began teaching piano. According to Mrs. Ann Berryhill,
her niece, Miss Vera taught for more than seventy years. There are no records
that suggest how many students she taught in her career, but Mrs. Berryhill
named a host of students that included, Patricia Young Henry, Vera Nell Boone
Knight, Jerry Patton, Ernestine Ferrell, Martha Jo Fisk, Randy Moore, Alma
Jo Rayburn, Marilyn Clement, and later Marilyn’s daughter, Beverly.
"She started most of the music clubs that exist in Pontotoc County, today,"
Miss Ann recounted, "the Mozart Music Club, Beethoven Music Club, Crescendo
Music Club, and the Music Study Club."
"I think the school provided Aunt Vera a room on the first floor for her
use when she began to teach piano students," Miss Ann recalled. "I know she
also taught students in the Sawilmon Hotel when our family lived there. When
the hotel burned, we lost everything as did she."
"We used to drop in and visit Aunt Vera, near the end of her teaching career,
which she spent living in her home on South Main Street, but it was hard
to visit with a student plinking on the piano in the next room. But, she
loved children, and she loved to hear them playing the piano."
Patricia Henry remembers playing for her dad’s quartet at an early age,
"When I was in the fourth grade, my daddy came and got me out of school to
play for a funeral. That was my first funeral."
"When I was in the eighth grade, Miss Vera told me I had learned enough to
teach others. In the summer of 1951, I bought a Bible with the money I earned
that year. I still have that Bible with the inscription stating it was purchased
with money earned from teaching piano. Bobbie Segars (Mrs. Larry Young) was
my first student."
"I taught all through high school. My brother, who lived in Oxford, would
come and get me on Thursday afternoon and take me to Oxford, and I taught
students from the Oxford area. Some of my students would walk home from school
with me on Friday afternoon and I’d teach them at my house. Every Saturday
morning, I started out teaching at 7:30, taking a break around 10:30 to go
with my daddy’s quartet and play on the radio station in Houston, MS.
I’d get home around 12:30 and there’d be a student waiting for
me. Mama would have me a sandwich on a plate on the piano, and I would teach
through lunch and late afternoon."
How Patricia found time to get married and raise a family of one daughter
and two boys is difficult to imagine. Patricia and her husband Wallace, have
spent most of their married years in Pontotoc. No doubt, Miss Vera’s
own work ethic and love of music strongly influenced Patricia, and since
Patricia’s dad also loved music, she surely received a double portion
of music appreciation.
My first memories of Patricia Young Henry have nothing to do with music.
I remember her as an upperclassman who was not only popular but also excelled
in leadership, as evidenced in her being the first female to be elected President
of the prestigious Student Council of Pontotoc High School. Personally, I
felt honored to be elected as a class representative to the Student Council,
but I had no delusions about ever being its President.
I phoned Patricia before writing this article. I asked her how many students
she had taught, but she had no idea. However, she did remember that the most
students she had in a single year was 118.
"I had three teachers helping me that year," Patricia laughed.
It’s easy to calculate that Patricia has taught thousands in the fifty-five
years she has given piano lessons. Why, just twenty students per year for
fifty years would be one thousand students, and twenty would be an ultra
conservative number.
This past week, the Pontotoc Music Study Club celebrated National Music Week.
There were many events throughout the week, but the grand finale was the
program of piano music at First Baptist Church.
Patricia enlisted some of her former students as well as current members
of the Music Study Club. They began practices at the end of March. In her
closing remarks, at the conclusion of the program, Patricia shared that the
entire group was never able to practice at a single rehearsal, a feat not
realized until the final number of the evening in which all twelve participants
were involved.
Utilizing 5 pianos, 2 electric keyboards, and 1 pipe organ, six of
Patricia’s former students along with six others participated in what
I would describe as the best music I’ve heard presented in many a year.
Patricia’s former students were Rayanne Carter Adams, Shannon Weatherly,
Mitzi Montgomery Russell, Alma Jo Henry, Jerri Lamar Bradley Kantack, and
Mignon Montgomery Williamson. Other participants were Terri Blissard, Emily
Taylor, Rev. Ginger Holland, Pam Dallas Leathers, Stephanie Long, and Patricia
Henry. In my phone conversation with Patricia, she noted having also taught
Shannon’s dad, Mignon’s mother, and Terri’s mother, as well
as having taught Emily Taylor’s piano teacher, Charlotte Garrison Foster.
For the evening, Patricia chose fourteen selections, which may be classified
as follows:
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Religious: Heaven Came Down, The Holy City, Majesty, and Let
There Be Peace On Earth.
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Popular Classical: Deep Purple, Stardust, Malaguena,
and Granada.
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American Folk Classics: Oh, Susanna; Kitten On The Keys, and
The Harmonica Player.
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Classical: Solfeggietto and Invention No. 8 in F Major.
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American Patriotic Classics: Stars and Stripes Forever.
It was not a night for solo performances, as there were never less than two
individuals playing, and on most selections six or more was the norm. The
talent of the performers was such that the music seemed to be emanating from
a single source, even as all twelve played the soul-stirring arrangement
of Stars and Stripes Forever. It was something I won’t soon forget.
Joel Hale commented after the program, "I don’t go to many of these
types of programs, but I had the feeling I should make this one. I’m
glad I came. It was really something. Do you remember that, years ago, I
told you I hoped Rayanne would continue with her music?"
"I sure do, she’s made us proud! She loved playing tonight as much as
we loved hearing her."
I had spoken to Patricia before the program and she shared, "Rayanne was talking
to some of the group at our last practice. She didn’t know I was anywhere
around when I heard her say, ‘I’m so glad to be in the middle of
all of this.’ And, I’m so glad she’s participating."
After the program, Bill Wardlaw told Rayanne, "My mother would have been
so proud of you girls."
Bill’s mother, Louise, was particularly fond of piano music and often
shared her appreciation of the talents of Rayanne, Mignon, and Shannon.
Patricia told me she talked to Larry Young the day after the program and
attributes him as saying, "I thought about that program all night, and I’ve
decided it was the best musical program I’ve ever attended."
Patricia also told me I could thank her husband, Wallace, for the enjoyable
selections.
"After we married and Wallace had attended a few piano recitals, he told
me if I wanted to keep teaching that I should choose songs that Daddy’s
would like to hear. I got the message, and ever since I’ve followed
his advice."
Vera Salmon left quite a legacy, especially for one who never married or
had any children of her own. A number of Pontotoc County pianists who were
taught by Miss Vera became piano teachers, as well. Patricia Henry is but
one. My daughter, Rayanne, was a student of Patricia for twelve years. Now,
Rayanne lives in Belmont, where she not only plays the organ for First Baptist
Church, she also teaches piano students in her home. So, the legacy of Miss
Vera Salmon continues to the present day, and as students of Miss Vera’s
students also become teachers, her legacy is not likely to abate anytime
soon.
Bodock Beau Dear
Milkman
A lot of us can remember when there really were milkmen who delivered milk
in glass bottles right to ones doorsteps. While I can’t vouch for the
truthfulness of the notes that follow, I can laugh while enjoying them.
Dear Milkman
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Dear Milkman, I've just had a baby, please leave another one.
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Please leave an extra pint of paralyzed milk.
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Please don't leave any more milk. All they do is drink it.
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Milkman, please close the gate behind you because the birds keep pecking
the tops off the milk.
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Sorry not to have paid your bill before, but my wife had a baby and I've
been carrying it around in my pocket for weeks.
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Sorry about yesterday's note. I didn't mean one egg and a dozen pints, but
the other way round.
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When you leave my milk, knock on my bedroom window and wake me, because I
want you 'to give me a hand to turn the mattress.
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My daughter says she wants a milkshake. Do you do it before you deliver or
do I have to shake the bottle.
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Please send me a form for cheap milk, for I have a baby two months old and
did not know about it until a neighbor told me.
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Milk is needed for the baby. Father is unable to supply it.
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From now on please leave two pints every other day and one pint on the days
in between, except Wednesdays and Saturdays when I don't want any milk.
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My back door is open. Please put milk in 'fridge, get money out of cup in
drawer and leave change on kitchen table, because we want to play bingo tonight.
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Please leave no milk today. When I say today, I mean tomorrow, for I wrote
this note yesterday or is it today?
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When you come with the milk please put the coal on the boiler, let dog out
and put newspaper inside the screen door. PS. Don't leave any milk.
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No milk. Please do not leave milk at No. 14 either as he is dead until further
notice.
Skeleton In The Front Seat
The orthopedic surgeon I work for was moving to a new office, and his staff
was helping transport many of the items. I sat the display skeleton in the
front of my car, his bony arm across the back of my seat.
I hadn't considered the drive across town. At one traffic light, the stares
of the people in the car beside me became obvious.
I looked across and explained, "I'm delivering him to my doctor's office."
The other driver leaned out of his window. "I hate to tell you, lady," he
said, "but I think it's too late!"
Submitted by Larry Young
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