The Alger Family Piano!

I am a school teacher. I've been teaching elementary school for 19 years. My husband is a project manager. We met doing family history work. He was probably there for the girls, but I love uncovering new family stories. He likes ballroom dancing, dungeons and dragons and movies. I love hiking, board games and movies. We have been married for 17 years. We have 4 boys. The oldest 3 take piano lessons and the youngest thinks the piano is his alone. Whenever they play, he is there to help. Our oldest (15) loves ballroom dancing. Our red head (12) loves coding. The third (8) loves soccer and basketball. The baby (3) loves anything his brothers are doing.
We don't yet know the full history of the piano, but my mom inherited it from her Grandma, Dora. As far as my mom remembers, it was a centerpiece in the home and a joy to all the family, which is why she wanted it. Great Grandma Dora became a widow in the early 1950's when Great Grandpa died in as the pilot in an airplane accident. They were living in Ogden, Utah with lots of family close by. The piano was a gift from a widower who was courting her after the death of their first spouses and Dora's youngest son wanted to learn how to play. Frank had given the piano to his first wife, but rumor has it she didn't like the player piece and threw it away. When Frank's wife died and he started courting Dora and although he never ended up officially joining the family, the extended family called him "Uncle Frank" and have fond memories of the piano. Because of these fond memories, My mom asked her grandmother in the early 1980's, if she could buy her piano. Instead, my mother inherited it. I grew up learning to play on this piano, although I never got very good, mostly because I didn't practice and partially because the pedals were always broken, it seems to be perpetually out of tune and I had to share with 7 siblings. I remember it being a centerpiece in our home and family life growing up in Pleasant Grove, Utah and all of us children learned to play the piano. We also learned to hide things in it and color certain keys to remember where they were. We kids also carved messages into the bench before we were civilized. We took the piano with us when we moved to Albuquerque and it continued to be important in our family. It was so important to me specifically, that I asked my mom if I could inherit it when she didn't need it anymore. She gave it to me when I got married and had a house of my own in 2009. She bought a new grand piano to replace it in her home and my youngest sisters are much better pianists than the rest of us. Lol. In my home, all my boys take lessons. My oldest has been begging me to fix the pedals for his birthday for a couple years, but in the meantime he has learned to use the pedals, as I did, creatively using his heel. My mom had them soldered back on in the 1980's but they broke off again when we children knocked the bench over and onto the pedals. I think I'll need new pedals altogether. My 12 year old autistic boy finds so much comfort in the piano. When he's frustrated, he goes to the piano and he feels better. Some people are annoyed by his odd compositions, but I love that it is his happy place. Most of my children love this piano and I am confident it will stay in our family for many more generations. It has been well loved and needs a little love in return. We don't expect to win, and can't afford a full restoration, so maybe we could do a little bit at a time. We'd love to start with the pedals, so my oldest son can feel successful on the piano and keep up with his lessons.

• YEAR 1920-1930
• MAKE From Classroom to Family Harmony: How One Heirloom Piano Connects Generations
• SERIAL NUMBER 159842
• FINISH Cherry
• RENTAL PRICE $NaN
• FINANCE PRICE $NaN
• CATEGORY CONTESTANT