My name is Jennifer Taylor. I’m 44 years old and I grew up in Rigby Idaho. I’m the youngest of 4. I married John Taylor in November of 2000. We met on a chat line on the internet! Which back in 2000 was just not heard of. My mom told me, “he could of been Jack the Ripper! You’re lucky it was just John!” I worked at a pediatric office until I had our first baby. Then we moved to Rexburg while my husband went to BYU-I. We moved again while pregnant with our second. Then finding another job and my husband attending college for his Masters we moved to Pocatello. We struggled to have more children, which we desperately wanted. So we turned to IVF. We have 2 more as a result. All four are girls! So we have a 20 & 18 year old and then a 5 and a 2 year old. We get asked all the time if the older two are from a different marriage and explain our whole story. Being a wife and Mom is all I’ve ever wanted. Even if it didn’t go as planned, believe me a baby at 42 is no easy feat. But has been so wonderful! I don’t know the exact year of the piano. But my Mom told stories of her sitting at the piano, with her buckle shoes scratching the bench. She was born in 1939, so I’m guess it’s around 1943? My grandparents, Leo and Lida Cordon, had started a company, growing, harvesting, grinding and bottling their own horseradish, Cordon’s Horseradish, which you can still buy at any Associated Food grocery store. My grandma loved piano music, but up until then, didn’t have enough money for a piano. When Cordon’s started to be successful, my grandpa bought her this Acrosonic piano. She loved and played it often, especially on Sundays, where her and her husband and all 9 children would gather in the living room for music playing and singing. My grandma gave piano lessons out of her home for years to come. When she passed in 1974, my grandpa couldn’t bear to keep it. It was too painful to see. My mom brought it to our home, where I wouldn’t be born for 5 more years. It’s always been a permanent fixture at home. I started piano lessons at the age of 5. I remember the red piano book, (that I had colored in) sitting at the top of, what seemed to be, large piano. I was excited to play, until I realized it wasn’t so easy. But continued lessons for 10 more years. This piano was a friend and an enemy. Anyone who’s played knows the conflicting relationship of piano playing. The last bottom note has always plunked, so you have to pull the cover out a bit to play it. The keys have always been chipped, as I assume the many children that have played at this piano. There have been 24 grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren that have climbed and sat at this piano. When my mother passed in 2010, being the only child who could play, I took it to my home. My oldest loves to sit and play for hours at a time. She often tells me how out of tune it is and says we should get all new keys. Knowing the expense and also knowing the history of the piano, I would love to have it restored. I would like to have it for generations to come.
