In early June, Cindie received a call from Donna Rider Scott. Ms. Scott is a lifelong resident of the Almont area. She made over 3,000 wedding cakes – including Cindie’s and mine. While living in Almont, she attained Mary Cochrane’s Box (or square) Grand Piano. When she moved to Young Road northwest of Imlay City, she took the piano with her. She is now moving to Florida and does not have space in her new home for the piano. She requested that the museum take the piano.
This was the request that I had been dreading for over six years – someone wanting to donate something to the museum that was too large to be stored at the museum. Cindie and I went to Donna’s to look at the piano and assess how difficult it would be to move. After viewing the piano, Wez Ligon and I discussed this problem. Wez informed me that Mary Cochrane was a distant relative of her’s. She offered to allow us to temporarily store the piano in her heated barn.
I contacted my son and daughter looking for help. Kris contacted Jeff Bacholzky. Jamey and Jeff arranged for seven present and former football players to help with the move. Son Jon supplied his truck and trailer.
This crew, along with Cindie, granddaughter Brooke, and myself, went to Ms. Scott’s resident. We disassembled the piano so it would fit through the doorway. We moved the body of the piano to the trail and the legs to my car. After covering the piano and securing it to the trailer, we went to Wez’s barn and unloaded. The piano was reassembled and moved out of the way. It is stored next to the “Royal Rube” equipment.
We will be having the piano assessed to see what repairs may need to be done. After that, we will determine the next step with the piano.
We also were given Donna’s photo albums of her cakes.
