We found each other at Ashland. We also found inspiration. My husband Paul had flunked out of his first college. Due to a highly competitive high school, my grades were so mediocre that Ashland was the only college that accepted me. When we met at the Student Union, I thought Paul was nice. But, when I handed him three books, he read them, and I realized we were on the same wavelength. We rendezvoused at the Student Union every morning. We stayed together all day until I had to check in at the girls’ dorm. We took all the same classes. One class, Music Appreciation, was a requirement for a Liberal Arts degree. We dreaded the class. However, Dr. Rogers made the history of music come alive. A musical highlight that semester was a performance by the Cleveland Orchestra. Dr. Rogers mentioned that there was a highly regarded harpist with the Cleveland Orchestra. We attended the performance and were swept away. Then, due to a flood in the bookstore, some record albums were on sale. Only because of the discounted price, we purchased “In a Medieval Garden.” It became one of our favorite albums. It inspired us to buy our first musical instrument, a wooden recorder. These musical exposures led to more music exploration later. When we attended Ashland, the motto was “Accent on the Individual.” This motto proved to be very true. A wonderful guidance counselor, Mrs. Milke, helped me to recover from a semester with three Fs. A summer English teacher came to find me at my dorm. She persuaded me to come back to class, and even modified an assignment to help me. Dean Roland allowed me to have transient credits after we were married and moved to Cleveland so that I could graduate from Ashland, rather than having to transfer to another school. Paul and I are very grateful for the many good, helpful, and interesting professors, the guidance staff, and good friends. We are also very thankful for the music appreciation course waking us up, the concert featuring a harpist, and chancing upon the medieval music album. In our late twenties, we became musicians, duo harpists. We had no musical background, only a burning soul desire to create music. After trying several instruments with no success, our deep yearning led us to harps. We have been performing since 1976. We have performed for community and college arts programs, arts and crafts festivals, art museums, club meetings, schools, and churches. Ashland was truly our destiny!
