Music Memory from Carole Gauthier Lancon
Carole Gauthier Lancon
Carole Gauthier Lancon is an artist, long-time arts educator and art therapist who lives in a small village called Parks, Louisiana on the banks of Bayou Teche. Originally from St. Martinville, Carole grew up in a family where art and art making were an everyday part of life.
She also had a musical childhood, and shares some wonderful and vivid memories of her piano teacher, Mrs. Evelyn.
Evenly was an interesting woman and quite a character—she was a performer with an all-girls orchestra in the 1940s and was known as “Evelyn and her magic violin.”
Carole says, “She was just one awesome little bitty old lady who helped me out during a time when I was pre-teen. I’d walk down the street to her house every Thursday afternoon, sit down at the piano and she would accompany me on her cello. She always made me feel very special.
“I remember one particular afternoon…. Little girls love to be bullies….On the way down the street to her house, all of my friends were playing in the front yard with another classmate, and when they saw me coming down the street, they ran and hid in the backyard. So, I had to pass in front of the house, knowing they were back there.
When I got to Miss Evelyn’s I broke down and started crying, and she comforted me. She was more than a piano teacher. She was a really fine lady.”
Thank you, Carole, for sharing your sweet memory and for introducing us to “Evelyn and her magic violin!” What a terrific story.
