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Piano donated to furniture swap finds home in Kitimat General Hospital

An old piano has found its way to the Kitimat General Hospital after being donated at a Kitimat furniture swap.
25999kitimatPianoDec.2014
A piano collected during Kitimat's recent furniture swap has found a home at the Kitimat General Hospital.

We’ve all heard the saying “one person’s junk is another person’s treasure”.  This is indeed true this Christmas season.

During the recent furniture swap, coordinated by the Kitimat Chamber of Commerce, an unknown individual left an old upright piano in front of the former Humane Society building for the swap.

Upon hearing about it, Kitimat General Hospital Foundation (KGHF) Chair Corinne Scott checked it out and received permission from Jonathan Cooper, the hospital’s administrator, to have it installed in the lobby at the hospital.

This old unwanted upright became a ‘treasure’ to be used to lift people’s spirit during the Christmas Coffee House hosted by the KGHF each December, as well as being available for recitals throughout the rest of the year.

Al Goodwin volunteered to restore the piano’s tired face to its former glory.  After much careful, painstaking work, the piano has received its face-lift and been rejuvenated.

The tone of the piano is resonating and beautiful, so an Internet search was conducted to see if the history of this lovely old lady could be discovered.

It has been determined that it was built approximately in 1914  by the Columbus Piano Co. in Columbus, Ohio and is called “The Boudoir Piano,” due to its smaller size.

It has a scale of 6 1-3 octaves, D to F, with 76 notes.  The case is made of mahogany with a special spherical built-up sounding board, with a tone sustaining acoustic rim.  This is what provides the resonating sound.  It is only 4’ 2” high x 4’ 2” long, with a depth of 2’.

Similar reconditioned pianos have sold for thousands of dollars.

Bandstra Transportation graciously agreed to move the piano from the Furniture Swap site to the hospital in time for KGHF’s Christmas Coffee House on December 3.

- Submitted