The Story from American Public Media

My Piccolo

Friday, April 20 2007 | Send to a friend

MY PICCOLO

Mary as a student, with her piccolo

In March, Dick talked to Lloyd Pardue from Yadkin County, North Carolina about the army jacket Lloyd left at the dry cleaners in 1961, and had returned to him 45 years later.

That story led Mary Hakes of Minnesota to write to us:

I loved the story about he gentleman who got his army uniform back from the cleaners decades  later. Here's my version of that story…

Mary graduated from high school in 1976. But it wasn't saying good-bye to classmates or moving away to college that got her teary-eyed. What made Mary emotional was the moment she had to return a piccolo - the piccolo she had carried and played all year long - to the high school band director.

Mary and her piccolo, now

Mary moved away for college, married and had kids, even bought new instruments. But she never quite forgot the wooden piccolo she had left behind. More than 20 years later, when her father's death brought her and her sisters home, Mary was surprised by a reunion that she never expected. She shared her unlikely story with Dick on today's show.

Music heard in this story: Concerto for Piccolo, Strings and Basso Continuo in C Major, RV. 443: II. Largo by Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic for the album Bernstein Century - Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 - Vivaldi: Piccolo Concerto