Mildred Hastings was a neighbor and my mothers friend as well as a retired educator, I think, who earned a few dollars in retirement as a piano teacher. Mildred didn’t have an easy life as she cared for her invalid mother. She would walk, along with a friend named Miss Folsom, to our house for lunch sometimes. One winter day as a preteen I was walking to town and saw Miss Hastings trying to shovel her front walk with a tiny spade-like tool. Impossible. I offered to help and she accepted. After about five futile minutes she said, “Never mind this. Let’s go play some duets!” She knew I had been studying piano with Dot Preston. We went inside and played classical duets for about an hour or more. It was great fun. But I don’t remember if her walkway ever got shoveled that day or not.
Mildred Hastings was a neighbor and my mothers friend as well as a retired educator, I think, who earned a few dollars in retirement as a piano teacher. Mildred didn’t have an easy life as she cared for her invalid mother. She would walk, along with a friend named Miss Folsom, to our house for lunch sometimes. One winter day as a preteen I was walking to town and saw Miss Hastings trying to shovel her front walk with a tiny spade-like tool. Impossible. I offered to help and she accepted. After about five futile minutes she said, “Never mind this. Let’s go play some duets!” She knew I had been studying piano with Dot Preston. We went inside and played classical duets for about an hour or more. It was great fun. But I don’t remember if her walkway ever got shoveled that day or not.