His Heart was in Music and the Earth

It's my Dad's birthday today and he would have been 94.  He was a business man by profession but his heart was in music and the earth. He followed his own Dad's footsteps with Bennett's Furniture store but any chance he got he was playing music and dreaming of owning a farm one day.  He arranged music for the Wayne & Shuster show during the war and played piano and clarinet in the Army Band.  He was the Campbellford Band leader, organist at his church and accompanied many local singers and choirs.  I went to sleep many nights hearing him play popular favourites of the day such as "I Married an Angel" and "New York, New York".  In his later years he revived his repertoire from his studies at the RCM and starting working on Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Chopin.  Even at age 80 he bought himself a Steinway Grand Piano.  I was there when he took his last steps up the stairs knowing he would never play his beloved piano again.  Although he was making music all along he still yearned for a farm and when I was ten, we moved to the now Westben property. He spent hours and hours outside "tinkering" in the drive shed or on his tractor in the garden.  Even after Brian and I moved to the farm, he would visit every day and spend time on the land.  His love of music was a big inspiration for my career and he was involved in the evolution of Westben from the beginning.  From the meetings on the front lawn with community friends, to the first few years of Board meetings, he was present. He never discouraged us from turning his cornfield into a theatre venue, he seemed to have a quiet faith that the project would find its way. This is year sweet 16 for Westben, a not for profit charitable organization with an excellent Board of Directors, and I am hoping we can share this cornfield of dreams, this music and soul soaring venture with many people for years to come.  www.westben.ca