By Mike Pound

Globe columnist

mpound@joplinglobe.com

I dialed up a neat piano teacher by the name of Lola Ferrell on Wednesday afternoon.

Lola and I had a lot to talk about. Any time you get to chat with a woman who has taught piano for more than 60 years, you’re bound to have something to talk about. As a trained journalist, I reviewed my options. What I had, I figured, was a woman who has been sharing her love of music, her passion for the piano and her zest for life with her students for 60 years. A woman who, even at the age of 85, retains unbridled enthusiasm for her work. A woman who has been a source of inspiration for hundreds, if not thousands, of music students.

So when I got Lola on the phone, I asked her the obvious question.

“What’s in your barbecue sauce?” is what I asked.

“Oh, I can’t tell you that. I never give that recipe out,” is what Lola said.

What happened was, years ago in Joplin, Lola gave a bottle of her homemade barbecue sauce to some friends before heading off for a long vacation. When she returned to Joplin, she received a phone call from the daughter of the folks to whom she gave the sauce. The daughter had a restaurant in town. She loved Lola’s barbecue sauce.

“I wound up making seven to 10 gallons of sauce for her a week, and I didn’t get paid anything except for the ingredients,” Lola said. “But that was OK. I loved making it, and I had fun.”

Oddly enough, that little story about her barbecue sauce is pretty representative of her career as a piano teacher. See, Lola does things because they’re fun. She does things because she enjoys them. She does things to help others.

That’s why students have been flocking to her piano since she first started offering lessons while working at the old Ernie Williamson’s Music store at 611 S. Main St. Lola doesn’t just teach music, although she is an excellent teacher with a wonderful reputation. She teaches life. She teaches students to develop a love of music and a passion for whatever it is they may choose to do.

Nancy Lungren lives in Grove, Okla., and has sent all three of her daughters to Lola for piano lessons. I asked Nancy what she thinks of Lola.

“Oh my goodness, she’s great,” Nancy said. “She’s a great teacher. Not only a great piano teacher, but she gives instructions about more than music, more than just notes on a page. She teaches about life.”

Some folks in Joplin may remember Lola Ferrell as Lola Coodey. She taught piano for years in Joplin beginning in the 1960s before she retired and remarried in 1988, and moved to Arkansas.