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.
“I remarried the first young man I had a date with,” she said.
Of course, once a piano teacher always a piano teacher. Lola quickly unretired and began offering lessons on a part-time basis. Later, Lola and her husband, Jess, moved to Grove, and Lola retired again. After Jess passed away, Lola, never one to feel sorry for herself or to look back for too long, started teaching again. Now, after more than 12 years, Lola is retiring again, and this time she thinks it will stick.
“I think it’s time,” she said. “I want to be fair to my students.”
At 2 p.m. Sunday, Lola’s current and former students will gather at the First United Methodist Church, 1005 Leisure Road in Grove, for one more recital.
Lola already has heard from quite a few folks and is hoping to hear from some more. Nancy said anyone who took lessons from Lola or anyone who knows Lola is invited to the recital and to the reception that will follow. Nancy said Lola even plans to take a turn on the keyboard. Lola said she’ll probably play what she plays at home between midnight and 3 a.m. when she can’t sleep.
“I’ll probably play ‘His Eye Is on the Sparrow’ and ‘Amazing Grace,’” she said.
I asked her if she would play “Honky Tonk Women,” and she laughed.
“Well, I can do that, but they probably wouldn’t like that at a Methodist church,” she said.
I asked Lola if she is sure about this whole retirement thing. She said she is. Then she paused for a second.
“Well, I’m not going to close my door,” she said.
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