Blodgett - Pierce Family --- Family Stories
Luthers Accomplishments
by Barbara (Blodgett) Vannier
My younger brother, Luther, was a worker. He set goals, then kept working toward them -
all the time being the nicest, kindest, most thoughtful person around.
He decided one time to learn to make angelfood cake. This was a good thing for him to do,
since we had so many eggs. Soon he was famous among our relatives for his angelfood cakes.
Another time he thought he'd like to learn to play the piano introduction to one of his trumpet
solos. He had had only very rudimentary instruction on the piano, but that didn't matter to him.
This introduction contained a passage with two notes to a beat in one hand, against three notes
to a beat in the other. This is very difficult to play, but he accomplished it.
Challenges of every kind were enticing to him. He didn't seem like the athletic type, although
he was lithe and strong, but he became interested in learning to walk on his hands. How he
developed the strength to do that, I don't know and why he wanted to do it, I don't know either.
I guess it was just the challenge of it. Anyhow, eventually he was walking all over the house
on his hands, even up stairs.
All the practicing he did on the trumpet really paid off; it earned him a full scholarship to
Julliard. All his life he played in symphony orchestras and various groups, but the compensation
for that wasn't enough to live on, so he got a degree in music education and taught instrumental
music in schools besides.
Later in life he began to work with wood and he made some very complicated things. I can think
of a beautiful plant stand and a pull-out shelf he made for his wife for their kitchen.
He made his whole life just one challenge after another. I think the culmination came when he
was 82 years old. He played the trumpet solo in Aaron Copeland's "Quiet City" with the Ridgewood
Symphony Orchestra. Unless you're familiar with that piece, you wouldn't know what a feat that
was, even for a younger person. I was fortunate to be in the audience that night. It was truly
a beautiful performance. The audience gave him a standing ovation and the conductor was very
impressed with his solo, and told him so.
Luther Blodgett was the son of Boyd and Julia (Stone) Blodgett
and the grandson of Abram and Jessie (Pierce) Blodgett