We have covered some, not all, of the people who have had a huge influence on generations of children who have grown up playing piano and guitar, and other instruments due in large to the teachers who gave endlessly of their time and talents to insure that others would carry on their legacy. That legacy has caused a \u2018ripple effect\u2019 from this little county in North Alabama to as far away as California, New York and Florida. Here are a few more. My apologies to those we couldn\u2019t get hold of, or didn\u2019t have time and space this year to devote to you, there\u2019s always next year!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sometimes there are people who pass through our lives like the proverbial ships in the night; others are more complex in their relationships to those they interact with. Some are in our hearts and minds forever, as friends, teachers and mentors. Here is the story of one such mentor\/friend whose former students chimed in on this series to pay their respects and gratitude to a teacher who they all agree, was more than a teacher, she\u2019s become like family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gail Dutton LouAllen started playing piano when she was in the fourth grade, taking lessons from several teachers over the course of her studies.\u00a0<\/span> One of them was Ms. Anna Simms Rainey, the first teacher featured in this series. Her love of music was passed down to her from her father, Mutt Dutton. She continued to play duets with him until his death not long ago.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although it was never her intention to teach music, she just sort of naturally gravitated into the role because she played in church and people heard her, liked her style and were persuasive enough to nudge her in that direction. Over the past 50 years she has taught hundreds of children, and is still doing so.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sometimes parents told her, \u201cIf you don\u2019t teach them anything else, taking lessons will teach them to keep appointments and to be on time,\u201d she laughed, knowing that it teaches them so very much more. \u201cIt teaches a child how to be responsible, self-confident, and it is something that they can do for the rest of their lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n She recalls them all fondly and keeps up with their achievements and successes, still cheering them on whenever she talks to them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n One of those children was three-year-old Joy Henderson. That\u2019s not a typo, she was three. \u201cI was one of those babies who kicked along to the music when I was still in the womb,\u201d she laughed. Her parents, Chris and Diane Henderson, remembered the tiny life growing inside of Diane\u2019s swelling belly and recognized that it might be a sign of responding to musical stimuli.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n When she was barely old enough to sit on a bench and reach the keys they took their toddler to Gail LouAllen, who somehow knew just how to keep her attention and further stimulate her interest and involvement in the piano and the sounds that she could command from the ivory and black keys.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe made it interesting and fun,\u201d Joy recalls. \u201cShe taught me the color key codes and it helped me to learn those, too, along with the sound each note made.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n How in the world do you teach a child that young to play piano? \u201cThrough love, patience and perseverance,\u201d says LouAllen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n An East Lawrence 2001 graduate, Joy was Drum Major in the marching band there and taught the East Lawrence band camp. \u201cI knew the first time that I saw UNA\u2019s marching band that it\u2019s what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n During her college years she worked at Disney under the company\u2019s college program, and eventually returned to Florence where she graduated from UNA with a BA and an MA, and went on to teach\u00a0<\/span> elementary and high school\u00a0<\/span> music. She still loves conducting and exploring learning to play different instruments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n She met her husband, Mitchell Solomon while teaching in northern Florida. The couple now resides near Orlando with their four-year-old son, Carson, who is also musically inclined.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Joy credits her knowledge of music, pleasure in sharing it with others and her career in music to Gail LouAllen, \u201cMiss Gail instilled a love for music in me at a very young age,\u201d she said. \u201cShe has a passion for music that she passed along to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Although she quit piano at the age of 13 when she started taking flute lessons in Huntsville, she knows that those formative years spent in Gail\u2019s classes were the backbone of her success. \u201cShe taught me music theory and note identification and how to read music properly. If it wasn\u2019t for her I wouldn\u2019t have been able to do what I\u2019ve done,\u201d Joy concluded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Siblings Steven and Tracy Loosier both studied piano under the tutelage of Gail LouAllen. Steven was five, and in kindergarten at the time. Now, at the age of 41, he looks back at those years of taking lessons from Gail as some of the best of his young life. Since his sister, Tracy (Rabi) was also taking lessons, it was almost the same as having two teachers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n He says that it was from Ms. Gail that he learned piano because she was more to them than just a piano teacher. \u201cShe poured of herself into us,\u201d he stressed. \u201cOur achievements were her achievements.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n LouAllen\u2019s basic lessons consisted of beginning basic music books and went from there to the Mull Song Books, with emphasis on the old traditional hymns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In addition to teaching, she always enjoys playing in churches and for various events. She made it a point to honor God in her teaching and interactions with her students. And in between learning manners, social etiquette and good work ethics, they learned to play the piano almost like it was a game or a fun activity, something way beyond learning to read music and keep time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Loosier has used all of the skills and traits LouAllen taught him and has served as church keyboardists in several churches over the years. He now resides in Lebanon, Tenn. with his wife and daughter, Cameryn, who is also a talented musician. He has adapted LouAllen\u2019s style of playing a little bit of everything including country and swing, but for both, gospel music is the core of their expression in music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI can still hear her telling me that people would let me down, but music never would, that it would be my friend forever, and that has proven to be true,\u201d he says now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Currently, Loosier lends his talents to the choir that sings with CeCe Winans, led by 3x Grammy Award winning songwriter, producer, and church leader, Dwan Hill, and is excited to be singing with such a talented group.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n His sister, Tracy Rabi who lives in Athens now, agrees with his thoughts about their former teacher and current family friend.\u00a0<\/span> In fact, she attributes being able to help her own son, Jordan Waldrop, how to play directly to LouAllen, passing what LouAllen taught her on down to the next generation of students. \u201cJordan took from Gail for several years, starting at the age of five, and now at the age of 21 he is still playing with the UNA Jazz Band,\u201d she said. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tracy still plays for special church events and funerals, and with her brother, when their schedules permit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lynn Thompson and her daughters, Emma, 23, and Maggie, 14, are also big fans of this teacher who has touched so very many lives. \u201cShe is more like family than a teacher,\u201d says Lynn.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe\u2019s an incredible lady, and the wisest person I know,\u201d daughter, Emma, chimed in. \u201cYou go there partly for the piano lessons and partly for the advice!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMy kids didn\u2019t want to leave when lessons were over,\u201d Lynn laughed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe is always helping struggling people and never makes a big deal of it,\u201d Maggie added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n As for LouAllen herself, she says she started teaching because she knew the need in various churches. \u201cI just wanted to do my part to help,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n She says part of the reason for her success is that she finds out what kind of music\u00a0<\/span> a child likes to play and works from there. Usually she can use some psychology on the ones who don\u2019t want to be there at first and after they\u2019ve come for a few sessions they find out how much fun it is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe blessings from my students are joy unspeakable and full of glory!\u201d she said immediately when asked what the most rewarding part of her job has been. \u201cI hope that their feelings will always be mutual.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Many thanks to those of you who have traveled back in time with us to try and show the line of students who sprang from right here in Lawrence County. It is with humble respect and fascination that I look over this\u00a0<\/span> series and I\u2019m in awe of you who have provided the children of Lawrence County with such a lifelong treasure as you went about your work with a song in your heart and with grace and quiet dignity. The ripple effect continues \u2026.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n