PARTING IS SUCH SWEET MUSIC

Don Poh’s long relationship with his “old buddy” ended with three taps and a kiss.

It had been a long journey for Poh ’50, whether you counted it as starting three days before in Green Bay, Wis., seven months before during supper with a Dana College development officer, or nearly 60 years before on U.S. Navy warships in the Atlantic and Pacific. They all ended in the same place, Trinity Chapel, with the same act of generosity — Poh leaving his “old buddy,” a restored, 1973, 9-foot concert grand Baldwin piano, to enhance the education of present and future Dana College students.

As he gave his last impromptu concert on the piano on May 13, Poh explained to the audience how there was a direct line from the ventures of World War II to the gift of the piano to Dana. “It’s a war story of a different kind,” he said. “Without the war I wouldn’t have gone to college (on the G.I. Bill). If I hadn’t gone to Dana, I wouldn’t have studied music. If I hadn’t studied music, I wouldn’t have opened the store. Without the store, I wouldn’t have this piano to give.”

The piano is especially dear to Poh because it not only came from his store, Don Poh Music Inc. in Green Bay, but it was the highlight of Little Carnegie, a concert hall Poh built on the side of the store for countless recitals and performances from the youngest beginners to the most accomplished professionals. The piano is a “twin” to the one preferred by the great Leonard Bernstein and already has Dana’s students and faculty buzzing about what its presence could mean for the college’s piano program.

“It really makes a difference to be able to audition a student on a good instrument,” said Dr. Claire Bushong, assistant professor of music. Knowing such a great instrument is available — and not just to graduate students like at large universities — will draw talented piano students to Dana.

The gift comes from Poh’s gradual retirement from a half-century of being Green Bay’s piano man. Little Carnegie closed a year ago, and Poh and his wife, Judith, have scaled back the store. When Poh was approached by Director of Planned Giving Jim Jorgensen about giving to the Grand Piano Fund (started by Alma (Madsen ’22) Petersen to buy a new piano for Trinity Chapel), Poh told Jorgensen he had an idea for something even more complete. Instead of a just another instrument, he would let Dana have the 9-foot grand, undoubtedly a superb instrument with the right combination of age and materials to make pianists’ dreams come true. He would also add money to the Peterson Fund to care for this instrument and also refurbish Dana’s other performance and practice pianos to top condition. Several are Baldwin studio pianos Poh’s firm helped Dana buy 40 years ago. Another is the 1925 baby grand Steinway he used to perform a Rachmaninoff concerto at his own senior recital in 1950.

Poh’s donation is an example of a gift of tangible personal property, a term for a donation of personal property that doesn’t take the form of cash or marketable securities. Dana has benefited over the years from many gifts of this type, including stamp, book and coin collections, art work and jewelry.

“Gifts of tangible personal property are a thoughtful and specific way to give to the college,” Jorgensen said. When an item of value is no longer needed by a donor, giving it to Dana allows items to have a new home or help the college through its sale. The donor still gets the tax break without the headache (or heartache) of finding a buyer.

Poh said he hopes the piano will be a gift that inspires and educates students for decades to come.

“It’s the spirit that lives on,” he said. “Whomever we touch, whatever we touch, we leave our spirit there.”

He said he felt it was only right his favorite piano find a permanent home at Dana. Since graduating with a music degree in 1950, Dana has never left Poh.

“Dana taught us not only how to make a living, Dana taught us how to live,” he said.

“I’m extremely grateful that I’m in a position today to give Dana something it didn’t have, for the students of tomorrow.”