Al Crowder, 72, has a bucket list. It's not that his health is failing or anything like that. In fact, other than having a cataract removed and some difficulty with his hearing, he's in great shape.
It's just that he hadn't had much time in life to do a few things he really wanted to do. He worked hard as a banker and then in real estate. He and his wife Barbara raised five children.
A year after they built their home overlooking the lake and golf course at Incline Village, near Foristell, she died of kidney failure. That was eight years ago. They had been married 41 years. She had been on dialysis 6 1/2 years. During that time Al focused on her care.
Al sings tenor in the choir at Wentzville Methodist Church. He acts in community theater. He golfs regularly with the ROMEO Club. (That would be Retired Old Men Eating Out.)
"I'm a busy kind of guy," he says.
If you're on Al's Christmas-card list you already know what he wants to scratch off his list. His Christmas card is a picture of Al in a white shirt and black vest sitting at a baby grand piano: "Season's greetings and a Happy New Year from the Piano Man."
Al had always wanted to learn to play a musical instrument and commenced piano lessons a year ago.
"I didn't know at the time that it's the hardest instrument to play," he says. According to Al, that's because each hand plays different notes, hitting different keys simultaneously.
But Al didn't settle simply on playing the piano. He is a woodworker and decided to refurbish a baby grand piano about 100 years old. The piano you see in his Christmas card is a prop; it's not the piano he's refurbishing. Al's piano is a work in progress.
Much of it, the outer shell, remains at Wentzville Music, the business where he bought it.
The rest of it is in his basement workshop. He hopes to be finished in a few months.
Al is an interesting guy who likes to talk. What I thought would be an hour interview lasted 2 1/2 hours. The one thing he wouldn't reveal was how much he paid for his piano.
But he did point out the price includes advice and occasional help from Dan Poel, who owns Wentzville Music.
"I told Dan that I will give you X number of dollars for this," Al says. "But here is the package. I can do 90 percent of the work. I need your help for the other 10 percent. I need your advice."
The baby grand was made by Schiller Co., which was in Oregon, Ill., southwest of Rockford. The company was founded in the 1890s, merged with another piano maker in 1936 and went out of business decades ago.
Schiller pianos are noted for their sound quality. That's due to the wide gap between strings and sound board, which is the bottom piece of the piano's frame.
Al refinished the major wooden pieces. He's waiting for the stainless-steel piano wires.
Did you know, he asks, that by hitting certain piano keys you actually strike more than one string at a time?
Al stripped away the worn ivory on the 88 wooden keys and sold it to buy new acrylic covers. He removed the 200-pound cast-iron inner shell of the piano, called the "harp," and cleaned it.
"I like challenges. This is a big one."
Al hoped to have the piano finished by Christmas. He wanted to host the church choir's annual Christmas party in his home. But that didn't happen.
In the meantime, he continues to practice on a small electric piano on loan from the choir director.
In recent years Al has checked off a few items on his list: a trip to Yellowstone; rock climbing at age 70; visiting Alaska; and a sailboat cruise of the Caribbean on what he describes as a "party boat."
Still on his list are a visit to the Grand Canyon and a fishing trip where he would be flown to a remote location in Canada.
On the day we met, Al already had volunteered at the Daniel Boone Home near Defiance, where he hopes to help build a foot-powered lathe made of hickory.
We sit at a table in his airy, spacious home and talk. Nearby is a pot he made while taking a pottery class at St. Charles Community College. Throughout the house are framed photos he shot at places such as the Botanical Garden. On the table is a book titled "Imperial Swing Dance." He's a dancer looking to get better. His ex-partner is also his ex-girlfriend.
Al smiles and lifts an eyebrow. "She's 46 years old."
Al says his wife had him promise that after she was gone he would live a full, adventurous life.
"That's my philosophy on life," he says. "Just get out there and enjoy it. Now if I could just find me a new dance partner."
POKIN AROUND Steve Pokin is a columnist for the Suburban Journals. He can be reached at spokin@yourjournal.com or by phone at 314-744-5704. His column is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PokinAround.
