вЂњItвЂ™s a beautiful piano, with light action,вЂќ says John Welborn. Today, 117 years later, AdaвЂ™s piano still has all the original parts, including the sounding board and keys. Made in America, it rivaled its European competitors. вЂHonored by young musiciansвЂ™ДЄt the time it was built, Ada WelbornвЂ™s Steinway represented the gold standard for pianos. п»їп»їп»їп»ї CAвЂ™s Henry Chesley-Vogels play the theme to La La Land on the day the piano was delivered. It was also just over a year after CA completed extensive remodeling and restoration work on the century-old house. вЂњAll agreed that Pops (Bob) thought that every house should have a piano that young people can learn on and play, especially Welborn House.вЂќ So, that is how, on a windy and snowy April morning this year, Ada WelbornвЂ™s piano came back through the doors of Welborn House after an absence of 73 years. With so many memories associated with the Steinway, Jeff Welborn made certain that having it come back to Welborn House was okay with the family after Salty died. Ben and Eli are the sons of Andy and Lizzie Welborn Rockmore вЂ90 and the fifth generation of Welborn pianists to play AdaвЂ™s piano. John has continued his love of music and still plays piano with private chamber groups.ДЄdaвЂ™s great-great grandsons, current CA students Ben (Grade 7) and Eli (Grade 2) Rockmore, also played the AdaвЂ™s piano when they visited Bob and Salty, their great-grandparents. He and his sister, Rebecca, who plays the cello, performed for their grandparents. When John spent summers working on the Franktown farm, it was not uncommon for him to take a lunch break from stacking hay and come in to play the Steinway grand. вЂњSalty loved Mozart, but Pops was not a Mozart man, and it was fun to decide which grandparent you were going to play for.вЂќ вЂњWith a twinkle in his eye, Pops always said you can play anything you want as long as itвЂ™s Bach or Beethoven,вЂќ John says. JeffвЂ™s son, John Welborn, remembers that his grandfather (whom he calls вЂњPopsвЂќ) was specific about what music he liked the most. After difficult years serving in World War II, music was his refuge.вЂќ вЂњWhen he played, IвЂ™m sure that it reminded him of his mother and brought him joy and comfort. вЂњHis mother Ada died when he was a teenager, and that affected him deeply,вЂќ Jeff Welborn says. Jeff Welborn remembers sitting in the stairwell of his home as a small child and listening to his father, Bob (a water attorney by day), play the piano at night. She was the one who protected it from 1945 on.вЂќ вЂњAll credit for the wonderful condition of this piano goes to Salty Newton Welborn. вЂњSalty was so worried about mice getting into the piano that she had mousetraps throughout the piano room,вЂќ says Jeff. There the family knew it as вЂњThe Steinway in the Stone House.вЂќ Salty continued her long tradition of vigilance, keeping it tuned by a local Steinway expert and guarding the piano from destruction. Through the years, every time Bob and Salty moved, they brought AdaвЂ™s piano along until, in 1970, it came to live at the WelbornвЂ™s stone farmhouse in Franktown, Colo. Salty also played regularly and well, and according to their son, Jeff Welborn вЂ64, she was also a wonderful вЂњopportunist, in the best sense of the word-Mom made decisions and things happened.вЂќ He imagines his mother вЂњseizing the day and practically hauling the piano herselfвЂќ across Pierce Street to its new home, a small farm house on the Newton farm. AdaвЂ™s piano was still there, and its fate fell into the hands of JesseвЂ™s youngest son Bob Welborn and his then new wife Frances Newton вЂњSaltyвЂќ Welborn.Д«ob, like his mother Ada, was truly accomplished at the piano. Ada died in 1935, and when Jesse died after WWII in 1945, the house was sold. She brought the piano (probably by train and buggy) to her home in Denver, and later moved it (1906) to her country home, the iconic Welborn House on CAвЂ™s campus. Ada was an accomplished musician and wanted a piano in her home. The piano which now graces the long west hall in Welborn House was originally purchased in 1901 from a Steinway dealer in Colorado Springs by Ada and Jesse Welborn.

This was a homecoming nearly three-quarters of a century in the making, the result of one familyвЂ™s legacy at CA-their passion for music, a love for educating young people, and a belief that there should be вЂњa piano in every house,вЂќ including the one that still bears their family name. In early 2018, Colorado Academy celebrated a homecoming-not with a pep rally or athletic event, but with the sound of music, played on a 117-year-old Steinway Model вЂњOвЂќ grand piano, filling the rooms of Welborn House.

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