Harvey Burkholder passes the baton onto entrepreneur, Sonja Farrell. ECA Review/Submitted
After serving the community and Kneehill County as well as most of Alberta for over 27 years, Harvey J. Burkholder is handing over his business to Sonja Farrell, a resident of Three Hills.
Harvey had thought he would be entering into his retiring years however when a dear friend who had the business of tuning pianos needed a successor Harvey stepped up and started learning the trade.
He was mentored and took the world renowned, Randy Potter School of Piano Technology course. First serving northern and north central Alberta in the communities around Peace River, Slave Lake and Athabasca.
He and his wife Darlene moved to Three Hills and continued this valuable service in our community, along with numerous surrounding communities, for 20 years.
Harvey had sought a successor to take over his business, Select Sound but had failed to find someone several times. Then when he recently asked Sonja if she would like to tune pianos she replied that she knew nothing about it. Harvey’s response was, “neither did I when I first started”.
This gave Sonja hope that she could learn and do something useful for the community. She took her own piano apart to learn how to maintain and service pianos.
After completing six months of mentoring, she is currently enrolled in the same course Harvey completed. She is confident that she will be able to help out anyone needing their piano tuned and serviced.
Sonja is an enthusiastic learner, she grasps the concepts of the technology.
Harvey will now have a more relaxed retirement as he works on writing the history of his life for the benefit of his grandchildren and many others.
Submitted
