Second Movement
Story Idea submitted by Kim Harralston, Life Enrichment Director at Cedarhurst of West Plains
When David Arnold walks into the common room at Cedarhurst of West Plains, there’s one thing that always catches his eye—a gleaming black grand piano. It’s not the wooden Steinway he remembers from his
the desert rolled past. At home, the family loved listening to music, often tuning in to “Cousin Minnie Pearl,” while David also developed a taste for classical pieces. After high school, David’s life took him in many directions. He attended the University of Southern California, eventually earning a master’s degree in business administration, and worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. In the engineering department, he was taught each job, and it was there he was encouraged to earn his pilot’s license. Flying small-engine planes became both a skill and a joy. David’s life also included an entrepreneurial chapter. After moving to New Hampshire with his wife, Bambi, they purchased “The Manor on Golden Pond,” a property on Swan Lake made famous after the movie’s release. “We thought it would be a good place to open a hotel,” he says. Eventually, after retirement, they moved to Missouri to be closer to their daughter, Stacey. Their two sons, Eric and Scott, live in California and Utah.
childhood in Glendale, California, but the sight of it sparked something unexpected: the desire to sit down and play again, more than six decades after his fingers last touched the keys. David’s earliest memories of music go back to the family’s living room, where that majestic Steinway stood as both a piece of furniture and a piece of history. “My parents wanted me to learn how to play,” David recalls. “I enjoyed it. The piano was large, wooden, very majestic. I always enjoyed looking at it.” As a teenager, his talent earned him the prestigious Award of Excellence from the Hollywood Bowl— an honor given to only one person each year. Growing up as an only child, David’s father worked as a Railway Mail Clerk, riding trains from California to Arizona, sorting letters as
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