John Pastorius used to take two buses and a commuter train to reach his summer job at the Denver Art Museum. That’s enough of a burden for anyone, let alone somebody who was born blind.
But Pastorius, a college junior at the time, was busy mastering independent life skills such as commuting and working, shopping and cooking, and sharing an apartment with a bunch of other guys — blind guys — without killing each other. It was a program of the Colorado Center for the Blind, he said.
Back at college in Lynchburg, Va., Pastorius and his adviser considered his future. He was a music major who specialized in French horn because of its beautiful tone and because there just aren’t that many French horn players out there, he said. His adviser — another blind musician — knew that he also had an aptitude for mechanics, because he’d told her all about his adventures working on antique cars with his father and the way he could “see” with his hands, he said.
“Have you heard about this piano-tuning school in Washington state?” she responded.
So in September 2013, as soon as he’d graduated from college, Pastorius came to Vancouver and got busy with the vocational program at the School of Piano Technology for the Blind, a unique Vancouver institution founded in 1949 by Emil Fries. He was a former instructor at the Washington State School for the Blind who simply refused to accept the phase-out of his program.
Fries’ refusal has resulted in a way forward for hundreds of blind and sight-impaired people over the years. Unemployment and underemployment is all too typical for this group, but the rigorous two-year program in piano repair and tuning at what’s nicknamed The Piano Hospital has launched many into independent piano-tech careers.
And that’s what Pastorius is thinking. He’s getting ready to return to his native Virginia now, he said. Not to teeny Smithfield, his hometown, but to a bigger burg like Richmond where he can start his own business and plug into a network of ready-made clients with pianos that need TLC — like churches, schools and universities, and music shops.
But first, there’s the little matter of formal graduation, which is set for today. Little is accurate, because Pastorius himself is the entire 2015 graduating class of the school, which has a total student body of six. Executive director Cheri Martin said the tiny size of the school always leads to something like overcompensation at commencement — because everybody wants to properly celebrate the graduates’ (or graduate’s) huge achievement. She said she invited Gov. Jay Inslee to speak but he was busy, so she snagged Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt instead. There will be more special surprises in store for Pastorius, she said.
Commencement is set for 4 p.m. today at the Emil Fries Auditorium at the Washington State School for the Blind, 2214 E. 13th St. It’s free.
“It feels really awesome” to know the mayor will be his personal cheerleader at graduation, Pastorius said. But then, Vancouver has been pretty awesome in general during his stay here, he said. The Vancouver Community Concert Band, where he kept up his French horn playing, has become his away-from-home family, he said. Plus, it’s been gratifying to feel the town’s love for that band.
“We get so much appreciation, so many invitations. It’s really great to know that I’ve been part of this community and doing something for it,” he said.
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