On Februray 17, NAMM’s Dan Del Fiorentino shared the following:
I am sad to report that one of the matriarchs of our industry has passed away. Mrs. Colleen Summerhays of Summerhays Music in Utah passed away over the weekend.
During her 2009 NAMM Oral History interview Mrs. Summerhays recalled the day in 1940 when she walked into a local music store to inquire about a clerical position. She met the owner, her future husband, Hy Summerhays, who had opened the retail shop just four years earlier. The young couple got married and worked together during the difficult years after World War II when instruments such as the piano were very difficult to obtain. Mrs. Summerhays reminisced about her husband traveling to nearby states to buy used pianos, bringing them back to Utah, where the market was beginning to flourish as soldiers returned home to marry and start their families. Her passion and dedication to her family and community made Mrs. Summerhays an inspiration both within the music industry and in her community.
