Women in the Music Industry
Laurie Prosser and her husband Duane worked together at a small piano store in Sioux Falls, South Dakota before moving to Washington state in 1955. There the couple opened the first Prosser Piano stores in Tacoma, beginning a family business that would include their two sons, Kevin and Kerry....
Deanie Sigafoos began working for Prosser Piano when it was located on 6th Avenue in Tacoma, Washington. She recalls meeting the owners, Laurie and Duane Prosser, and how a close friendship seemed to have started immediately. This was 1969 and in all Deanie stayed with the store for 32 years,...
Pam Aalbers is a wonderful example of the notion that it take a team to accomplish great things. Always working behind the scenes, Pam has been a steady support to the staff at Ted Brown Music in Tacoma since 1976. When she started working at the store she helped out in the mail room but soon...
Ellie Stevens has a smile that lights up the room. And when that room is the lobby of Ted Brown Music in Tacoma, people seem to feel right at home right when they walk in the door! As a kid she played the organ and in 1973, as a teenager, she was hired to play at the mall to entice customers to...
Leanne Trevalyan was just twelve years old when she taught herself how to play the guitar using the Mel Bay method book on a no-name instrument her mother picked up at Montgomery Wards. Leanne’s love of music making was inspired by the influences of such performers as Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie...
Stephanie Howe and her sister Whitney run the chain of music stores their grandfather established in 1931, Ted Brown Music. Stephanie followed in his footsteps to run a business that supports local musicians, especially focused on the school band programs in Washington and Oregon. She moved to...
Deb Olsen provided her views on just how the Guild of American Luthiers began during her NAMM Oral History interview. Her insight offered a wonderful background into the early idea by JR Beal and her husband, Tim Olsen, as they sought to create an organization whose members would share ideas and...
Margaret Woods receives great satisfaction bringing joy to others as an entertainer! Even as a small child dancing on tables, Margaret realized she could make others smile. When her father opened a dance hall it was the perfect place for her to show off her talents as a dancer and singer. Margaret ...
Sylvia Massy has always been fascinated by art in all forms. She began painting at an early age and as a teenager had her own radio program. As a musical performer she first focused on learning the skills needed to record her own music but soon discovered many of her friends were requesting her...
Trish Montgomery is the Accounts Manager for Amro Music, a 100-year-old music retail store in Memphis, Tennessee. She began working for Amro in 1990 when Chip Averwater, the grandson of the founder, hired her to do data entry as the company updated their computer programs. The position soon grew to...