Tuesday, December 10, 2024
She was known for decades in Gatesville as one of the most experienced piano teachers in Central Texas. Later in life, her students would often reflect on her inspiration and devotion to giving piano lessons and her intense love of music.
“Miss Orpa,” as she was referred to by her students, was born Orpa Abigail Mayo in 1897 and grew up in Gatesville where her family had settled in 1903. Early in life, after she graduated from high school, she would attend Baylor University in Waco where she graduated with a degree in music in 1916. While at Baylor, she studied with music professor Albert Wells from 1914 to 1916.
Her desire to further her music education led her to travel back east where she attended the New York School of Music and Arts in New York City. She enrolled in a six-week course of instruction, which would enable her to teach piano. While there, she became a student of Arthur Friedheim who was a Russian-born concert pianist and composer. One of Friedheim’s students was Rildia Bee O’Bryan Cliburn, the mother of 20th-century piano virtuoso Van Cliburn.
Mayo graduated from the New York School of Music and Arts in July of 1927 and returned back to Texas to continue her studies and to teach piano in her hometown of Gatesville. For a brief period, she became a pupil of Silvio Scionti at Baylor University. Scionti was an Italian-born pianist and teacher and was well respected among pianists.
Back in Gatesville, she returned to her two-story Victorian home on Leon Street (which is still in existence) and began to give piano lessons. In her childhood home, referred to as the “mansion” by her students, she had a stage constructed in the living area where her students could conduct piano recitals.
Gatesville native, Jeffery Arnold, who was a devoted piano student of Miss Orpa’s from 1967 until 1977, once stated, “I don’t mind saying that Miss Orpa was, without a doubt, one of the most brilliant musicians I ever knew. Her influence upon my life and career was tremendous. She was a very fine pianist trained in the ‘German Tradition.’ Her works were original and inspired, and she unselfishly passed this great tradition on to her pupils. She was a delightful personality.”
Longtime GISD educator and former Mayo piano student, Charles Ament, said, “I remember Miss Orpa as a brilliant scholar and accomplished pianist. In the 1950s and 60s, her studio was in her home on Leon Street where she often had as many as 30 students who saw her twice weekly for lessons.”
Ament continued, “She was an icon who insisted on practice and lectured her students on how to be great in character. Her end of year recitals of duets, trios, and quartets will be ever etched on our fond memories of her.”
Miss Orpa died at the age of 88 in December of 1985. Shortly after her demise, a letter appeared in The Gatesville Messenger from Paul Henslet, who wrote: “I know that Orpa was well loved and respected by all the community because of her gift of music she gave to all of us, who benefitted by her talents at the piano in both the Presbyterian Church and in the Methodist Church for so many years. I spoke with her nephew, Pat Mayo Holt, and we agreed it would be fitting and the proper thing to do to include performances at the piano by Orpa’s students in connection with the memorial service. The musical part of the memorial service will be called ‘Orpa’s Last Recital.’”
A memorial service was held in her honor in March of 1986 at the First Presbyterian Church in Gatesville. As per her wishes, her ashes were scattered over the grave of her father in the Gatesville City Cemetery.
Her musical legacy lives on in the lives of her former students.
