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www.oakvillebeaver.com Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Phone 905-845-3824, ext. 248; e-mail angela@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2007 13 A message of love for a piano angel Love, respect, inspiration. The very essence of Valentine's Day was seized upon by the students, friends and colleagues of the late Doree Gautreau in a Valentine's Concert in memory of their piano angel. The concert took place Friday night at Sheridan Hills Evangelical Missionary Church on Trafalgar Road. It was organized by Gautreau's colleagues, Oakville area teachers in the Music for Young Children (MYC) program. Gautreau, 58, passed away unexpectedly last summer while on vacation, so her students -- 300 of them in the Oakville area -- never really had a chance to say goodbye. The Valentine's Concert proved the perfect way to pay tribute to a woman who so influenced their lives. They loved her. said. "The event was bountiful with talent. The students who participated, played elegantly and each child picked a rose and placed it in a basket as a symbol of giving back to Doree the love and gifts she bestowed on them," said Luisterio. It was not just children who took part however. Gautreau's friend Betty Ford sang and played piano to a song she composed for Gautreau, Doree's Song. Ford's daughter, Desiree, sang Castle on a Cloud. Gautreau's own piano teacher, Pam VanWeelden, played a piece by Chopin and spoke of her student. Two of Gautreau's three children, Meagan and Adrien, also attended. Proceeds from the concert will go to the Doree Gautreau Music Scholarship Fund at Mohawk College -- established by Gautreau's friend Martha Bradford to assist a female student in pursuing music studies. Gautreau was pursuing fur- PHOTOS BY ASHLEY HUTCHESON / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER TO DOREE WITH LOVE: Students, friends and colleagues of the late Music for Young Children (MYC) piano teacher Doree Gautreau put on a Valentine's Concert for the teacher they lost suddenly last summer.Above, colleague Alison Moodie speaks of her peer. Below, a student patiently awaits her turn to perform. At right, Oakville youth Adrien Luisterio plays in memory of his former teacher. At left, Luisterio's sister, Tashiana, with her mom Arlene recites a poem inspired by Gautreau. teacher's home. "Her passing was such a shock to us. My children were with her for four years. We were at her home four times a week," said mom Arlene Luisterio. While Tashiana read her poem inspired by Gautreau two years ago -- and which Tashiana had presented "The heavens opened up that night. Our piano angel was with us. She guides us and continues to inspire us forever," said Tashiana Luisterio, 10, who attends Pope John Paul Catholic Elementary School. Tashiana is one of four children in the Luisterio family to have studied piano with Gautreau. While Gautreau made her home in Oak Park with her three children, all in their 20s, the Luisterios moved to Oakville half a dozen years ago and settled in West Mount. Along with Tashiana, Adrien, 9, Thalia, 7, and even Lance, 4, were all students with Gautreau. The Music for Young Children (MYC) program is a well-established, structured music program that sees teachers adhere to specific curriculum while teaching students from the to Gautreau at the time -- I Love My Piano, Adrien performed Tram Stop. Thalia performed Ode to Joy. The Luisterio children were among more than two dozen to play at the Valentine's Concert. Adrien continues his Grade II studies with MYC teacher Alison Moodie, who organized the concert along with MYC teachers Keisha Bell, Erma Hiltemann-Montano, Pam Pender and Ana Sipsis. "It was a chance for the children to experience more closure," said Arlene Luisterio. "The parents' and children's love for Doree inspired the teachers to co-ordinate the concert," she ther music education at Mohawk. The Luisterio family is also in the midst of establishing the Play for Doree Foundation, to subsidize piano studies for children. "Doree loved children and wanted all to have success," said Arlene. Teachers, too, took to the stage Friday. Moodie and her daughter Amy sang a duet, In His Eyes. Amy also sang a solo from The Enchantress. Bell played tribute through the piece Solace by Scott Joplin. "Doree touched so many lives with her creative, fun approach to teaching the art of piano," said Arlene. Gautreau was described as loving, gentle, and a real motivator to her students. "She was a great inspiration," said Luisterio.