CALAIS, Vt. (WCAX) – Just up the road from Maple Corner in Calais, 92-year-old June Morse is taking me for a hike.
Reporter Joe Carroll: You’re worried about me keeping up with you, right?
June Morse: Well, I don’t want to take you where it’s too steep.
For Morse, it’s a daily stroll on her 10 acres of land she knows well.
“I feel very fortunate,” Morse said. “This is part of the farm where I grew up.”
Reporter Joe Carroll: Are you surprised I’m keeping up with you?
June Morse: Well, I didn’t take you on the really, really tough trails.
The rustling of leaves and the wind is music to her ears. Later, we step inside and take note of Morse’s other passion — the piano. “I read, I eat, I practice, that’s a major part of the day,” Morse said. “You live it, you live the music.”
Like her hikes, music is a full-body experience. “You have to allow your body the freedom to move,” Morse said.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Do you still strive to get better?
June Morse: Well, of course… I’m a showoff.
Morse’s piano is well-worn. “My fingernails have grooved out, you know, an eighth of an inch of wood,” she said.
Morse started playing when she was 4. Nancy Toulis and Sid Morse are two of June’s six kids. “I’m actually surprised she admitted being a showoff because she still gets nervous every performance,” Toulis said. But when it comes to exercising, there’s swagger in her step. “We all thought she was crazy to build this house. It’s all stairs. She climbs the ladder to the attic… she’s ridiculous.”
“I’d come home from work and she’d be painting my house, really, recently,” Sid said.
Morse sits down to play Beethoven’s Sonata Number 8 in C Minor, a piece she says she rarely plays. It was 50 years ago that Morse caught the ear of a well-known pianist. She became fast friends with a woman named Edwine Behre, the founder of the Adamant Music School. Channel 3 captured her playing in 1978. Behre recognized June’s talents and asked her to perform at a very prestigious place.
As the saying goes, ”How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, Practice, Practice.” However, Morse turned down the invitation.
“I’m a plain old country girl, I’m not a city girl. And just to go to New York City by itself would have been very challenging,” Morse said
She went on to teach music in all the area schools, making her notes heard all around Central Vermont.
A Super Senior in tune with her life and far from going downhill.