Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA) - Wednesday, February 9, 2000
Her first instrument was the piano, but when Vonnie Ponsford Nienaber first heard a jazz harpist perform at a hotel in San Francisco, it was love at first sound. Thus began a 26-year affair with the instrument, at first carried out during the quiet hours when her children were at school. But it quickly escalated into a duet that lasted the remainder of her life.
Vonnie Olson Nienaber, a petite woman with a big instrument who became a familiar figure on the Sonoma County music scene playing weddings, parties, hotels and at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market, died Friday at her Santa Rosa home of cancer. She was 56. ``People would say how much she inspired them with her love of music, her smile and her spontaneity -- she loved to just take off on a trip to Europe or to visit friends,'' recalled her husband of eight years, Darryl Nienaber . ``She loved to do spontaneous things. She always realized the money is going to come.''
She was born in North Dakota and moved to California as a young girl, first to Fresno and then to Burbank. She could play piano before she could talk, and went on to study music and home economics at California State University at Fullerton. She moved as a young wife and mother to Sonoma County, and established herself playing organ in churches and playing and teaching piano. It was a friend who turned her on to the harp, taking her to hear a harpist in San Francisco. She immediately went out and bought a small Celtic harp. She practiced constantly for months, her husband said, mastering it enough to market herself as a wedding musician.
She scraped together every penny she could to make a down payment on a custom-made $12,000 concert grand harp from Italy. She just barely met her financial goal to pay the final bill when it arrived eight months later.
Over the years she played parties, weddings, hotels like the old El Rancho Tropicana and some special invitational performances in Europe and elsewhere.
Her husband said she was driven first by her love of music, and second by her love of ``giving music to people.'' She also conducted some European tours, always orienting them to music, and for years played the Santa Rosa Farmer's Market, collecting tips and later selling CDs of her music. ``It wasn't a money-producing thing,'' her husband said. ``She liked it because of the people there, and the fresh fruit and the real fresh feel to the place.''
Three years ago, she was stricken with ovarian cancer. Opting for holistic treatment, she managed to go into remission several times. Her husband said people will remember ``her wonderful smile and her cheeriness.'' ``She always was positive, always optimistic and saw the best in everything. Her mouth was permanently curved into an upward smile. She tried to look angry at the kids sometimes but she couldn't really do it,'' he said.
In life she loved to give back by playing at nursing homes and senior centers. Her family would like to carry on her work through Vonnie Productions, a project to keep in production her four CDs and provide them free of charge to patients in hospitals and nursing homes.
Contributions may be made to the fund c/o Sonoma National Bank in Santa Rosa.
Services already have been held.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her sons Paul Ponsford of Sioux City, N.D.; Russell Ponsford of Santa Rosa; Tory Ponsford of Santa Rosa and Ryan Ponsford of San Diego; four grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; her stepsons Mark Nienaber of Bellingham, Wash., and Darren Nienaber of Portland, Ore.; her sisters Valerie Smith of Moreno Valley and Vrenda Lee Kellems of Ashland, Ore.; and her parents Ralph and Dorothy Olson of Etna.
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