Menig Folks Can Hum Along To Porter Music Box Tunes

Dwight and Mary Porter recently donated one of their famous music boxes to the Menig Nursing Home at Gifford Medical Center. From left to right are Linda Minsinger, Brooks Chapin, Jim Sault, Dwight and Mary Porter, Doroghy Porter, and Hospital President Joe Woodin. (Herald / Tim Calabro)

Dwight Porter has always loved music boxes.

"When I was eight years old I made a trip to the Shelburne Museum and saw my first music box," recalls Porter, who fell in love with the music and mechanics before him.

In a tiny Sharon home in 1975 with only a high school education to his credit and $35 in his bank account, Porter assembled his first music box on his kitchen table.

Those meager beginnings are a far cry from the successful Porter Music Box Co. in Randolph of today, which sells its large disc-style music boxes in ornate wooden cabinets around the world for thousands of dollars each. On Thursday the company turned business success into charitable giving.

Porter Music Box donated a Baroque model music box and cabinet valued at $23,200 to Gifford Medical Center's Menig Extended Care Facility. The gift came during an evening gathering of Gifford and Porter staff at the music box company.

"We had a ball. I enjoyed every minute of it," Porter says of the celebration, which included tours of the company's Route 66 museum and workshop and the presentation of the music box.

"I was moved at the presentation with the thoughtfulness and love shown in this donation to our Menig families," says Gifford Trustee Barb Harvey of Rochester. "It certainly was a generous gift of a beautiful music box. It will touch many lives with joy."

The music box has a 15-inch metal disc and 152 playing musical teeth in the combs- each one hand-filed and brought to correct pitch and voicing. More than 1500 tunes are available in music genres from classical, marches and big band to rock 'n' roll and pop.

"I'm very honored to think that Porter Music Box is supportive of the nursing home and is willing to donate such a wonderful gift," Menig Director of Nursing Brooks Chapin says. "I know that the residents and staff will enjoy hours of wonderful music. I can't wait to be in the room when it's on and look at the residents' faces. I'm very excited for that."

Porter has visited senior centers and nursing homes with his music boxes, playing "name that tune" with the elders. "I have watched faces light up when the music box plays in nursing homes. It's very therapeutic and non-intrusive music," Porter says.

"For a long time I've wanted to donate a music box, and what better place to do it than in Randolph?"

The music box is donated in honor of Porter's parents, Fred and Dorothy Porter, and Conrad and Agnes Sault, the parents of Porter Music Box general manager Jim Sault. Agnes Sault died in Gifford's Garden Room on Christmas Eve.

"I feel a close connection to Gifford and its staff," Porter says of his local hospital.

Ken Stevens of Randolph Center made a stand of cherry wood with casters so the music box can be moved to other areas in the hospital, such as the Garden Room, a special suite reserved for dying patients.

"I work with terminally ill patients and provide music through CDs and the Riverbend choir and this will be a lovely addition," says Gifford Palliative Care Manager Pam Fournier.

Porter Music Box also honored Jim Sault with a music box of his own. Sault has worked at the Randolph business for 30 years.