"I never thought I would see it again," Keitha Clark said.
Clark is a music teacher, performer and composer in Whitehorse.
She recently found herself with a second chance to rehome an antique violin that was stolen from her office during a break-in earlier this year.
The violin appeared in Clark's life just as mysteriously as it would eventually reappear.
"I was working at the Anti-Poverty Coalition, and this gentleman from Teslin stopped in, and he had this very old violin case…and he said this was his grandfather's violin from Germany and he wanted to pass it on so that it could be played," she said.
Clark said that people often bring her instruments to rehome, but this time was different. She did not know who the gentleman was, but she recognized the value of the violin right away.
'I knew that the sound ... was going to be really beautiful'
"After all these years, you kind of have an eye of what a violin is going to sound like even before you take it out of the case," she said.
"I knew that the sound on this violin was going to be really beautiful. And it was."
The antique violin remained at Clark's office while she weighed the options of where to donate it.
Until one day it was gone.
Clark received the violin from a man from Teslin who said it was his grandfather's violin from Germany, she said. (Andrew Hynes/CBC)
The Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition's office was broken into, and the violin was taken.
"I felt so bad because it was such a beautiful instrument, and it obviously had a long history..I was just heartbroken that this violin was gone," Clark said.
It would be weeks before the musical instrument would reappear on the front steps of the same office it was taken from.
The case was battered and the violin was damaged – but not beyond repair.
Next to the case was a glass heart from a local glass blowing studio.
Clark works for a non-profit advocacy group that focuses on poverty issues and said the work can be tough at times, but moments like the violin's return help.
'Sometimes magic things happen'
"There are lots of things that you can't change and systems that don't work and bad things that happen, and you can't fix them all," she said.
"And sometimes it's really frustrating, but sometimes magic things happen, and sometimes second chances happen."
The violin was eventually repaired and now belongs to her son, Rowan Dent, who is honoured to be able to play it.
"Getting to play this 100-year old violin, I feel more connected to the music itself…I'm very privileged to be able to have this opportunity," Dent said.
Keitha Clark plays violin with her son, her son, Rowan Dent. (Andrew Hynes/CBC)
The reappearance of the antique violin has also created a second chance for Clark and her son to bond over playing the instrument, something Dent hasn't done since he was a six-year-old.
They now play together twice a week.
Clark said it's a way to spend time together and also connect over their family's ties to music.
"Like 'Tennessee Walz,' that Rowan and I play," she said.
"I remember playing that and watching my grandparents dance…so it's also a passing on of family memories."
[SRC] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/stolen-whitehorse-violin-returned-1.7651275
