Kay Harmas regularly appeared at my store, Pedals Pumpers & Rolls,
in Villa Park, Illinois, in his station wagon and loaded up anything
loose for sale that interested him.  This was in the 1970s and into
the '80s, and then we did not see much of him.  Then in 2001 we
received a call that people were emptying piano related items into
dumpsters from several garages in Evanston, Illinois.

We hastened to the site and discovered two men throwing piano legs,
parts and rolls into a dumpster.  We arranged to load up the largest
of the player grands, a 9-1/2-foot Steinway Duo-Art, and boxes of rolls
and went back with two trucks for the other seven player grands, two
wretched nickelodeons and eight thousand rolls, plus other items that
were already in the dumpster.

We also learned that Kay Harmas was either in the hospital dying of
a brain tumor, or had already passed, and the owners of the apartment
building had a court order to clear out the garages.  Pedals Pumpers
& Rolls had the Steinway completely restored and later sold to a
collector in the Chicago area.  The 9-1/2-foot Steinway turned out to
be a wonderful instrument and was a pleasure to restore since it was
still trying to play in mostly original condition.

Roger Dayton - Pedals Pumpers & Rolls
Greenville, South Carolina
http://www.pedalspumpersrolls.com/