Channel 13 News ran a segment on Nina Simone last night because the house she was born in is on the market again. That prompts me to review my connections with Eunice Waymon/Nina Simone for the more recent readers of my columns.

Our common denominator is Mrs. Lawrence Mazzanovich; we both took piano lessons from her. Mrs. Mazzy, as she was affectionately known to all, walked to people’s homes to give the lessons when I started them with her. I later went to the studio she shared with her husband, known as Mazzy. The studio was located in Gillette Woods.

About the time I graduated from Tryon High School in 1947, Mrs. Mazzy scheduled a recital by Eunice Waymon to showcase her talents to an invited audience of people who could contribute money toward Eunice’s college education. My contribution to forward Eunice’s career was to hand letter some 50 programs for that recital.

I was also included in the audience that day. It was the first and only time I was in the same room with Eunice. She not only played the program, but also was asked to identify notes played on the piano behind her back, and then to improvise on a theme made up of random notes suggested by audience members. Eunice was more than equal to all tasks assigned, and left a profound impression on this listener.

Eunice had “good piano hands,” long fingers with good pads at their tips. She always achieved good tone, and was able to produce really big tone when needed as well as whisper soft tones when appropriate. I recognized even then that she could do what I only wished I could do at the piano!

I always visited Mrs. Mazzy whenever I was back in Tryon. She filled me in on the progress of her other pupils and listened as I played for her. She once commented that she found a certain professional pianist’s playing “boring,” so I asked about mine. She said my playing was “interesting.” I like to think that is better . . .

Eunice began to play pop music in a club while still in school, and took the name Nina Simone because she knew that her preacher mother would not approve. I went to hear Nina perform at Hampton Institute in about 1970, but did not try to see her. I bought some of her records and read her autobiography.

Crys Armbrust spearheaded the movement here to recognize Nina. He sent people to interview me and I met with TV and movie producers as they came. I could not offer much since I did not really know Eunice. I explained to one TV crew that I did not go to school with her because our schools were segregated then.

I attended the memorial service for Eunice in her home church, staying around to visit with members of her family.

My friend Kip McIntyre bought Eunice’s birthplace and was in process of restoring it when realtor friend Pat Martin bought and dismantled the former Pacolet Baptist Church building in Lynn. The siding from the church building was a perfect match to that on the Waymon home, so some of it found its way there. That old church building was where I sat in the Amen Corner with my grandfather, T. A. Rippy, when I was a boy.

Nadine Cohodas consulted with me when she wrote her Nina Simone biography “Princess Noire,” so she sent me a complimentary copy. My small contribution is chronicled in its pages, even indexed! I am pleased that one of my talents has linked me forever to this gifted woman who rose to international fame and added yet another facet to the little jewel that is Tryon.