Harpist treats Courtyarders to romantic lunch

Residents of the Courtyard assisted living center in Colfax received a helping of a special pre-Valentine’s Day ambience with lunch Monday.

Amidst the valentine-decorated walls of the Courtyard’s dining area, Daniella Clark of Pullman filled the air with a touch of romance by plucking the many strings of her harp.

“It was so cute, with the hearts on the wall,” said Clark. “It had sort of an old-fashioned charm about it.”

Clark said she has been bringing her harp into the Courtyard on a monthly basis to play for elderly residents through the local hospice organization.

“She comes in every now and then,” said Harold Wilkinson, Administrator of the Courtyard. “It really seems to pick everybody up a bit. It’s just wonderful to have her come do that.”

The harp music provides a soothing, mellow break for those dealing with oft-times exceedingly painful maladies.

“I went to the Courtyard to volunteer with hospice, and the nursing staff saw how much the hospice patients liked it, so they asked me to come in and play for all the residents,” said Clark.

The harp is old hat for Clark, who has been playing her harp for elderly and disabled audiences since she was nine years old.

She went to college to become a concert harpist, but shifted her major to focus on working with the disabled. Last year, she received her doctorate in special education from WSU.

“I wanted to play concerts, and I love working with the disabled and with people with disabilities,” she said. “This gives me a unique way to do both.”

And, if her lunch time concerto provided the background for romantic connections over Courtyard lunch tables, all the better, she said.

“With the decorations up, and the harp music in the air, I think it could definitely have been a romantic setting,” she said.