thedrifter
09-05-03, 06:03 AM
September 04, 2003
Violin performance touches soldier in Kuwait
By Brenna R. Kelly
Gannett News Service
CINCINNATI — Standing in the practice room, 9-year-old Alexandra Amend quietly told her mom, “I’m not ready.”
But moments later, she walked onto the field, lifted the bow to her violin and played a perfect “Star-Spangled Banner” in front of 29,272 people at Great American Ball Park.
“Good job, little girl!” shouted someone in the crowd.
“Good job,” St. Louis pitcher Cardinals Woody Williams told Alexandra as she walked past the dugout.
St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa and several players lined the stairs of the dugout offering her praise as she walked by them.
But perhaps Alexandra’s biggest fan was 6,800 miles away.
Army Sgt. Robert Cowherd, the inspiration for Alexandra’s performance, has been stationed in Kuwait for the last 10 months. Though Alexandra and her family have never met Cowherd, they have been exchanging letters with him for five months as part of AdoptaPlatoon, a program that links people with troops overseas.
They quickly found common ground. Cowherd, 40, grew up in Cincinnati.
Alexandra’s family invited Cowherd’s family to the game to watch Alexandra play.
“I was so excited,” said Vivian Cowherd, Robert’s 39-year-old sister. “When I saw her, I just had to hug her.”
Vivian Cowherd got a surprise call from her brother telling her about Alexandra’s upcoming tribute.
“He is just bouncing off the walls,” Cowherd said. “He’s like ‘You’ve got to get me pictures.’ ”
Vivian and her father, James Cowherd, videotaped the performance and plan to send it to Kuwait. Robert Cowherd is stationed at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, where he lives with his wife, Ella, and two daughters — one just a year older than Alexandra.
Alexandra, a fifth-grader, has been playing the violin for five years. Though she had played in public before — she raised $2,000 for the Red Cross after Sept. 11, 2001, by playing her violin on downtown Cincinnati’s Fountain Square — the Cincinnati Reds game was her largest audience so far.
“It was scary,” she said afterward.
“But was the scariness worth it?” asked her mother, Maureen Amend.
Alexandra nodded “yes.”
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Violin performance touches soldier in Kuwait
By Brenna R. Kelly
Gannett News Service
CINCINNATI — Standing in the practice room, 9-year-old Alexandra Amend quietly told her mom, “I’m not ready.”
But moments later, she walked onto the field, lifted the bow to her violin and played a perfect “Star-Spangled Banner” in front of 29,272 people at Great American Ball Park.
“Good job, little girl!” shouted someone in the crowd.
“Good job,” St. Louis pitcher Cardinals Woody Williams told Alexandra as she walked past the dugout.
St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa and several players lined the stairs of the dugout offering her praise as she walked by them.
But perhaps Alexandra’s biggest fan was 6,800 miles away.
Army Sgt. Robert Cowherd, the inspiration for Alexandra’s performance, has been stationed in Kuwait for the last 10 months. Though Alexandra and her family have never met Cowherd, they have been exchanging letters with him for five months as part of AdoptaPlatoon, a program that links people with troops overseas.
They quickly found common ground. Cowherd, 40, grew up in Cincinnati.
Alexandra’s family invited Cowherd’s family to the game to watch Alexandra play.
“I was so excited,” said Vivian Cowherd, Robert’s 39-year-old sister. “When I saw her, I just had to hug her.”
Vivian Cowherd got a surprise call from her brother telling her about Alexandra’s upcoming tribute.
“He is just bouncing off the walls,” Cowherd said. “He’s like ‘You’ve got to get me pictures.’ ”
Vivian and her father, James Cowherd, videotaped the performance and plan to send it to Kuwait. Robert Cowherd is stationed at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, where he lives with his wife, Ella, and two daughters — one just a year older than Alexandra.
Alexandra, a fifth-grader, has been playing the violin for five years. Though she had played in public before — she raised $2,000 for the Red Cross after Sept. 11, 2001, by playing her violin on downtown Cincinnati’s Fountain Square — the Cincinnati Reds game was her largest audience so far.
“It was scary,” she said afterward.
“But was the scariness worth it?” asked her mother, Maureen Amend.
Alexandra nodded “yes.”
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: