Tell Her It Can’T Be Done, Then Step Back
Fate has tried to derail Katie Delderfield. But this gutsy young lady will have none of that.
The West Valley High School senior lost her hearing as a child, during an operation for a cleft palate. It took a dozen surgeries for her to regain most of her hearing.
Despite her hearing problems, Delderfield studied violin, starting in fifth grade, and then trumpet, winning several awards for her music.
Another thing sets this young musician apart. Delderfield is the only teenage musician in the Spokane British Brass Band - this, despite the fact that she started her trumpet studies when she was 15.
“She’s such a hard worker,” said Mark Williams, who directs the band.
Her trumpet instructor for the past three years has been William Berry.
“Persevering is the word. She really doesn’t give up on stuff,” Berry said. “The best thing to get her to do anything is to tell her it can’t be done.”
Delderfield has met other major life adjustments.
Her father died of meningitis when she was 10.
Surgery during her freshman year on her thyroid resulted in a severed vocal chord.
Throughout, she persevered - and put hundreds of hours into community service with many organizations.
Her courage was recognized this spring when she was awarded a Chase Youth Award for personal achievement.
Her musical life has made a huge impression on her.
“I learned some of my biggest lessons in the stands (with West Valley’s band) at the football games, not in the classrooms,” Delderfield says.
The last game of the season this year, for instance, the band had taken a break, when the Eagles scored a touchdown.
“There was nobody there to play our fight song, `On West Valley.’ So I looked at the other trumpeter and said `let’s do it,”’ Delderfield says. Every head turned at the unusual sound of just two trumpets cheering the team.
Delderfield will go on to the University of Idaho to study music. She hopes to become a teacher.
“I always felt I was meant to do something big with my life,” she says.