Douglas Alexander: “A few years ago, a New York Times story reported that ``Lamar Alexander grew up in a lower, middle class family in the…”

“A few years ago, a New York Times story reported that ``Lamar Alexander grew up in a lower, middle class family in the mountains of East Tennessee.'' The article so offended my mother I found her reading Thessalonians to help deal with what she regarded as a ``slur on our family.'' ``We never thought about ourselves that way,'' she told me. ``You had a library card from the day you were three and a music lesson from the day you were four. You had everything you needed that was important.'' I was 4 years old in Maryville, TN, a town of about 10,000 then, when my mother took me to Maryville College to learn how to play the piano. One of the college professors loaned us a battered upright piano which sat in our living room for several years. Every day before school, I would bang away on Czerny, Bach, Beethoven and Mozart--and throw in a little Jerry Lee Lewis when I thought no one was around to correct me. I participated in annual piano contests sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubs. I played in the Maryville High School band and played piano at revival meetings while my father--who had a beautiful tenor voice--led the singing. After working during the day as a law clerk in New Orleans for Judge John Minor Wisdom I played trombone, tuba and washboard in the band at Your Father's Moustache on Bourbon Street to earn a little extra money.”