Woman donates $3 million to small-town symphony

The symphony was founded in 1989.
GALLIPOLIS, Ohio (AP) -- A philanthropist who wanted a small town to enjoy the cultural benefits of big cities gave $3 million to keep its symphony playing.
Ann Carson Dater, 89, who grew up in Ohio and now lives in an assisted-living home in Prescott, Ariz., began donating to the Ohio Valley Symphony Orchestra several years ago.
"It doesn't make sense to have an orchestra in a town of less than 5,000," said Lora Lynn Snow, an oboist who co-founded the symphony in 1989. "But we do. It is happening."
Dater gave $1 million last year so the symphony could buy and renovate a historic downtown theater, which was renamed in her honor. Dater was expected to attend a concert there Saturday night, marking the first time she will have heard the symphony perform.
"This is all her idea," said Dater's Columbus attorney, Quintin Lindsmith. "She has never heard it perform, never met anyone associated with it. But she knows that for that part of Ohio, for there to be a symphony at all, really is a small miracle."
Early music appreciation
Gallipolis is about 90 miles southeast of Columbus. Dater grew up in neighboring Meigs County and took an interest in classical music when her parents bought her a violin from a Montgomery Ward store when she was in eighth grade.
She became a schoolteacher and later married Cincinnati businessman and philanthropist Charles Dater, who died in 1993.
Snow said Gallipolis takes pride in its symphony, whose members have been known to move on to bigger orchestras.
"We are losing our timpani player to the Cincinnati Orchestra," she said. "We lost one of our horns to Philadelphia. Even in a town much larger, people wouldn't expect it to be this good."
Lloyd Danner, a retired high school teacher, said the community owes a lot to Dater's generosity. The 425-seat theater that bears her name also is home to a dance troupe, adult and youth community-theater groups and a women's chorus.
"Think of the mark a lady can leave. She is leaving her mark, and this kind of facility will definitely leave a mark on a lot of people," he said.