Judy Deahl, born and raised in Butler, has carried a love of music as well as her first and only musical instrument with her for most of her life.

In fact, the violin she plays with the Butler County Symphony Orchestra is the same one the 75-year-old started playing back in the sixth grade.

“I still play the same violin my father got for me in a shop on Main Street,” Deahl said. “The man there had repaired this one, and my dad bought it for me for $15.”

The instrument has served her well all these years.

“I would never want to give it up,” she said.

Once when the symphony was still playing at Butler High School instead of the Butler Intermediate High School where it performs now, she dropped her violin and some of the scrolls broke.

“But my husband took it to May's Music Shoppe, and Dick May fixed the neck, and I think it plays even better now,” she said.

Deahl has been performing with the symphony for about 45 years.

“The exposure that I have had as a nonprofessional musician playing with these other musicians cannot be matched,” she said.

The symphony can number as many as 70 professionals and nonprofessionals altogether.

She also serves as a symphony board member with the title of librarian. Her duties include collecting the sheet music after each concert, sorting it and taking it back to the office.

The Butler Township woman's lifelong love of music isn't surprising since she was raised in a musical home.

“My mother (Evelyn Roth Black) and my father (Willis Black) were both very musical,” Deahl said.

Her mother graduated from music school in Butler, Deahl recalled.

“She was what I would call a natural in music,” Deahl said.

Her mother played organ and piano at several churches and was an early member of the Tuesday Musical Club. A piano at the YWCA in Butler was dedicated in her mother's memory.

Deahl's father sang in a Kiwanis Club quartet, and her mother coached the group. Her mother also coached a student trio that Deahl's older sister Carol was in. And her father, of course, was the one who invested in Deahl's one and only violin.

Her younger brother, Jim, played some trumpet, and her baby sister, Merry Christine, took voice lessons, Deahl said.

Deahl has four children. She and her three daughters used to sing at church, making up a gospel quartet.

They continued to perform at church and for other groups until a few years ago, Deahl said, when they were eventually just living too far apart.

The quartet has two CDs to its credit.

“I get those CDs out now and listen to them,” she said.

Deahl's years with the symphony have taught her many things, she said, including a love of composers other than the classic ones such as Beethoven. John Williams is one of her favorites.

“I've enjoyed the education it's given me. ... I never get done learning,” said.