Retired Iowa State University professor Paul Lasley repairs violins and donates them to the university’s instrument drive for local schools. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Paul Lasley’s hobby of restoring old and broken violins and donating them to Iowa State University’s instrument collection program didn’t start with a violin of his own, or really any other stringed instrument — it started with a tin clarinet.
When the retired ISU sociology professor was growing up in Queen City, Mo., he wanted to join his elementary school band. Lasley said his family couldn’t afford a new, black-painted wood clarinet, so he had to borrow an older, metal instrument from the school…