CAMDEN — In many ways, 17-year-old Harper Gordon’s story is an extension of her parents’ story. “Both of my parents have pretty scattered backgrounds,” she said. “My mom grew up in Korea and she was put in an orphanage when she was very young. She was adopted when she was 12 and was brought to America. When she was 16, she was put into a foster home and shuffled through the foster care system until she got out on her own. My dad’s family is also very scattered and he was out living on his own at 16. My parents got together in Massachusetts where they had my two older brothers, and then me.”

The family moved to Maine when Harper was 6-months-old. At age 2, Harper began taking dance lessons and her brothers were taking music lessons.

“We didn’t really have a support system, but I took dance lessons, while my brothers took music lessons. We were natural performers,” she said.  “All three of us were hams.” 

But, the family, having moved away from friends and family back in Massachusetts, lacked a support system in the area.

“When I started dancing, our parents took us to Windward Gardens to show off our talents,” she said. “They wanted us to have those grandparent figures that would sit and smile and clap for us.”

Harper and her two brothers, Devon, now 21, who plays violin, and Aidan, 19, who plays piano, have always called themselves the Gordon Trio. For the last 15 years, they have played small concerts for the residents of Windward Gardens, along with volunteer community gigs.

“I started off dancing in a little ballerina tutu to my brothers playing a scratchy Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star song,” she said. “Then, I picked up the cello when I was 4. Even though our performances were simple, we just loved the energy that we exchanged with the residents— amazing energy. Considering how terrible we must've really sounded, it now seems even sweeter.”

Once a month, the Gordon Trio would come back to perform for the residents. Harper said, “One of the things that has always really stuck with me was when I was in middle school, a son of one of the residents at Windward Gardens came up to my brothers and me and told us that every time he visited his mother, she would rave about our little concerts and update him on how much we were growing up. He was so excited to meet us and said that his mother absolutely loved our visits. Having this impact on someone else’s life and seeing the joy that we brought to not only that resident, but her family as well, was what kept us coming back.”

While both of her brothers have been away hiking the Appalachian Trail this year, Harper has been bringing her best friend, Eva Ritchie, 18, who plays guitar, to Windward Gardens to perform for the residents. When Eva’s not available, Harper plays cello solos and sings with her dad, who plays guitar.

Harper has a strong interest in volunteering, which she attributes to her parents, particularly, because of something they once told her.

“One of their mantras was that they survived all of the things they went through because of the kindness of strangers,” she said. “So, as we sort of evolved out of the excitement of dressing up and performing, we began to really understand what it meant to give back. That changed our dynamic. We just wanted to spread that same kindness that helped our parents.”

Harper is president of the Midcoast Interact Club at Camden Hills Regional High School, a  community-based service club. She is also the president of the Liberian Education Fund, and the vice president of the National Honors Society at CHRHS. “Even though I do a lot of projects throughout the year, I’ve never wanted to drop coming to Windward Gardens,” she said. “It’s very special to me.”

She has her sights on Boston when she graduates next year and to go to medical school. “When I was little, one of the stories my mom used to tell me about her time in Korea was of doctors coming into her village to give all of the children shots,” she said. “That was the first time my mother had seen a white person. She looked up to them so much for their kindness, and I've always wanted to be a doctor since then. I would really like to join Doctors Without Borders someday, so that I can be the hero that those doctors were for my mom to another child on the other side of the world.”

Both of her brothers have just completed the last leg of the Appalachian Trail and will be coming back home to visit, which Harper said makes her very happy. The Gordon Trio will be back together for one more time this summer, playing a small concert at Windward Gardens next week. Stay tuned to this ongoing story at Penobscot Bay Pilot and look for the video of the concert.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com