Meet April Muhs: Student of life

KELLOGG — You could call her a student of life. A modern-day bard. Or a cheerful eccentric keeping herself and her community on their toes. At 79, April Muhs is still surprising herself and those around her as she continues her quest to keep her mind sharp.

Many mornings when The Beanery in Kellogg opens, bicyclists stopping off the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes are greeted by Muhs playing the accordion.

“I like to watch people smile and have a good time. I’ve been playing the accordion since I was 12 years old,” Muhs said.

She didn’t directly receive lessons on how to play, but her interest was piqued when one of the boys she was babysitting started taking accordion lessons. She paid attention to the instructor’s direction and would practice on the instrument after their lesson was over.

More than five decades later, she found that her accordion music offered an uplifting distraction to those needing cheering up. When the pandemic began and she saw long faces on those in line for coffee, she decided music would be the fastest way to connect with them. Intense expressions on her fellow customer’s faces gave way to laughter and mild confusion, but, at the least, she was giving them a funny story to tell later.

Muhs has always lived in the Silver Valley, but she moved to Kellogg for love.

“I was raised in Mullan and then I got married and moved to the ‘big city,’ Kellogg,” Muhs said with a laugh.

She loved attending college classes and picked up photography and took photos for the Sentinel newspaper while she was at North Idaho College. She eventually graduated, but only after prolonging her studies by a year or two more than she had initially expected to invest in college.

“I like school. My husband found out that I was in school so long because I kept changing my major. I tried to get a major in electives, but they don’t allow that,” Muhs joked.

Though she eventually put a cap on her time at NIC, she never stopped gathering knowledge on topics that interest her.

“I learned to play the stand-up bass purely to give my brain a novel experience,” Muhs said.

A weekly orchestra class for adults came to her attention years ago, and she and a friend made the weekly trek to Spokane to learn how to play in a classical group. When she saw that there was also a weekly bluegrass class being offered, she added that to her schedule, as well. Soon enough, she was playing local gigs in bluegrass bands.

Years ago, when her husband was in the process of recovering from heart surgery and she was antsy for a new adventure, she was seized by a desire to find something that combined traveling for work and her love of taking photos.

“I wish I could take pictures and travel and eat food and sleep in hotels on somebody else’s dollar,” Muhs said.

She stopped into the nearest JC Penney portrait studio and mentioned her desire to travel and her photography background to the photographer working there and returned home to a phone call from Minneapolis. There was a need for a traveling portrait photographer to fill the need to document milestones for families in smaller communities across the country.

She was able to fulfill her wanderlust, help pay the bills during her husband’s recovery and travel to 21 states in three years, plying her trade as a portrait photographer.

“Gosh, that was fun. I would call him at night and tell him stories,” Muhs recalled.

Then, when he went to meet with his buddies at the bar, he would regale them with her tales from the road.

“Who would expect that, living in Kellogg, opportunities like this can fall into your lap? They’re like pearls that show up out of nowhere,” Muhs said.

Languages are always a passion for Muhs to collect, and she had dabbled in picking up some sign language from a book, which wound up coming in handy.

A mother had come in with a young son to take pictures, and he was having a hard time keeping his composure. She noticed them signing and was able to remember a few words to try and make them feel at ease while they sat for the photo shoot.

“I only had a little bit, but I had enough to say, ‘welcome,’ ‘come’ and ‘sit,’” Muhs said. The relief that both child and parent had at having that small bridge of communication fostered was just enough to tide things over for the family photos, but that spark of recognition is something Muhs is always chasing.

She is a firm believer in keeping her brain muscles actively learning new things, whether it be a new language like Norwegian or picking up a new instrument to become proficient in. Her next passion, however, is something far removed from a classroom setting.

“The next thing I’m going to do is learn equestrian dressage. That’s the next big adventure,” Muhs said.

She hopes that others can carve out a channel to make joyful situations for themselves by watching for new jobs and hobbies that can be fulfilling to them.

“Be open and see where there’s an opportunity and give it a try,” is the advice Muhs gives to others on how to be a fellow student of what life has to offer.