As the lilting notes written to capture the migration of Hopi Indians floated through the air of Marshall Public Library Saturday afternoon, the woman playing the flute knew the power of family gatherings. She is Cassie VanderSloot and her father, Frank, is one of the most powerful people in Idaho politics.

    Last November the oldest son of Frank VanderSloot, Brian, died. Cassie said it was a pivotal moment in family dynamics.

    “We had been drifting apart as a family,” Cassie said. “That really brought us together.”

    She said this personal tragedy has melded the VanderSloot clan into a stronger unit able to face the onslaught of probes from the press that have come from Frank VanderSloot's position as national finance co-chair of the Mitt Romney presidential campaign. Vandersloot has also contributed $1 million to the super-PAC Restore Our Future that is backing the Romney bid.

    Well known in Idaho politics for supporting conservative causes and state superintendent Tom Luna's Students Come First education reforms, Cassie's father has been seen on FOX News and been the target of swipes from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

    “A lot of journalists have been calling all of us trying to get some dirt,” Cassie said.

    Instead, she said reporters have encountered a VanderSloot family strengthened by the sudden loss of a brother and son.

    “Brian was my dad's favorite,” Cassie said. “Even today he carries the pain in his eyes.”

    The third child born in Frank's first marriage, Brian had served an LDS mission in Brazil and graduated from Brigham Young University. He had joined his father's Idaho Falls company, Melaleuca, and was being groomed to take over when his dad retired, according to Cassie. All that changed last November.

    “It was a complete shock,” Cassie said about her step-brother's death. Cassie is the youngest child of Frank's second wife, Vivian VanderSloot.

    “Dad called me and told me to come home,” Cassie said. She was attending classes at Idaho State University where she is a music major with a specialty in flute.

    “I did not have a relationship with my dad before this happened,” Cassie said. “I was trying to create an identity for myself.”

    When Cassie arrived at the VanderSloot home in Idaho Falls, the gravity of the death was evident. She said Frank was at a loss and wouldn't eat.

    “No one saw this coming,” Cassie said.

    Following the funeral, the family gathered at the VanderSloot home and Frank continued to fast from the emotional pain, according to his daughter.

    “We had to force dad to eat,” she explained. And the trick came when one of her brothers decided to order Thai food — a cuisine that had been Brian's favorite. The meal became almost a tribute and Frank joined the family over take-out boxes.

    “My dad was able to smile,” Cassie said.

    It may have been a breakthrough moment, but the ISU musician said she knows her father carries the emotional pain inside him always, but just makes a calculated effort not to let it show.

    As the campaign for president has heated up and Romney's became the obvious winner of the Republican primary process, so has the focus on the senior VanderSloot, according to Cassie.

    “Dad and Mitt have been friends for a long time, so when Mitt asked him to help with his campaign, he said yes,” Cassie said.

    The media attention on her father and all family members has become intense since critics have labeled the senior VanderSloot as an anti-gay bully. The attack has impacted the entire family.

    “I think we were really tense at first,” Cassie said. Adding that the saving grace was the bonding that had taken place last November when her step-brother died.

    “I don't think of anyone as a step-brother or step-sister anymore,” Cassie said. “We are just brothers and sisters.”

    Cassie will finish her bachelor's degree at ISU next spring and then she plans to pursue a graduate degree in music. Her performance at the Pocatello library Saturday was just a way to hone her solo abilities.

    “I've always been a humble person,” Cassie said. “I had to learn to be cocky.”

    She said building up self-confidence has helped her perform both with the Idaho State Symphony and Idaho Falls Symphony the past two years as well as carry off solo performances.

    “A wrong note is only a wrong note if you make it sound like one,” she said with a laugh.

    The only VanderSloot in the family to go into music and the only one to not attend a college operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Cassie still sees herself as a bit of a rebel even though the family's bonds are stronger. But that rebellion has a soft side.

    She said she is looking forward to being in a 5K walk-run with her father later this month and the family is planning a reunion event July 4. Cassie has established an even stronger bond with Brian's surviving immediate family. She gives flute lessons to two of his daughters, 11-year-old Laurie and 9-year-old Megan.

    There is a VanderSloot family photo perched on top the piano where she gives her nieces their lessons.

    “The first three weeks I cried,” Cassie said about those lessons in her brother's home. “Now it's the happiest moment of my week.”

    Before she finishes at ISU and heads to a music graduate program, hopefully at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, Cassie is hoping for a command performance.

    “I teased my dad and told him when Mitt wins, I want to perform at the inaugural ball,” Cassie said. “That would be something to put in my resume.”