Today I went through the music books, scores and related guitar books I had kept back, just in case someone we know would want it. I,m going to be donating it to the Banjo Museum here in Bricktown.

Yesterday I went to a pancake breakfast put on by my water exercise teachers church as an annual fundraiser. One of our fellow members plays banjo and his band played in the fellowship hall. My husband would have loved it. The museum will take the music.

About two weeks before my husbands death, I asked him to go through his private papers. It overwhelmed him and he asked me to ” just get rid of it, there was a lifetime of personal work there”. The bits of music score, the collaborations with other musicians, plays that he had worked on… I had to be ruthless. It was horrible. In solidarity I went through my own personal stuff. It is amazing what we find so important. I wouldn’t want my sister to have to weed through all that stuff.

It’s a perfect picture, and sense , and essence of my husband, this bag of music. His choices a reflection of him. Pete Seeger, Dylan and Fahey is his style. The Beatles mixed in with a thick book of Maranatha Praise Music thats who he was. He loved the old tunes. “You are my Sunshine” was on the music stand when he died. He had me tune into the Gospel Music Station from Broken Arrow and admitted confidentially that he really did like country music after all. He had thought Lawrence Welk “square” most of his life, but we both immediately chose it when it aired on tv. Of course we said we were putting the champagne music on for the parakeets enjoyment.

My husband was a music man and I can hear him in me,

Advertisement