Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993 TAG: 9307220557
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LYNN A. COYLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The washboards are a pleasing contrast to the sounds of Leona Harrison's bottle brush tapping and swishing across her green plastic dishpan. "Supposed to be [a dishpan]," Harrison says, "but somebody told me it was a hemorrhoid pan."
The women are members of the Ogden Golden Jubilee, a senior citizens kitchen band that rehearses weekly at the Ogden Senior Center. Since October, they've performed for churches, nursing homes, retirement centers and an elementary school group.
Irma Arwine Robins, 63, is the group's organizer, leader and pianist. "I have never had so much fun. I have been playing in Roanoke for years," as a one-woman band, she said. "But I sort of laid that down 'cause this is so much more fun."
During an afternoon rehearsal on a hot, muggy summer day, many in the group hold small American flags. Besides Robins' piano, there are a few "real" instruments - maracas, a tambourine and some cymbals.
And then there's 85-year-old Gladys Weisenstein, the group's oldest member, striking a toy-sized metal lid with a plastic fork.
Melvin Dodson, who doubles as the group's narrator, plucks a washtub bass he made himself. It's a No. 2 washtub, painted red, turned upside down and strung with piano wire. "I just try to keep rhythm with it," he says of his instrument, which has "The Golden Jubilee" stenciled in black letters across the front.
One of the new members is Geraldine Fox, who for many years operated a dance school in Roanoke. At 79, she still teaches ballroom dancing to senior citizens and is energetic enough to perform a little dance before the group. To untrained observers, it looks like a soft shoe, but it's a waltz clog, she explains later, demonstrating the difference.
While Robins plays the piano, her husband, Walt, directs the group. As she breaks into a rousing version of "Beer Barrel Polka," she calls to him, "Set them down, Walter," which he does with one downward stroke of his glitter-decorated wooden spoon.
"OK - `In the Mood,' gang," Irma Robins calls out next.
Robins said she likes to get a feel for the crowd, then adapt the 15- to 20-minute program accordingly. She told one lackluster audience, "If you don't clap, I might as well leave."
Then she worried that she'd dug herself a hole - if they didn't clap, she'd have to take her group and leave. But her threat broke the ice. They clapped.
Robins said when Walt Sydnor - at 57, the group's youngest member - began bringing a bus from Elm Park Estates, the band's membership jumped from 14 to 25. Now it's sometimes difficult to fit all the members into some of the places they perform, she said.
This spring, there were two marriages within the group - Irma and Walt Robins, and Bob and Thelma Richards Steber. Both couples had known each other before joining the band.
And en route to the Steber wedding, there was a reunion of sorts. While riding together, Mary June Thompson was telling Rutha Kennedy about a trip back home to West Virginia. When Kennedy, also from West Virginia, began asking questions about Thompson's hometown and family, they discovered they were second cousins who had lost touch with each other when Thompson moved away at age 10.
As children, they had attended school together in a "one-room school with an outside john," Kennedy said, "at Beach Creek, right out of Matewan."
Thompson added, "Right on the Tug River."
After the rehearsal, Fox is the dance instructor again. She leans on her cane and shows some steps to a lingering small group. "She's teaching me the `Achy Breaky,' " Thompson explains. Apparently Fox is hooked on the band. "I'll tell the lady I can't get my hair fixed next Tuesday. I have to come out here," she says.
To book a performance by the Ogden Golden Jubilee band, call Irma Robins at 989-5406.
by CNB