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Nevers' Band Honors Its Members |
| Each year Nevers' Band pays tribute to its members who have shown long standing commitment to the band. Members receive Paul Revere award bowls for every five years of membership, hard work and dedication. As the band sets forth into the 2002 season we are proud to honor the following people who have reached various levels of membership with the band. |
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Glenn DePine of Manchester has recently completed his fifth year of service with the band. Glenn is one of our trumpet players and is also a popular trumpet teacher in the area. |
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Iris Sindelar of Hopkinton, is enjoying her sixth year as trumpet player with Nevers'. Iris's husband, Jim also plays (clarinet, sax, tuba or most anything we need.) Iris is an engineer and we are lucky to take advantage of her talents in the trumpet section as often as her busy schedule will permit. |
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Linda Doerr, long time resident of the Concord area, graduate of Concord High School and pharmacist at Concord Hospital, has observed her tenth year playing clarinet with Nevers'. Linda acted as one of our personnel managers last year. She also enjoys playing with the Stratford County Wind Ensemble. |
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Edna Marie Griffin celebrated her tenth year with Nevers' Band. Edna Marie, our flute player, hails from Penacook. Her husband Steve has acted as our narrator at our popular children's concerts. Edna Marie's daughter Simka has also been one of our featured vocalists. Edna Marie is proud to be a K-6 music teacher in central New Hampshire. |
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Don Wallin of Allenstown has been our trombone player for fifteen years. Don frequently helps with Nevers' Band "computer projects", but the main love of his life (in addition to the trombone) is playing GOLF. We salute Don for his fifteen consecutive years of service. |
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Deborah Giles Lincoln celebrated her thirty-fifth year with the band this past season. Debbie plays flute and piccolo, is currently the band's secretary and helps co-ordinate the children's and other theme concerts. Debbie teaches elementary band in the Timberlane Regional School District in Southern NH and is happy to hear correct notes while playing with Nevers. |
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George M. West, long time resident of Concord and former Concord tax collector, has been playing with Nevers' Band since 1941. George joined the band while still in high school, and first played under the direction of Herbert W. Rainie. Throughout his years with the band, George has played French Horn and for many of those years has been the business manager. George is now semi-retired and resides in Contoocook but is still travels to Concord for rehearsals and concerts. The band owes George a great deal of gratitude for his 61 years of energy and dedication.
Nevers' Band Salutes America |
 Nevers' Band salutes the American Spirit at a concert on Sunday November 11 at 2:00 pm at the City Auditorium. This concert, which is being sponsored by the City of Concord Recreation Department and the Music Performance Trust Fund, will honor the victims and heroes of the September 11 terrorist attacks as well as our own local heroes who continually work to help keep our community safe.
The concert is free of charge and will feature patriotic favorites, traditional American band literature and of course Nevers' Band's famous collection of marches. The band would like to extend a special invitation to all Concord area members of the military, past and present, Fire and Police Departments, General Service workers, the American Red Cross and their families to be our guests of honor. Save the afternoon of Sunday November 11 to join the Nevers' Band at the City Auditorium at 2:00 pm for an afternoon of uplifting music that celebrates America. For more information contact: 225-8690 |
Children's Concert August 21stOne of Nevers' Band most popular concerts each year, is the Annual Children's concert. Plan on setting aside Tuesday evening August 21st and come join us at the State House Plaza at 7:30 p.m. for an evening dedicated to children and the "kid" in all of us.This year we will be exploring the properties of "Sound" with plenty of activities and opportunities for "active listening." Children will be making their own instruments, marching, conducting the band, learning about high and low sounds and entertaining the audience! Come with your creative thinking cap and be ready to solve "musical problems". So load the car with your blankets, lawn chairs, children (of all ages) and enthusiasm. See you August 21st! Special thanks to our sponsor: City of Concord, Recreation Division. Rain Location: City Auditorium Admission: Free and Wheelchair accessible |
Nevers' Band Returns to Rolfe Park July 10thAfter nearly two decades of absence from Penacook's Rolfe Park, Nevers' Band will once again fill the summer air with the sounds of music. On Tuesday evening July 10 at 7:30 p.m. marches, Broadway Musicals, traditional band music and toe-tappers for young and old alike will be presented in the style of the "old fashioned" outdoor Sousa concerts. Hum along, walk your dog, watch a young person from the audience conduct, have a picnic or just relax.In the 1960's and 1970's Nevers' Band was a "regular" on the scene at Penacook's Rolfe Park, but as the City of Concord concentrated it's efforts on the re-vitalization of the downtown area, concert locations such as Rolf Park have become a thing of the past. Since the Concord 2020 Vision places emphasis on Concord being a "city of villages", the band hopes to bring back the feeling of belonging to the Penacook "village" once again. So bring your lawn chair, blanket or listen from your car. Tuesday evening July 10, 7:30 p.m., Rolfe Park be there! Rain Location: Penacook Community Center |
Nevers' Band Mourns the Loss of Three Long Time MembersNovember 1999 by Deborah Giles LincolnNevers' Band has lost three of its long time members this past fall. Saxophone player Richard O'Connor, clarinetist and past conductor Paul T. Giles and first chair trumpet player Melvin Whitcomb all passed away within a month of each other. Richard "Dick" O'Connor from Dracut, MA. played with Nevers' Band since 1969. Dick's musical background was primarily with military organizations. He played in a number of military bands including the U.S. Army Signal Corps Band and the U.S. Army Field Band. He has played in many community orchestras in the Boston area and most recently was co-principal alto saxophone of the Concord Band of Concord, MA. He has been one of Nevers' Band's most versatile musicians. Even though he primarily played Alto Saxophone, he has also played clarinet, bass clarinet, and percussion. Dick has also been featured on several occasions as guest conductor with Nevers'. Band members have always joked with Dick that he was "crazy" to travel from Massachusetts for every concert! Dick was recently honored by the band for his more than thirty years of dedicated service. Paul T. Giles was a member of Nevers' Band since 1951 and served as the band's seventh conductor from 1958 to 1985. Paul studied clarinet at the New England Conservatory of Music and at the National Orchestra and Band Camp at Interlocken, Michigan. He also studied at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Paul was director of instrumental music at St. Paul's School for fifteen years and prior to that taught music throughout the Concord School System and many New England towns. He has been a primary source for private woodwind instruction in the Concord area since 1951 and ran his own instrument repair business. Band members used to kid Paul that there was probably not a person in NH who hadn't either studied music with him or had their instrument repaired by him! Paul was an active member and past president of Local #374 American Federation of Musicians. Upon his retirement as conductor in 1985, the band awarded Paul with the gift of a scholarship fund in his name. This scholarship will be used for furthering music studies of Concord area students. Melvin "Red" Whitcomb served with Nevers' Band since 1944, when he was recruited as a Concord High School student by conductor, Herbert W. Rainie. Throughout his 56 years playing with the band, Red has played for such performances as Senator Bridges Birthday celebration in 1953; the transfer of the Concord Coach from the B&M RR Station to the NH Historical Society on Park St. in 1957; the 1973 celebration of Portsmouth's 350th Anniversary; the dedication of the new Cannon Mt. Aerial Tram II in 1980 and the re-enactment of the signing of the Russo-Japanese Peace Treaty in 1981. Red studied with famed trumpet player Armando Ghitalla and performed with such greats as Roger Voisin, and Concord's own Joe Foley. Throughout the years, Red has been an active member of the band's executive board serving as treasurer, secretary and unofficial historian. Red was also active in the Musicians Local #374. When the band honored Red in 1998 for his 55 years service to the band, Red tallied up the number of concerts he had played with the band at that point…1088. Nevers' Band has suffered a great loss with the passing of these three dear friends. They were building blocks in the foundation of the present day band. Each one, in his own right, fills a chapter in the history of the band's ongoing legacy. This season, as we are surrounded by the empty chairs of Dick, Paul and Red, we will remember their strengths, celebrate their contributions and "carry the baton" of the organization they all loved so much. |