Quiet Hero Strikes a Chord with Owners of Music Business
It's easy to be cynical these days.
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Baseball players rely on steroids to hit homers. Hotel heiresses who have the world at their feet end up behind bars. Pop stars who make mega-millions are so messed up they lose custody of their children. You wonder, to paraphrase an old folk song, where have all the heroes gone? John Wayne, where are you? Before you reach for the Prozac, though, listen to the tale of Ron Hamsher.
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You won't find his name in the headlines of the National Inquirer, or ubiquitous the blabber ib take radio or cable TV. Hamsher, who was 65 when he died las November, led a quiet life with his family in Krumsville. He was a mechanic, and apparently a pretty good one.
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Rob Hamsher, 38, an engineer at Mack trucks in Allentown, said his dad could fix anything from a pickup truck to a Mack truck. He even worked on bulldozers. What lingers most in Rob's mind, though, is not how well his dad handled a wrench. It's how well he handled a guitar.
Ron played guitar pretty much for the joy of playing He did a hoedown and fiddle festival now and then, but Ron's greatest joy was playing at home with his family and in his church, New Jerusalem Zion UCC, Krumsville.
Rob's fondest memories are of making music with his dad and mom, Lennia, in their living room. Dad on guitar, mom on piano, and son on fiddle, they belted out down home classics like "Bile 'em Cabbage Down," a well-known mountain fiddle song. "It was fun."Rob recalls. "We did it strictly for the love of music."
Ron taught his son how to play guitar and apparently did a good job. Rob plays guitar, mandolin, fiddle, bass, and sax. Oh, and banjo, dobro, dulcimer, and autoharp. A natural teacher, Ron taught some of Rob's friends to play guitar, mandolin, and banjo. "He passed the music to the next generation," says Rob, who lives in Laury's Station, Lehigh County, "It wasn't about him; it was about him passing on the music." Rob wasn't the only one to notice his father's affinity with young players.
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Paula Taylor and Michael Andrews, owners of Meadowood Music in Maidencreek Township, noticed too. Ron would bring Rob into their store, which had been in Kutztown, and fawn over the instruments. He liked Martin guitars best, and cherished his rosewood D-28, a mainstay of Bluegrass music.
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He was a friend, not just a customer. In tribute, Taylor and Andrews have established the Ron Hamsher Guitar Scholarship.
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Some lucky future musician will get a year of guitar lessons with one of Meadowood's instructors free of charge. They'll even provide a guitar on loan and pay for the music books.
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"Ron was interested in people playing music," said Taylor, who gave up an engineering career to sell handmade instruments. "He was like a musical Pied Piper to the young."
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The scholarship is open to anyone, beginner or experienced. Applications are available at Meadowood, 8521 Allentown Pike (Route 222), near the Coliseum Restaurant. The application also is on Meadowood's web site: meadowoodmusic.com.
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Application must be filed by Nov. 1. The Hamsher family will choose the recipient by Dec. 15, and lessons will begin in January.
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Ron Hamsher would have supported the idea of a scholarship, Taylor said, but he'd have been embarrassed that ut carried his name. Rob agreed.
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That's because Ron was a true American hero. Like the characters John Wayne often played, he had a quiet strength, was more concerned about others than himself, and looked to the future. I guess the lesson is that the real heroes are not Big League baseball players, international celebrities, or divas. They're ordinary people like Ron Hamsher, and they go about their lives with quiet dignity. Mostly for other than their family notice.
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But, as the Ron Hamsher Guitar Scholarship shows, sometimes the good guys really do win.
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Ron Devlin: 610-371-5030, rdevlin@readingeagle.com.