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Lorne Barker, our EEb Tuba
player says, “In work or
play, place yourself in the
Lord’s hands and do the best
you can.”
He is one fine example of
that personal quote. He is
one solid Salvationist that
knows all about commitment
and dedication to his Lord.
Lorne had his beginnings in
Parry Sound, Ontario, the
home of hockey great Bobby
Orr, formerly of the Boston
Bruins in the National
Hockey League. That makes at
least two great ones from
that beautiful northern
district.
Lorne lived right across the
street from the Salvation
Army hall and Bandmaster
Robert Ferris took an
immediate interest in this
lad and started him on
cornet at seven years of
age.
Good Friday, 1946, saw his
debut as a bandsman in the
second cornet section of the
Parry Sound Band.
In 1947 Lorne moved to
Kitchener, Ontario and took
his place on the second
cornet bench in that fine
southern Ontario ensemble.
The Young People’s
bandleader needed a
euphonium player and Lorne
was given the task. He was
unable to crack that
position in the senior band
as Norm Wombwell was firmly
ensconced in that position
and held it with skill for
many years.
Lorne played 2nd
baritone for a short time
until Bandmaster Bill
Gallagher asked him if he
would mind having a go on
the EEb bass.
He soon excelled at that
position and, in this
writer’s opinion, became one
of the finest, if not the
finest, Tuba player around
at that time. He went on to
play that instrument for 62
years. We’re still counting
as he continues to be active
in that section with Jubilee
Brass.
Lorne reports that a lot of
people referred to his
Bandmaster, Bill Gallagher
as a ‘man way ahead of his
time’. Bill was a very
accomplished cornet player
in his own right. Bill’s
focus was on ‘sound’ ahead
of ‘tempo’ and was a
stickler for accuracy. Many
a student of his can
remember staying with one
exercise for over an hour as
he made them repeat it over
and over again until note
perfect.
The writer remembers a time
when the Kitchener band,
comprising no more than
18-20 players appeared on
stage at the Massey Hall in
Toronto amongst two or three
other brilliant Salvation
Army Bands and stole the
show with their performance.
Most of Lorne’s work
experience was as a shipper
with the Arrow shirt
company. While there he
became involved in umpiring.
He was coaching a fastball
team and an ‘ump’ didn’t
show up so the home plate
umpire recruited him to do
the basses. From bass to
bases was indeed a stretch.
Lo and behold, that ump
happened to be the ‘umpire
in chief’ and he approached
Lorne to do some more work.
He had been suitably
impressed. Lorne honed his
skills and became very
proficient and went on to
umpire for twenty five
years. He umpired in
slo-pitch leagues as well as
fastball. He umpired in all
leagues for all ages in many
urban and rural settings. In
2005 he umpired the
championship games in St.
Thomas, Ontario. He could
probably say,"Yer out" with
great gusto even today and
even in his sleep.
After his years with the
Arrow shirt company he spent
some years, before
retirement in 1998, working
for the Salvation Army in
hostels in Kitchener and
London as well as at Booth
House in London.
Lorne is still hitting home
runs with Jubilee Brass and
isn’t ready to hang up the
cleats anytime soon. |
