https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/6e0ebe2e794942e401ba92bea8f0ee24.pdf 3fb7ceac231fd51b412a3dd4d76d633a PDF Text Text PAUL AND HAZEL (Gunderman) BRAKE During the first two decades of this century, the Ithaca (New York) Conservatory of Music was one of the four finest music centers in the country. It was there Paul Brake and Hazel Gunderman became acquainted through their interest in music and dated and became good friends. Ithaca, in the Finger Lakes district of southern New York, is a very beautiful place. "It's very much like here, only less rugged and has much mare rain" says Hazel. When Hazel was born on August 30, 1901, her parents, Charles and Ethyl Gunderman, lived in Waverly, New York, about 40 miles south of Ithaca. Mr. Gunderman was employed by an aggressive company with a great future, the Bell Telephone Co. "Dad was a construction foreman and a trouble man for 33 years. This job eventually took us to Ithaca. It was hard work without the machines used today. The telephone poles were raised by horses and the men had to pull the wires by hand. During the years he was a trouble man, he was called out during storms and in the middle of the night whenever service was interrupted." School was quite demanding in those days. "We didn't get any credit for just being there. Every year we had to pass the Regent's Exam or we would not be passed on to the next grade. Our home was heated by a coal stove. We had running water from the town's spring-fed reservoir, so pure it needed no filtration. -We had no supermarkets. We bought milk and eggs at the creamery and our meat at the butcher's. The stores did have canned goods, which was a help, since the only fresh things available during winter were cabbage, celery, turnips and plenty of apples. Bacon was 20 cents a pound and if butter got to 35 cents a pound, people-thought it was too high to use. Refrigerating food was never a problem in winter. We always had a cold room, but in summer every one used an ice box. Blocks of ice were delivered twice a week. Ice cutting on the river provided work for many men during winter." During the 1920's Hazel taught music to many private students. This work was successful and enjoyable until the years of the depression. Suddenly people were too poor to pay for music lessons and Hazel was out of work. In 1932 Hazel and her mother went to Los Angeles for a visit and decided to stay, since there were more jobs in California. Over the next 30 years Hazel had a variety of jobs. "I took whatever was available during the depression. There was no unemployment compensation then." In 1962 Hazel made a trip back to Ithaca. While visiting Miss Holmes, one of her old teachers at the conservatory, she learned that Paul Brake, whom she had not seen for over 30 years, was teaching school in Salida, Colorado. When she returned home, Hazel wrote to Opal and the friendship which had begun so long ago, resumed. They met in Las Vegas, Nevada, over Christmas vacation of 1962 and were married. Paul returned to Salida to finish the school year. The next summer he joined Hazel in Los Angeles. The Brakes came to Ignacio and Durango for a vacation in the summer of 1964. This was not Paul's first trip to this area. He had taught music in the Ute Vocational School for 6 years 1946-53. Of all the bands he taught in various schools across the country, 16 �'1 '1 '1 1 1 1 I I Mr. Brake says he got the most satisfaction from his bands at the Indian School. Primarily, Mr. Brake says, "Because the Indian children are very talented, musically." J l ' I ) ' ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J ) _) J .) .J J .J .J __) .J .._) .._) ..) .._) .._) J J J Paul had good memories of Ignacio and Hazel took an immediate liking for the area. After a little searching, they located a house to buy, then returned to Los Angeles, since Hazel needed to work only a few months to reach retirement age. She had no regrets about leaving Los Angeles. "Los Angeles offers many cultural advantages, such as the Hollywood Bowl, the museums, and the symphony, but I never really liked it there very well. It is damp and foggy much of the time. Then the town began to grow until all the autos made the air almost unbreathable.'' Pulling up stakes to move to Los Angeles and then on to Ignacio is part of the pattern of Paul Brake's life. His career in music has taken him to more places in the country than most people have heard of. Paul's father, Charles Hobart Brake was a school teacher educated in Canada. Later he bought a Business College in Norfolk, Nebraska. Paul was born there on December 14, 1897. After selling the college, Charles farmed in Nebraska and then decided to go back to New York. Not long afterward, Paul began to demonstrate the beginnings of the musical talent which would dominate his life, Paul had been forbidden to "bother his father's clarinet', but when he was alone in the house, Paul experimented with it until he could play a tune. When his father caught him, he decided it was not mischief but potential talent showing up. So -Paul got lessons. Then he was sent to the conservatory where he met Hazel. His first jobs were providing theme music at the theaters in Ithaca. Then he went on the road with the band in Van Arnum's Circus and became fascinated with the traveling life. Over the next 20 years, he traveled the country with a marvelous variety of circuses, road shows and melodramas. Paul worked one season on a living legend, the Cotton Blossom Show Boat. "We played the towns up and down the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, one play going down and another coming back up the river. We did Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come and Unwa nted Child. The band provided incidental music for the plays. When the boat stopped near Hannibal, Missouri, I asked an old timer whether he had known Mark Twain. He said yes, he had known him and that Mark was a pretty good man, but an awful liar." The show boat was a theater built on a garage. It would seat 500. "Most of the time we stopped at towns, but occasionally we'd tie up at lonely little docks in farm country. That night we'd see the people walking through the woods with their lanterns and rowing down the river in their skiffs. People in those areas were hungry for entertainment and it was surprising what a crowd we'd pull out of seemingly empty country. Seats cost 35 cents to 75 cents. There were 10 in the cast, 12 in the band and a crew of 3 operated the stern-wheeler steam boat which maneuvered the garage." Paul played tuba for the Youngstown, Ohio Symphony for several years, then went back on the road with the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus. Other years he taught band in schools in Ohio, Texas and Colorado . The Brake's time in Colorado has been retirement in the best sense of the word. Now that there is time, they have both worked to develop further their talents and interests . Hazel has taught piano to many youngsters and spends hours oil painting. Paul fishes 17 �in the Pine River when he takes a notion, teaches violin and composes music. His latest creation, a symphonic composition of four suites for band was conducted by Mr. Brake at the Ft. Lewis Concert last December. Our senior citizens are people with abilities and interests as varied and as valuable as those of any other age group. The Brakes are adequate evidence of this. We send both of them our best wishes for good health and for many years to work and create and contribute to their community. January, 1976 -- by Shelby Smith 18 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Paul Brake and Hazel (Gunderman) Brake Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-01 Subject The topic of the resource Brake, Paul; Brake, Hazel (Gunderman); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Paul Brake and Hazel (Gunderman) Brake based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the January, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brake, Paul; Brake, Hazel (Gunderman) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby