BOB STRONG...We were playing at the Lamplighter Club that night, and after the show the Air Force band performers came out to the club. We happened to be playing a medley of popular

BOB STRONG

given name Robert Goodrich Strong

birthdate December 21, 1902

birthplace Kansas City, MO

education graduated from Kansas State University, Wichita, KS, 1924

father Homer L. Strong, b.1865, d.1931

mother Lillie L. Strong, b.1872?

wife Ruthe B. Christner Strong, b.1915, married Feb. 8, 1953

daughter Charlene Faye Strong

stepson Dr. Warren John Christner, b.1946?

stepson Rev. Kenneth Wayne Wilson

grandmother Sarah C. Strong, b.1841, d.1925

physical description 6’ tall, weight 169 lbs., brown hair and brown eyes, light complexion

In his own handwriting, Strong’s World War II Draft Registration Card, 1942

membership Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 10, May 16, 1924; Life Member, April 1, 1970

church membership First Presbyterian Church, Dodge City, KS and Central Christian Church,

Terre Haute, IN

date of death March 15, 1976

place of death Village Nursing Home, Sullivan, IN

cause of death “Influenza or congestion in lungs”-per AFM paperwork, “Cerebral Vascular

Hemorrhage”-per Death Certificate

Publicity photo of Strong taken by the Maurice Seymour Studio in Chicago.

“A Man of Strong Character” In the spring of 1939, Strong formed his own orchestra and later appeared at Glen Island

Casino in New Rochelle, New York and the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago, and many college

campuses, among other venues across the US. He made transcriptions for Lang-Worth, and

recorded a few songs for the Hit record label in March 1944.

He had also worked as a staff Music Director for NBC, mainly in Chicago and Detroit, for

several years, being involved with such radio shows as the “Armour Treat Time,” which ran from

February 1941 to February 1942 and featured singer Buddy Clark; “The Red Skelton Show”;

“College Humor,” sponsored by Raleigh Cigarettes; and “Uncle Walter’s Doghouse.”

By the early 1950s, after he moved to Dodge City, Kansas to go into his father’s business, he

only played music on a part-time basis as a member of Cliff Hawley’s local dance band.

“He was talented on the saxophone, the clarinet, but his best instrument was the English horn,”

according to Hawley. “I recall the time the Air Force Band came to the city to perform. We were

playing at the Lamplighter Club that night, and after the show the Air Force band performers came

out to the club. We happened to be playing a medley of popular tunes and Bob got up and began

a theme with his English horn. Now that is something you don’t just go and do on an English

horn. It was amusing to see those Air Force men drop their partners on the dance floor and

gather around the band shell in awe.”

Strong also sold musical instruments to school music programs around the Dodge City area

and later became an employee of Paige’s Music Store in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Suffering from the onset of Parkinson’s disease in 1970, he resided in a nursing home for the

rest of his life.

Strong was age 50 when he got married.

SOURCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Dr. Kenneth Appleton. Liner notes to “One Night Stand with Bob Strong and His Orchestra,”

Joyce LP 1027.

The Billboard Music Year Book 1943 (Cincinnati, OH: Billboard Publishing Co., 1943).

Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 10-208 Collection, Chicago Public Library, Harold

Washington Library Center, Arts & Music.

“Delt Bob Strong to Play at Karnea,” The Rainbow of Delta Tau Delta, May 1948, p.140.

“Former Dodge Citian dies,” Dodge City, KS Daily Globe, Mar. 1976.

William H. Lee. American Big Bands (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard, 2005), p.281.

“Obituaries: Robert Goodrich Strong,” Terre Haute, IN Tribune, Mar. 16, 1976, p.2.

Popa Family Collection.

IMAGE ATTRIBUTION

Ancestry.com

Bob1951 (45worlds.com)

Discogs (discogs.com)

Maurice Seymour, Chicago

Popa Family Collection