Memorials, continued
Carl Schnoor
Carl Schnoor cut an impressive swath across Portland, spreading his passions for music, teaching, world travel and support for the arts. Carl was a dyed-in-the-wool traveler, visiting Asia, Europe, Australia South America, Africa and Antarctica while making Portland his home.
As a young man, Carl learned to play viola and launched a five-decade career teaching music in Portland Public Schools. Many of his students fondly recall his kindness, patience and generosity.
Adept at playing alto-clef instruments, Carl played viola for more than 50 years with the Oregon Sinfonietta, also joining the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra in 2021 to play mandola.
“Carl was a pillar of music education in the Portland area,” said OMO Music Director Christian McKee. “He had an abiding love of classical music, and loved to play his teens-era Gibson mandola. It was an honor to have him in our orchestra during his later years.”
Don Appert, Oregon Sinfonietta music director, also applauded Carl’s contributions.
“He played under my baton for 24 years and always was a most enthusiastic and dedicated musician,” Appert said. “When he wasn’t making music, he was attending concerts, operas, ballets and recitals. It truly was his lifelong passion and we in the Sinfonietta will miss him.”
Jack Densem
Jack Densem was a longtime mainstay in Portland's music community. He was one of the original members of the old Portland Mandophonic Orchestra, faithfully attending the twice-weekly rehearsals to run up the best attendance record of any player. While playing in the Mandophonics, Jack played in a small mandolin ensemble that played on Saturday mornings, a Vancouver orchestra and a string quartet, displaying his range on mandolin, mandola, violin and viola. He joined the current Oregon Mandolin Orchestra when it started in 2010.
Jack encouraged some of the local players to join him in San Diego for the Classical Mandolin Society of America's 2003 convention in San Diego, as well as the 2010 convention in Seattle. He had a remarkably, active life in retirement: golf (with a hole in one!), bowling (averaging a respectable 200), photography, gardening, sculpture, as well as long daily runs/walks.
He was devoted to his family, caring for his wife of many years until her recent death. The couple were deeply interested in community arts and would set up a schedule of performances to attend throughout the year. One of Jack's favorite observations was that his retirement lasted longer than his professional career.
Burl Romick
Raised on Lake St. Clair in Michigan, Burl told amazing stories about working at the family boat moorage. A mechanical engineer by trade, he married Abigail Trask in 1958, and together they started a printing business, AB Prints.
He loved sailing, served as Commodore of the Willamette Sailing Club, and for many years circumnavigated Vancouver Island with Abigail in their 35-foot sailboat. A "pretty" skier and former Timberline Ski Host, Burl took his last run at age 86.
As a mandolinist, he was a member of the Mandophonic Orchestra,the Portland Megaband and the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra. He will forever be remembered for his rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel", played with his grandkids or while propped up on the trunk of a car. His memory will live on in the retelling of his stories and in our hearts.
Bill "Billy Low Notes" Jordens
Bill Jordens, adept at both mandocello and mandolin, died at his Gresham home on July 29 – just three days short of his 90th birthday.
“There are many of us in the orchestra who learned from Bill and shared both music and laughs along the way,” said OMO President Michael Tognetti. “Those of us who played and laughed with him will treasure those moments.”
In 1938, while just 10 years old, Bill joined his father, Harry W. Jordens, and his grandfather, Paul Bruno, to play in the Bonne Amie Musical Circle in Milwaukee, Wisc. The circle, established in 1900, is the direct predecessor of the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, making that orchestra the world’s longest-continuously performing mandolin ensemble. “I had the last chair and I wasn’t very good,” Jordens told The Oregonian/OregonLive in 2013. “But they still let me play.”
After moving to Oregon, Bill joined the old Portland Mandophonic Orchestra, playing until it disbanded in 2001. He joined the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra when it was established in 2010, leading the mandocello section and providing a strong positive example to others in the ensemble. Health issues forced him to leave the orchestra in early 2017.
Throughout the years, however, Bill still played with several of his Portland Mandophonic friends on Saturdays and Tuesdays. Pam Gurnari, who played with Bill in both orchestras as well as the weekly get-togethers, said he left a lasting impression on everyone. “Bill was a good man - and a great friend to me,” Gurnari said.
Chuck Whitman, another veteran of both orchestras and weekly sessions, said Bill often injected comic relief into OMO rehearsals. His sharp rapid-fire comebacks to the orchestra’s co-founder and first music director became the stuff of legend. “Bill had a very quick wit,” Whitman said. “Many will remember his responses to many of Brian Oberlin’s comments from the conductor’s stand.”
In addition to playing mandocello with these different groups, Bill forged a successful career as a high school science teacher. Ken Culver, who formerly led the Portland Mandophonic, said Bill joined the orchestra in 1983 after attending a concert in downtown Portland.
“He was a superb addition to the Mandophonic,” Culver said. “He was very happy to be playing.”
Culver said Bill volunteered to take hand-written scores and feed them through computer programs that made the music more uniform and easily understandable by orchestra members. “He never said a word about it,” Culver said. “He just did it on his own – and it was much appreciated.”
On Sept. 3, 1949, Bill married Margaret Howe in Milwaukee. They soon settled in Northeastern Oregon. They moved to Gresham in 1968, where Bill became a respected educator. Margaret, who worked in retailing, died in 2010.
Survivors include their daughters, Mary Lynn Fisher of West Sacramento, Calif., Susan Davis of Portland and Patricia Jordens of Portland; son, William J. Jordens of Beaverton; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
In honor and recognition of Bill’s deep, historical commitment to mandolin music, the OMO Board of Directors established the Bill Jordens Education Fund to recognize his lifelong commitments to music and education, as well as his contributions to the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra.
“Mandolin orchestras definitely made life richer for my father after he retired,” Fisher said. “He loved playing music.”
Trish O'Neill
Patricia “Trish” O’Neil was a stalwart mandola player in the old Portland Mandophonic Orchestra for many years, then joined the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra soon after it was established in 2010.
Trish grew up in Eureka, Calif., and received a degree in nursing. This was her primary profession through the years. Meanwhile, she also had classical music training on mandola, mandolin, viola, violin and piano while completing a year at a music conservatory. The knowledge she gained from that training helped both orchestras navigate the intricacies of the often-complex classical genre.
While living in Happy Valley, Trish took mandolin lessons from Jan DeWeese, a member of the Reed College music faculty. She also played in assorted weekly musical gatherings led by the late David Wood, formerly co-owner of Sheet Music Service. A devotee of Irish music, Trish assembled an enormous, ever-evolving book of tunes entitled “Not At My Father’s Knee.” She labeled each successive version of the book, the “Umpteenth Edition.”
Trish had a quick wit and a great sense of humor. She also was an avid reader. She adored cats and dogs, and was a guardian for many throughout her life. Trish also enjoyed making glass beads and remained active despite struggling with chronic back pain.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Steve O’Neil.