Common Ground & Influence
I told Chuck that in his short six months here, he’s already influencing the Walker community through his music, and I asked what that’s like. He said, “I think they really like it because they're the same age that I am. I'm 87 and I'm playing the songs I loved when I was 20 years old and they were 20 years old at the same time I was. We have a great thing in common; they tell me that all the time.”
Speaking of influence, Chuck eagerly told me about those people in his life who helped him realize his passion for music and how to keep his practice at the center of his life. He said, “I've had three great music teachers in my life. My piano teacher, my orchestra teacher in high school, Dana Carnal, who taught me to play the bass fiddle and I can do that, too, if I want. And then another Fred Schrader, another music teacher in high school. I remember them. I think they had more influence on me than anything or anyone else.”
So did Chuck follow the footsteps of his musical inspirations and teachers? Quite the contrary. He said, “And yet I had this idea I wanted to be a doctor and help people. So I did that. I call myself the poor man's Albert Schweitzer. He also was a great musician and then he went off to Africa. Schweitzer did. And he became a doctor and spent his life that way. Well, I kind of think I did some of that too. I did a lot of medical work in India, but I was also a musician and that's what I really enjoyed. Although I had a good time being a doctor too. It was fine.”