On the Road with The Oak Ridge Boys by Joseph S. Bonsall

Author:Joseph S. Bonsall
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736964203
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.

Another fan the Boys came to love was Aunt Una Reeks. We first met her around 1977 at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, in an unusual way. Right before the show, we received word that the drummer’s Aunt Una was at the backstage door and wanted very much to see him.

Our drummer in those years was Mark Ellerbee, who was a great story in his own right. Mark was a Vietnam veteran—a medic—and was known as the first rock and roll drummer in the history of southern gospel music. The guy was a trendsetter, and everyone loved him. Mark was also somewhat of a hippie. He wouldn’t have looked out of place at Woodstock but would have looked totally out of place working at a Wall Street investment firm.

Well, Mark didn’t have any idea whether he actually had an Aunt Una, but he told the security guards to allow her backstage. The two of them hugged and laughed like old friends. Mark introduced her to everyone, and we put a seat on the side of the stage where she could comfortably watch and enjoy the show.

Fact is, it was all a ruse. It turns out that this woman, who was well into her seventies, was a big fan of the Oaks and just wanted to meet everybody. Mark just shrugged it all off, but I must tell you we all fell in love with this spunky woman, and we proceeded to let her come and visit us until the day she died at the ripe old age of 104!

Aunt Una would show up most anywhere, and when she did we always made a fuss over her. When she came to shows at more than 100 years old, we introduced her as our oldest fan. Audiences gave her a bigger ovation than they gave for “Elvira.” Everyone loved Aunt Una. In her day, she was the chair of the Republican Party in the state of Virginia. If you really wanted to get her going, you could just tell her you were a Democrat!

When I was first learning to play the banjo, I was sitting with Aunt Una backstage in Huntsville, Alabama. She was in a wheelchair beside me, and I was picking a few simple banjo tunes for her. She was quiet for a while and then seriously looked up at me and said, “Someday you might get really good at playing that thing, but it won’t be today!”

School was out.

Once at a fair in South Carolina, a car full of folks pulled up beside the bus. When I saw Aunt Una in the backseat, I ran over to the car, and we chatted and laughed for several minutes. As I was walking back toward the tour bus, I heard Aunt Una say, “Now, who was that?”

I stopped in my tracks and turned. I was really sad there for a minute until she said, “Ha ha—just kidding, Joe, just kidding. What a face!”

She was 101 then, and I figured…well, you know.

Aunt Una’s daughter, Mary, looked after her and always brought her to the shows.

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