"I Played my Best for Him, Pa-Rum-Pum-Pum-Pum"

Tribute to Balladier Drummer, Rob Fackrell

Last Wednesday, February 26, my dear friend 

and The USU Balladier's drummer,

Rob Fackrell, passed away 

after a 7-year battle with prostate cancer.

He and Craig Jessop were our "babies" in the group.

(The USU Balladiers were formed in 1963 by Utah State University 

as a proselyting group to promote the university.

I auditioned and was accepted into the group in 1964.

Rob was a mere freshman when he auditioned - 

at that time, the rest of us were juniors, seniors or were in graduate school.

Craig, who, as many of you know, went on to become 

the Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir,  

auditioned to get into The USU Balladiers in the spring 

of his senior year of high school, 

knowing that he would be an entering freshman in the fall. 

We needed someone to fill in for Nathan Day, who was drafted, 

to go on the USO Tour.) 

The Balladiers were into their third year of performing 

when it was decided that we should add drums 

and electric bass to our music and to go 

from purely folk music to doing some folk rock.

Man, could Rob play the drums!

After we held auditions to find a drummer,

Rob was picked and I remember thinking,

"Wow!  That kid radiates happiness - 

what a great smile!"

And he was so darned much fun!

Craig and Rob on the USO Tour,

wearing Carol's wiglet and my fall

When you travel with someone for ten weeks,

as the Balladiers did together on our USO Tour 

to Southeast Asia during the War in Vietnam

 to entertain our troops,

you get to know each other pretty well.

What an upbeat, kind and happy guy he was!

Now that I'm old, I can't even remember

when we didn't have drums with our music; 

it added so much!

I looked through my old pics to find 

ones with him in them. 

He's the one in the olive green shirt.

On a tour to southern California,

we traveled in two vehicles, and someone in one of them

realized that the chord progression in two of our songs, 

"Georgie Girl" and "Windy" was similar.

So when we stopped at a gas station in St. George,

we gathered around and tried it out.  Magic!
Roger was on this tour with us and he took this pic.

This is taken at Disneyland, before we sang.  

Rob is next to Doug's wife, Nan, in the center. 

Baladiers singing at the Carnation Plaza at Disneyland

Rob is the guy bending over in this pic taken on the USO Tour.

Roger took this pic when we landed back home in SLC

from Hawaii on our USO Tour.

(Isn't my hair something? My fall was 

looking pretty bad by the end of our tour.

In those days, the highest hair WINS! Ha.)

 I looked and looked to find a pic of Rob playing his drums - 

he is always covered up by the rest of us.

This one was taken after we returned home from our USO Tour

and performed a concert in the USUB.

Balladiers have a unique bond - 

such an over-used word,

but that's the best I can come up with to describe 

the feeling we have, one for another.

That bond has become 

even stronger through the years.

We have gotten together 

through these almost 50 years since, 

as regularly as we could. 

 In the early years, we were more scattered 

throughout the country, 

but we all made the effort to be together, 

if at all possible, whenever we 

scheduled a dinner, a retreat, etc.

Always on the agenda was our music.

We would sing through all our old favorites 

and we would play around with new ones 

that someone would bring - 

sitting in a circle, singing, strumming and 

listening for our harmony until we had 

the sound and blend we wanted.

And also, always on the agenda, was the fun - 

the stories repeated over and over through the years,

the jokes on each other,

getting bigger and bigger.

Rob totally scored when he found Stephanie!

She is as upbeat, happy and positive as he was.

About three years ago,

Balladiers had a reunion/concert in Logan.

Craig (now the  Dean of the Cain College of the Arts)

and Don Gardner, our Music Director, 

set it up for us to do a concert where we

performed most of our songs we had sung 

on our USO Tour in the USU Performance Hall.

Around 400 people attended.

Roger took this pic of Rob and Stephanie at our dinner/roast the night before the concert.

Rob in rehearsal for the concert

Stephanie and Jon Bouwhuis's wife, LeNore, were our Groupies.

Stephanie has a bigger-than-life personality,

and she would hoot, holler, and cheer for us all throughout our rehearsal time.

She was so proud of Rob!

Balladiers sent a large wreath to Fackrells.

with our pic from the USO Tour 

and drum sticks on it.

It was next to his coffin at the funeral.

The family asked us to sing at the luncheon. 

We had a quick rehearsal after the funeral 

in the Relief Society room.

We thought, well, maybe we'll sing, 

"God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again."

Rob's kids requested that we sing, "Denver"

and "Georgie Girl/Windy."

They said, "We grew up listening and dancing 
to the recordings of those songs, 

and those two are our favorites."
We didn't sound quite like we did
"in the day" . . . 
Click on the red arrow button to hear 
The Balladiers on the USO Tour:

. . . but we did our best, and we ended with "Liza Lee."

We have no recording of "Liza Lee,"

but the words end with, 

"Sure as the sun will rise again,

I'm coming home to you."

I have included, "Turn Around Babe,"

because we featured Rob in this song with a drum solo.

Morris Angell and Lewis Rawlinson wrote the song,

and I sing the bit solos.

Don, Mark, Kent, Kay, Carol, Marilyn and I 

were able to come to the funeral.

Other members expressed deep regret, 

for various reasons, that they couldn't make it.

What an outstanding family the Fackrells are!
Each of his four kids spoke,
and each told of what a wonderful father Rob is.
Special memories were shared 
of one-on-one times with their dad.
Rob loved to go on rides! 
And he traveled quite a bit 
to other communities for his job, 
and the kids told of how each time he would go, 
he would go get one of them out of school to ride with him.
What they learned during those times being with their dad
far outweighed what they would have learned
 in the classroom.
Rob's top priority was always his family.
Sweet stories were told 
of how he so kindly treated and adored his wife.
And of how he loved and served the Lord,
helping and cheering up others.

Chatting with Rob's kids, Joanna, Caroline, Jake and Andrew,
sister, Karen and wife, Stephanie, after we sang.

Why did I entitle this tribute 

with a line from, "Little Drummer Boy?"

I am confident that the Lord was so very pleased 

with how Rob lived his life,

knowing that he "played" his very best for Him!

Oh, how we will miss him!