Tuesday December 12, 2006

Homer Ledford dies at 79

By Mike Wynn

His instruments have graced the halls of the Smithsonian Institute and sold for more than $1,000 on eBay. The renowned bluegrass musician and craftsman won local immortality with many Winchester residents who couldn’t even play — they would buy his instruments simply because they wanted a “true Homer Ledford.”

But “a pretty instrument is worthless unless it plays pretty,” Ledford told the Sun in 1978.

After more than a half century of celebrated craft and showmanship, Ledford, 79, died Monday at his Winchester home, leaving behind a legacy that included more than 6,000 dulcimers and international acclaim as a bluegrass musician with his band, Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band.

“I think he is best known as an instrument maker,” said Colista Ledford, his wife of 53 years.

Doctors could never say for certain whether he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Colista said he had been sick for three years, his condition worsening in the final six months of his life. In the end, he may have suffered from a stroke, she said.

Friends and family remember him as a gentle husband and father.

“They all gathered around him and held his hand and told him how much they loved him as he died,” said Colista.

According to his band’s Web site, Ledford was born in the Appalachian Mountain region of Tennessee, where he constructed his first fiddle at an early age in 1941. He later received a scholarship to attend the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C., in 1946, and constructed his first dulcimer there while recuperating from rheumatic fever.

“As far as I can remember, I have always been interested in playing instruments. My uncle had a guitar I always wanted to just sit and strum,” he once said.

He attended Berea College and later received a Bachelor of Science degree in l954 from Eastern Kentucky University. He set up a woodworking shop in the basement of his Winchester home on Sunset Heights in 1955. For 10 years, he taught high school industrial arts in Jefferson and Clark counties, but resigned in 1963 to pursue a a full-time career as an instrument maker, according to the Web site.

Early in his career, Ledford was known for producing a dulcimer a day and was still creating about 50 instruments per year in 2005.

Ron Pen, a University of Kentucky associate professor of musicology and director of the John Jacob Niles Center for Appalachian Music, said in 2005 that Ledford’s life-long output was unparalleled.

“He’s something of an Edison,” Pen said. “It reflects a time in craftsmanship in which beauty and function were absolutely intertwined.”

Ledford’s proficiency in woodworking led him to invent the dulcitar, which is registered in the U.S. patent office and displayed in the Smithsonian along with two more of his creations, a fretless banjo and an Appalachian dulcimer.

By the time of his death, Ledford had completed 6014 dulcimers, 476 banjos, 27 mandolins, 26 guitars, 18 ukuleles, 13 dulcitars, 3 dulcijos, 3 dulcibros, 4 violins and one bowed dulcimer.

Many of the instruments were displayed on stage as he played to local and international audiences with his band, which was formed in 1976 and has still remained active. The group toured as far as Ireland and Ecuador, but performed mostly in Kentucky for the last few years.

Ledford also played solo concerts in Japan, opened for Alison Krauss, shared the stage with bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys and entertained five Kentucky governors. He played 13 instruments and his ability to perform complex tunes with a saw was often a crowd favorite.

“Music is something for the soul,” Ledford said in 2005. “It will keep you sane in an otherwise insane world.”

His band maintained the longest-running radio show will all the same members for ten years and the city of Winchester held the Homer Ledford Bluegrass Festival in his honor for three years starting in 1986.

Among the honors he received are the 75th annual Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Highland Craft Guild and the 1996 Milner Award from the Governor’s Awards for the Arts. He also was nominated for the National Heritage Award and was named a “Star of Kentucky” in 2002.

In 2004, Ledford also released “See Ya’ Further Up The Creek,” an autobiographical book of short stories and poems. His craft also became fodder for other writers and filmmakers, who made Ledford the center subject in several documentaries, including the recent KET production, “The Dulcimer Maker.”

Ledford was a founder of the Bluegrass Heritage Committee and remained involved in numerous community events over the years.

“He was a very fortune man, a very hard worker,” Colista said.

WUKY 91.3 F.M. is producing a one-hour show on the musician tonight on “Curtains @ 8” with guest Michael Jonathan, who will recount some of Ledford’s life.

Ledford is survived by his wife, four children and five grandchildren.

“He was a wonderful man, and I was very blessed to have him for almost 54 years,” Colista said.

Copyright:The Winchester Sun 2006



Bluegrass legend Homer Ledford dies at 79





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Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band






Dec 12, 2006 : 10:28 am ET

WINCHESTER, Ky. -- Bluegrass legend Homer Ledford, an Appalachian band leader who crafted hundreds of banjos and guitars, has died from an apparent stroke. He was 79.

Ledford died Monday evening at his home in Winchester after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, his wife, Colista Ledford, said on Tuesday. The disease causes progressive paralysis.

However, he wanted to string a fiddle up to his last day, his wife said.

"He was best known for the musical instruments he made," she said. "I'll miss his music."

The Tennessee native started making musical instruments as a youngster and earned a scholarship at 18 to attend John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C.

He later attended Berea College, where he met his wife. The two would have celebrated their 54th anniversary on Dec. 20.

Ledford graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 1954 and taught industrial arts in Jefferson and Clark counties for the next 10 years, Colista Ledford said.

Eventually he devoted his career to instrument-making and the Cabin Creek Band, which performed for 20 years and recorded a half-dozen albums.

He completed an estimated 5,776 dulcimers, 475 banjos, 26 mandolins, 26 guitars, 18 ukuleles, and four violins, among other instruments, according to the band's Web site.

The Smithsonian Institution also houses a sample of his collection, including a fretless banjo, an Appalachian dulcimer, and a dulcitar -- an instrument of his own invention, which he patented.

The Homer Ledford Bluegrass Festival in Winchester was named after him in 1986 and he was one of the original inductees in the Kentucky Stars. A sidewalk plaque honoring him is in front of the Downtown Arts Center on Main Street in Lexington.
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The Rowlan Taylor Funeral Home in Winchester was handling funeral arrangements, which were tentatively scheduled for Thursday.
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Nancy Dee (Croninger) Fegenbush
Nancy Dee (Croninger) Fegenbush, died peacefully on Saturday, December 2, 2006 after a courageous and well fought eleven year battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS).

On September 13, 1951 in Wauseon, Ohio, Nancy was born to N.D. and Phyllis (Jo) Croninger. When she was 10, her family moved to Gila Bend, Arizona, where they lived until 1964 and the family moved on to Yuma. Nancy graduated from Yuma High School in 1969. During high school she was active in the theater and the Choralairs. At the age of 15, Nancy’s singing talent was discovered and nurtured by local Yuma entertainer and musician Joe Wehrle Sr. She and Joe performed together at the Yuma County Fair and other functions. At the age of 16, Nancy was performing on weekends at the Holiday Inn. She won various talent shows and in 1969 was crowned Miss Yuma County. In 1970, she was a runner up in the Miss Arizona Pageant. Nancy attended Arizona Western College for two years before transferring to Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1974, she graduated from NAU with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She continued to live in Flagstaff and worked as a deputy clerk for the Coconino County Clerk of the Superior Court. Upon returning to Yuma, she worked for Kammann/Johnson Mortuaries for 15 years and then was an Administrative Secretary to Chief Robby Robinson of the Yuma Police Department. Well known for her singing talent, Nancy continued to entertain at various functions around the city. But her most favorite engagements were for her beloved Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

In 1992, Nancy met and married her one true love Doug Fegenbush. Doug, also a terrific singer, performed with Nancy on many occasions. In 1994, for the second time in her life, Nancy moved away from Yuma to live on Coronado Island in San Diego while Doug was stationed there with the U.S. Marine Corps. It was there in April of 1996 that she was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) a terminal illness. In 1997, she and Doug returned home to Yuma to live until 2000 when they moved once again to Newport, Rhode Island. In 2004, Nancy and Doug moved to Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu in Hawaii where she lived until she quietly passed away at home, with Doug at her bedside. Now, Nancy is making her final trip home to Yuma, her favorite place on earth.

Nancy is survived by her husband Colonel Doug Fegenbush, USMC; her mother Phyllis (Jo) Croninger of Yuma, her sisters, Sue Stallworth and Joni (Steve) Meinhardt of Yuma; her stepchildren, Brandon Fegenbush (currently serving an LDS Mission in the Kenya-Nairobi mission), Amy and Nicky Fegenbush of Portland Oregon, and Chad Schreiber of San Diego. She is also survived by her nephews, Toby (Carli) Myers and Steven Seale of Yuma, Ryan Seale of Chandler, Arizona, two great-nephews, Trace Myers and Jace Seale; and great niece, Macy Myers. Nancy was preceded in death by her father, N.D. Croninger; and brother-in-law Richard Stallworth.

There will be a visitation from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friday, December 15, 2006 at Johnson Mortuary and memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, December 16, 2006 at the Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 4300 West 16th Street, Yuma. Gravesite services will follow at Desert Lawn Cemetery Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Nancy’s memory may be made to the LDS Missionary Fund (c/o LDS Stake Center, 4300 W. 16th Street, Yuma, AZ 85364), the ALS Association (27001 Agoura Road, Suite 150, Calabasas Hills, CA 91301-5104) or the Miss Yuma County Scholarship Pageant (c/o 770 S. 8th Avenue, Yuma, AZ 85364).