At Normanna Lodge in Everett on Thursday, a group newly known as Jack’s Swing Band took the stage. Near the musicians and instruments was a big bouquet of flowers, a tribute to a musical giant. By any name, it was still Harry Lindbeck’s band.
“Harry Lindbeck was a legend, no question about it,” said Leif Holmes of Stanwood, who learned to play accordion from a master – Harry Lindbeck.
Lindbeck died at his Stanwood home June 9. He was 87.
For decades, the showman and businessman entertained fans of his accordion standards. Dancers who flock to Normanna Lodge on Thursday afternoons were swaying to his signature sound as recently as a few weeks ago.
“He left a real legacy,” said Larry Jansen, one of about 50 seniors at the lodge Thursday.
The son of Norwegian Alf Lindbeck and his wife, Anna, Harry grew up in Stanwood. His father died when he was 8. His mother remarried, and Harry was close to his stepfather, Nels Knutson.
Knutson bought young Harry an accordion, which he learned to play by ear. Lindbeck never did read music. He was a member of the Hugo Helmer Accordion Band and played professionally at the Stillaguamish Grange with the Mark Kimball Band.
A knee injury kept him out of World War II, but he worked in a Navy shipyard. At 20, he met his wife-to-be, Elinor Robinson, on Camano Island’s Juniper Beach. After 66 years of marriage, the couple still lived in their Camano waterfront home, next door to Lindbeck’s musician cousin, Stan Boreson.
Boreson, also an accordion player, is known for his “Scandihoovian” skits and “Yust Go Nuts at Christmas” holiday tunes.
Always an entrepreneur, in 1944 Lindbeck and his wife opened the Seven Cedars Dance Pavilion in a former roller rink in Mount Vernon. The place packed in the crowds with big-time artists, among them Lawrence Welk, Louis Armstrong, the Les Brown Orchestra and Roy Acuff. Connie Francis and the Everly Brothers were big acts that played teen dances there.
Fire destroyed the Seven Cedars in 1963. It was a huge loss for Lindbeck, but it didn’t end his musical career. Lindbeck played with traveling bands all over the Puget Sound region.
He is survived by his wife, Elinor; daughters Sharry Brown and her husband, Richard, of Woodinville, and Sandi Lindbeck, of Seattle; grandchildren Michael and Amy Brown; great-grandchildren Keller and Hailey Brown; cousin Stan Boreson; and a large extended family.
“I was his biggest fan,” said Sandi Lindbeck, who runs the Uff-Da Shoppe in Stanwood. “My sister and I say we always have a melody in our hearts because of him.
“He loved boating and loved the water,” she recalled.
Her father spent much of his life as a retailer at Bert Robinson Hardware, founded by his father-in-law in Mount Vernon. “He turned it into furniture store and a wonderful gift shop to keep up with Sears Roebuck across the street,” Sandi Lindbeck said.
From the store, Harry Lindbeck broadcast a radio show, the Farmer’s Exchange, on KBRC. “People loved it; he always had a sense of humor,” Sandi Lindbeck said. “He’d always sing a song to his mom, who lived in Stanwood.”
Lindbeck’s widow has great memories of the Seven Cedars. “Lawrence Welk’s wife sent cookies for the band, she mailed them to our house,” she said.
On June 24, several hundred people came to the Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center in Stanwood to celebrate Lindbeck’s life. Leif Holmes played “Just a Closer Walk With Thee,” Lindbeck’s favorite song, on the accordion. “It wasn’t easy,” he said. “He was a real friend.”
At Normanna on Thursday, the band played on with 74-year-old Jack McDougall, a saxophone and trombone player, as its leader. “His music was peppy and he had a smile for everybody,” McDougall said of Lindbeck.
“Harry, everybody loved him,” said Betty Purvis, the band’s 85-year-old drummer. She accompanied Harry’s band on its many visits to play at retirement homes.
Waiting to dance at Normanna, Jansen watched the crowd. “It’s not the same without Harry. But it’s still good,” he said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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