About Us

Gene Gober, 1918 – 2006

by Marlene Baldwin

On October 21st, 2006, the Keene American Legion Band lost one of its own. Gene Gober, a charter member of the band, passed away in his 88th year in Keene, NH.

Gene loved music and made it an integral part of his life. Gene served in the US Army’s 69th Infantry Division Band in Europe during World War II. When he returned to his hometown of Keene, he joined the newly-formed Keene American Legion Post #4 Band and played in its inaugural parade on Memorial Day, 1946. “The Band was an effort by some Legionnaires wishing to revive the Post’s pre-war drum and bugle corps and by returning servicemen interested in continuing their service band experiences.” (Finnell)

Although Gene taught Social Studies at Keene High School for 31 years, he enjoyed the Fine Arts with not only music, but also drawing and painting. Gene loved jazz and reportedly ushered his high school students into and out of his classroom with music of all the jazz greats. Gene played violin, his first instrument, and string bass in several local Monadnock bands and orchestras, but it is the tuba which brought him Legion Band acclaim.

For over 50 years, Gene pleased listeners at concerts and parades with his exuberant mastery of the big brass horn, which, by the way, he painted himself. With a twinkle in his eye, he loved to extemporize, and this ability led to the coined term, “goberize”, and even though Gene is gone from our midst, his memory lives on in this term. Many current Legion Band members ask each other, “Did you goberize that section?”

Although he had retired from playing his tuba during the last few years of his life because of failing health, he was able to attend the 60th anniversary of the Keene American Legion Band in September of 2006 where he was one of three charter members honored. We will always remember Gene sitting in with the band that day. He could not play his horn, but he again extemporized, this time with a set of drum sticks and a table top.

We in the band will miss Gene, as will his dear wife and family, but we know for sure that he is finally playing his tuba again in that Big Parade Ground in the Sky, hale and hearty, and waiting to step off to the beat.

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Finnell, Pat. 50th Anniversary Celebration Newspaper. August, 1996.