theColumbiariverMusicMan

Schools on Simpson’s circuit occasionally added to his demanding schedule by bringing him in for mediation purposes when problems developed. Students liked and respected Simpson because he was able to talk and work effectively with them when problems such as alcohol abuse or discipline infractions arose.

He also conducted two city bands: the Hood River Knights of Pythias Band and The Dalles Band. From 1914 until Simpson’s death in 1943, his Hood River band was a standard feature at the annual Pendleton Roundup and at many other parades, fairs, and rodeos. The members of the band performed in the parades while riding horses in marching formation. Simpson also directed the Oregon State Fair Band in Salem for several years in the 1930s and, in 1935, ran a summer band camp at Wallowa Lake.

As if his schedule weren’t tight enough, Simpson, as a professional barber, worked many weekends in the local barber shop in Hood River and later, during World War II, filled in at The Dalles when that city was short of barbers.

During the years 1932 and 1933, Simpson served as Vice-President of the Oregon Bandmaster Association and as president in 1934-1935—a crowning achievement for an educator who had completed only the eighth grade.

The story of “The Columbia River Music Man” would not be complete without reference to

Simpson’s star pupil, Carl “Doc” Severinsen, whom he taught for 10 years in the town of Arlington. Simpson’s daughter remembers when Doc’s father, Dr. Severinsen, a dentist in Arlington, “begged my father to listen to his little Carl play an old bugle. My dad claimed no 5-year-old had the embouchure for such a brass instrument. Dad finally broke down, listened, and nearly passed out. Only once in a lifetime does a music teacher have one student who becomes the dream of his life. This was little Carl.”