Dean-Hey Heritage

Uncle Phil, Masters Degree
Daughter Laurie in the Car

Our WWII metal collection center was in the middle of Main Street in Rock Falls. The city fenced off areas for scrap metal. During the war, I had a job lifting heavy kettles for ladies at the canning center. Ladies would bring food to can to aid the war effort.

I took metal shop from Hayden Moore as a sophomore in high school. Our class did machine work for the mill. Next summer I worked at the steel mill. Because of my shop experience, they sent me to the metal shop. I repaired wire carts above the furnaces with only a fan to stay cool. It was piece work at 90 1/2 cents an hour, 8 hours a day, 7-3. Big money.

I worked at the dairy making ice cream bars when I was 14 years old. Bill Reed, my closest friend (who lived in the 1500 block of 2nd Avenue), worked there one summer with me. Later, I started early washing out tanks. I'd load 10 gallon ice cream mix containers, and deliver them to Dixon. John Hey was doing our refrigeration (ammonia) by then. I also subbed on routes and worked in the office when I was back from college. I liked unloading 100 lb. bags of sugar from freight cars; it paid more. Uncle Clement figured out the recipes. Our candies for the ice cream came from Senneff-Herr (East Third and Fourth Avenue area). We might get a special on bananas and buy a supply for banana ice cream. If someone was out sick or on vacation, I'd go down and work, even on Sundays. Mother didn't like me working on Sundays; Dad was more realistic. He knew someone had to work. Lawrence Park had the pool and was a popular picnic center. When Lawrence Park ran out of ice cream, dad always went and took them more. After the war, the dairy got a homogenizer, and milk and cream no longer separated. (recollections by Phil Hey)

Uncle Phil

Uncle Phil, Boston Marathon, 1982

Phil Quilten(?), ?, Uncle Phil
May, 1941
Phil Quilten(?) killed in Guam in Navy

Drumming in Abe Hey Basement
Uncle Phil, Aunt Mary, Johnny

As a boy, I wouldn't practice the piano, but took a few lessons from a woman in Dixon. After my junior year at Naperville, I worked at Electro Motive in LaGrange. Took some lessons. Saw a notice that a band wanted musicians in Mankato, Minnesota, so I went and stayed at the YMCA. I joined the 8-9 piece Don Strickland Band, and we rehearsed in a garage. Then we took a bus and went on the road. This was 1950. We played danceable music in ballrooms. Don had one band with two names: Don Strickland Orchestra and Nod Landstrick's Polka and Waltz Band. He booked the name depending on which music the customer wanted. I got bored pretty quickly playing polkas and waltzes, so I quit. I decided I'd quit playing music for a living, and I quit playing altogether after college.

My cousin Dean could play anything, and he played in a band with me for a while. The first time I heard Louis Armstrong was at the Crystal Palace in Michigan. We later heard Louis Armstrong play at the Blue Note in Chicago; I probably heard Louis Armstrong play 5-6 times. I heard drummer Sid Catlett playing for Louis, too. Once I went to hear Louis Armstrong at the Blue Note. And who was there? Cousins Dean and Jimmy and their wives. They had come to hear trombonist Jack Teagarden. I heard Rock Falls native and drummer Louie Bellson, husband of Pearl Bailey, on occasion.

My cousin Earl Webber was a self-taught drummer and played in a band. I heard them play, and Earl got me to playing with his band. Bill Worley played piano. We played a New Year's Eve party for the Walgreens, at their mansion on the Rock River in Dixon. I was only a teenager. We set up in a big room, but they were not ready for music yet. Mrs. Walgreen told us to go upstairs for a while. We finally played for about 45 minutes. Then it was time to eat, and she told us to get in line after the guests. We played no more music that night. It was 10:45. She paid us $20, we left and were home by midnight. Great money. A more typical gig would have paid about $8. We used Dad's 1940 Chevy, the same one we drove to Yellowstone.

We played for a lot of dances. Typical venues were at the American Legion or the Country Club. I got a really good job a the Rivoli, a restaurant in Aurora. We played light jazz, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, from 7-9 pm. Later, we'd kick it up for the bar. I played with Chuck Sagle of Universal Recording Studios who had a vocalist. She said I was too loud, and I lost that job.

I taught drums for a while after college at Stevensville, but I was moving steadily toward a career in athletics. We moved to Park Forest, and I sold my drums and never played again until I met Ida. We'd go up to Cal City, and I could sit in with the band at the Grapevine on Torrence Avenue. For my 70th birthday, Ida took me to a bakery next to a music store. She had it all planned, that I would pick out drums. Ida bought me the drums, and I started lessons. And that was how I got back into music. Now I have a set of vibes that I'm learning. (recollections by Phil Hey)

Coach Hey:
Head Basketball Coach
La Crosse University

Uncle Phil's Celebration of Life
Goodenow Valley Nature Preserve, September 4, 2021

Goodenow Valley Nature Preserve

Ken, Laura, Tom, Dave

Ken & Dave with Dad's Bike

Cousins (7 of 13 Hey Cousins)

Celebration Program
(click to enlarge)

Dave Hey's Eulogy of his Dad
(click to read entire eulogy)