Robert L. Dorough

Bob Dorough April 23, 2018 Bob Dorough brought delight around the world and at home through his music written by Aralee Dorough Robert Lrod Dorough died peacefully at his home in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania on April 23, 2018, at 12:55 p.m. surrounded by family and friends. He was the devoted husband of Sally Shanley Dorough of Stroudsburg, with whom he shared over 25 years of marriage. He will be remembered by everyone who met him for his enormous love of life and generosity. Born on Dec. 12, 1923 in the small rural town of Cherry Hill, Arkansas, Bob was the oldest of four children of Robert Lee Dorough and Alma Audrey Lewis. His father had to do many different jobs to make ends meet during the depression, and the family often took in relatives who were down on their luck. Bob’s first piano lessons came about because his father allowed the teacher to catch up on her bread delivery payments by giving lessons to his young son, Robert, who loved singing songs learned from the radio. The family left Arkansas and moved to Plainview in West Texas, where Bob attended high school and one semester at Texas Tech before going into the military in 1943 for basic training. It was in high school that Bob had began playing the clarinet and became enthralled by the magic of playing in an ensemble, announcing to his parents that he wanted to become a musician. In what he considered “deliverance,” one day he was told scornfully that he was being sent to the band. He was also declared unfit for overseas duty to a punctured eardrum. His various army band posts proved to be a great musical educations. Pals in the band introduced him to other music, especially the new and rapidly developing form of jazz called bebop. His band in California was especially accomplished and their job was to play happy music for passing battle ships full of men going off to fight in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Bob met his first wife at his final army post in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They were married and moved to Denton, Texas, where he studied music at the University of North Texas. In 1951 the couple moved to New York City. They furnished their modest cold water flat with an upright piano, and it became a gathering place for friends, many of them similarly just arrived from Texas and elsewhere. Jam sessions at the pad were a regular event, as long as the noise stopped by 10 p.m., and at which point they often headed out for more music and jam sessions, which included the likes of Charlie Parker. When their marriage ended, Bob began to get work as a pianist and band leader, touring the U.S. and Canada by bus and train, and eventually spending some formative time in Paris and later Los Angeles. But New York City would remain his home base from then on. This early part of his career was the beginning of Bob’s incredible musical output, his first recorded albums as a singer — songwriter — pianist, and the first immortal songs of an impressive catalog of compositions, both words and music, and his musical associations with some of the most famous names in jazz, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Gil Evans, Stan Getz, to name a few. Like many other New York musicians Bob soon came to the nearby Poconos to work in the area’s thriving country resorts, fell in love with the scenic beauty, and eventually bought a home there. Bob spent a summer of 1960 as pianist at Mount Airy Lodge at the invitation of band leader saxophonist Bob Newman. The appeal of Newman’s band was that after accompanying the entertainers in the hotel shows, Newman and others were keen to continue jamming after hours. Newman would even manage to sneak in some of what “blowing” (improvising over the chord changes of a popular song) during the shows. Performing at Mount Airy that summer was a dance team, Corine and Ravell (German-born Ruth Corine Oeser and Ralph Ravel Meinert.) Bob and Corine were soon married (Dec. 10, 1960) and had Bob’s only child, daughter, Aralee. In 1967 when Aralee was ready to begin school, they purchased a small farm house in Mount Bethel and made their permanent move from New York. The rolling farmland and woodland of Mount Bethel appealed to Bob’s Arkansas farm heritage and Corine’s childhood summers in rural Germany and soon their 3½ acre place was home to a large vegetable, garden, fruit trees, chickens and all manners of pets. Aralee attended and graduated from the Bangor Area schools. When Bob first began working on what became known as “Schoolhouse Rock” the Emmy-award winning ABC TV animated series, the elementary school children at his daughter’s school were the first to hear what have become Bob Dorough’s most universally known and loved songs. Bob continued his practice of visiting schools to perform for children at home and around the country for his entire life. While Schoolhouse Rock, and an eclectic variety of recording work, jingle writing and producing, sustained Bob creatively and financially, he continued to work in his favorite mode: by singing at the piano, even if only to entertain friends or at still ubiquitous Poconos jam sessions, with the players like Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. But as the climate and demand for live jazz and jazz cabaret began to improve, most notably on the West Coast and in Europe, the 1980s saw his return to the road. As a duo with longtime bassist, Bill Takas, he performed at clubs and jazz festivals in France, Germany, Norway, and the U.S. and once again began making jazz albums, always combining his own original songs with the songs of other songwriters. This launched what has amounted to four decades of live performance in places as far away as South Africa and Tokyo. Bob loved to travel, and was often accompanied by his wife, Sally, who he married in 1993. He was an outgoing man and made lasting friendships where ever he went. He is known for his incredible recall of names and faces, something he cultivated by making notes every place he played. Remembering people and knowing their names, both on stage, and in day to day life was very important to him. Inevitably, and as has been widely written about, the astounding reach of Schoolhouse Rock lead to a bigger audience for all his work, as people time after time would recognize Bob’s unmistakably distinctive voice as the voice from their favorite TV show. School House Rock songs became an inseparable part of any Bob Dorough performance. One performance of which Bob was probably most proud was to perform “Three is a Magic Number” and “Figure Eight” with his daughter, Aralee, and the Houston Symphony in 2015. Bob Dorough’s incredible career was honored the day after his death on Monday April 23rd by announcements on the Associated Press, CNN, NPR, The Washington Post, and many other national and local outlets, and perhaps most significantly, The New York Times, which featured a detailed article about his musical legacy. His family will remember what anyone lucky enough to have known him in his lifetime will attest to: his generosity and contagious enthusiasm for life. He was a devoted husband, father, brother, grandfather, friend and neighbor. He never withheld his love, or denied help to a friend who needed it. He was untiring in his support of fellow musicians and a mentor to the young. He was a steady supporter of humanitarian and environmental causes who believed in his fellow man. Bob was predeceased by his parents, Robert and Alma Dorough; one sister, Alma Jean Dorough Hess; one brother, Lewis Edward Dorough; first wife, Jackie Wright; his second wife, the mother of his only child, Ruth Corine Oeser; beloved sister-in-Law, Nelda Early Dorough; and beloved niece, Nelda P. Dorough Cook. Because of his longevity he was also predeceased my many dear friends and musical associates. He is survived by his wife, Sally Shanley Dorough; her sons, Peter Wolf and wife, Jessica; grandchildren: Jocelyn and Alexa Wolf; Christopher Wolf and wife, Monique; and Corin, Carly, and Gabrielle Wolf; his daughter, Aralee Dorough and husband, Colin Gatwood; one grandson, Corin Gatwood; one brother, Colonel Aaron Gregory Dorough, U.S. Army (Retired) and wife, Daisy, of Fort Worth, Texas; 12 nieces and nephews; a multitude of great-nieces and nephews, and great-great-nieces and nephews; and more friends and fans than we can number. A viewing will be held at 4 p.m. with a memorial service at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28 at the Abeloff Auditorium at East Stroudsburg Universty. Friends and family are invited to celebrate Bob’s joyful life at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 29 at Ridgecrest at Stroudsmoor, Stroudsburg. (Detail will be posted at CelebratingBobDorough.com) —Bob lived his life with love and passion. Let us continue the same in Bob’s memory. XOXO Bensing-Thomas Funeral Home 401 N. Fifth St., Stroudsburg bensing-thomasfuneralhome.com