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“We met singing together for the USO,” he recalled, with the pair also playing the guitar and piano. You can add the banjo and mandolin to his instrumental repertoire. “Instead of watching TV, we would sing songs.” When he decided in his mid-40s, in a self-described midlife crisis, he wanted to start playing the bagpipes, Bonnie was the encourager. Terry shared, “She told me, ‘You need to learn those bagpipes.’” The bagpipes are unique in the musical world. They’re certainly not the most common instrument, and they are far from easy to play. “You can’t go into a music store and say you want to learn the bagpipes,” Oldfield said. “They would think you are crazy.” It took him several years to find a teacher and another year of practicing with the chanter, the instrument’s melody pipe, to begin to learn how to play. Oldfield went on to perform with a pipe band, the Dearborn Highlanders, in the Chicago area from the early 1990s through 2010. “It’s not just playing music,” he described in talking about the tradition and the emotion involved. “It’s like you are marrying your bagpipes.” Reviving the dream Terry and his wife retired and moved to Maricopa in early 2013. He eventually found two other bagpipers in the city, and they performed various functions, military and beyond. It was one of those two comrades, John Gilleran, who alerted him in May last year a pipe major in California was attempting to assemble a large bagpipe band to perform in the 2024 Rose Bowl extravaganza. “I met Terry at the Veteran’s Day ceremony at Province in 2021,” recalled Gilleran, who also moved to Maricopa from the Chicago area. After seeing the Rose Bowl solicitation in a Facebook group dedicated to the craft, “The first person I thought of was Terry. I brought him all the information, but I wasn’t sure he would do it.” Oldfield was immediately intrigued but also had his doubts. “Am I too old? Can I play well enough? Should I even submit the video application?” were among his questions. “My wife said, ‘You will never know until you try.’” Terry played, Bonnie recorded and the videotape was submitted. Preparing for the worst, Oldfield was pleasantly surprised at a late-night email that read: “This email is to congratulate you on passing our audition requirements and to say welcome to the team.”
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Pipe dream His wife waited 60 years to see him fulfill his dream. She died days later
BY TOM SCHUMAN
Dr. C. Jon Beecroft
Dr. Kelvin Crezee
Dr. Matine Mirsaidi
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time and the school could lose its accreditation, Oldfield remembered. Whatever the reason, the trip was cancelled. Oldfield and his bandmates were crushed. Life goes on Life went on despite the nagging musical void. Oldfield enjoyed a 23-year career in the U.S. Navy. He became a medical technologist, based at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois before serving on a variety of amphibious assault ships, including the USS Okinawa. Later, he was senior enlisted instructor at the Hospital Corps School at Great Lakes. After his naval retirement, he worked 22 years for the Illinois Department of Public Health. Most importantly, Terry and Bonnie began their lifelong union.
A self-described “band geek,” he was awaiting his turn as his two older sisters enjoyed the opportunity to march with the high school band in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City and at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. The invitation for the Rose Bowl Parade came in the spring of 1965. Oldfield, a trumpeter at the time, and his bandmates sold everything from Scotch tape to light bulbs to candy to raise funds for the trip. The itinerary involved a four-day train journey, three days in Southern California and four more days to travel back home. There was concern, however, among some parents about the group of teens making such a long excursion. The rumor mill at the time said the students would miss too much class
USICIAN TERRY OLDFIELD AND his wife, Bonnie, glued their eyes to the television every year during the Tournament of Roses Parade
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in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year’s Day. Terry always muttered, “I could have been there.” Well, nearly 60 years later, Jan. 1 this year, “could have” turned into reality. It’s important to note it was not just Terry making the trip from his Rancho El Dorado home to Pasadena, but Bonnie was with him for the unforgettable experience. It was one of the final memories together for the couple that shared their lives for 54 years. She died days later. The musical journey for Oldfield began in North Royalton, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
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InMaricopa.com | May 2024
May 2024 | InMaricopa.com
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