Edsel Bonnell taught young people in the Gower bands how to make music - and how to show up

I wore my brown, 1980s Gower Youth Band uniform vest to work this weekend. 

I am one of the hundreds of brass, woodwind and percussion players who are remembering Edsel Bonnell as a hugely influential figure in our young lives, musical and otherwise, growing up in the St. John's area over the past half century. 

Bonnell, the founder and conductor of the Gower Youth Band and Gower Community Band, passed away earlier this week at the age of 88. 

Many players in the Gower bands went on to become professional musicians. Others are music teachers, paying forward what they learned from Bonnell.  

The rest of us are scattered through many walks of life, bound together by our vests and an enduring love of music. 

Bonnell was raised in the Salvation Army faith, where he learned music by playing in the Salvation Army church brass bands. In 1973, a work colleague who was a member of Gower Street United Church in St. John's, asked him to conduct that church's dwindling band. 

"Dad went down and had his first practice, and three trumpeters showed up," recalled his son, John Bonnell. 

Bonnell told Gower officials that he would volunteer to lead the band, on the condition that young people of any faith or background could play in it. 

John and his brothers Mark, Bruce, and Brett were early members of the band. 

Professional classical and jazz trumpeter Mike Herriott was another. He recalled Bonnell driving several sets of siblings to band practice in his large 1970s station wagon. 

"It was the young ones, myself and Bruce and Brett, we'd be flopping around in the back of the car with all the piles of musical instruments, and the older kids would be in the front," said Herriott. 

By the early 1980s, the Gower Youth Band averaged about 80 members, aged eight to early twenties. Bonnell and musicians filled the second floor band room at Gower Street United Church for two practices per week, and played about 35 concerts per year. 

My sister, Lori and I were among them. Lori started playing the bassoon with the band, now plays professionally, and works in music education. 

Romano Di Nillo, percussionist for the Broadway musical Come From Away, joined the band as a very excitable 11-year-old at around the same time as we did.