Felix Mayerhofer, prolific author, Big Band musician and teacher, is Senior Of The Year 2021

By DENNIS ANDERSON
High Desert Medical Group

LANCASTER – Felix Mayerhofer has lived the dream, first as a classically trained Big Band musician on the road, next as a music educator, and finally as author of 38 children's books and counting.

It is with those achievements, that at age 91, Mayerhofer is Senior Of The Year, one of the key honors of the annual Senior Expo presented by High Desert Medical Group in conjunction with the Antelope Valley Press.

"I cannot believe what a lucky and beautiful life I have had," Mayerhofer said, in accepting the award at High Desert Medical Group's live-streamed presentation of the Senior Expo.

Able to play with some of the prestige bands of their time, Mayerhofer was a trombonist with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, a group that can still be heard on classic Big Band radio stations. He also played the renowned Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe, which had ownerships by Frank Sinatra, among others.

"There were Mob connections too, but as a musician I did everything I could to steer clear of them," he said.

Among his recent achievements are his authorship of dozens of children's books, many of which have been republished in the past year, and can be found at www.felixthestoryteller.com.

As Felix sets forth in his 10th decade, he has come a long way from Port Chester, N.Y., where he lived, raised by scholarly parents, including a mother who tried to discourage him from getting mixed up with musicians. She feared those session players might exercise a bad influence.

“I think she was trying to protect me,” he said. “It was my family background that kept me out of bad habits. She was a lady of Mexico, and very well educated. She was afraid, I think, that musicians were always in trouble and working in the cantinas.”

But, like the boy with a guitar in “Coco,” Felix, of Mexican and German parentage, had a dream, and he had a talent too. His band teacher told him so. He told him he believed Felix could secure a scholarship to Juilliard, the prestigious school of music in New York.

Felix loved the move to New York City, and loved the feeling of making music happen. It was a rollicking time for musicians. His teacher told him that the new medium of television was going to make more jobs for musicians than anyone imagined.

Felix caught the cresting wave of the Big Band Era, and ended up playing some of the top Big Band acts in the country, he recounted in his autobiography, “Diary of a Young Musician, 1948-1962.” As he described it, he was a young professional, still in his teens, when he went on the road is what he described as the “dog eat dog” world of big bands. He played with Nancy Lee and the Bachelors, and the Commanders, and Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians.

The Korean War came along, and Uncle Sam needed Felix and his trombone. During the conflict, he shared his talent with the 552nd U.S. Air Force Band, “a spit and polish outfit” out of March Air Force Base in Riverside.

"One of the sad things was when soldiers who were killed in the Korean War were brought home, and we would play to honor them, but that was very sad," Mayerhofer recalled.

Out of the Air Force, he resumed play with the Big Bands, traveling by bus, and playing the swinging sounds from New Orleans, to Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe. Sometimes they played to rougher trade than Frank Sinatra’s “Rat Pack.” Sometimes the Mob held court while they belted out their licks.

One night he defended a young lady’s honor, and a Mob boss “gave him a pass” because he liked his music, but told him with a cold-blooded tone, “Don’t do that again.”

It was time for a change, and he met the love of his life, Shirley Wagner, a beautiful, professional dancer, who would become Shirley Mayerhofer. The life of a road musician was ending for him. Marriage, and fatherhood was beckoning.

Fortunately, he landed in Palmdale, where he went on to be the director of music programs, and along the way in his new career, he became “Teacher Of The Year.” He went on to direct the Jazz Band program for Palmdale High School before his retirement, and that was 30 years ago. In all he was a music teacher and band director in the Antelope Valley for 28 years.

But he was still learning, still creative, still changing ways to bring some joy to the world. His first children’s book was “Tommy, Sticks, and the Big Bass Drum,” and he has written a score of them since, including the “Nick Meets Knobby” stories about a boy who plays the bass drum in the school band, and rescues a doggie he names Knobby who used to be in an animal act. You can find his children’s audio books at www.felixthestoryteller.com. And you can find his Big Band photo album at www.felixmayerhofer.com.

"The two luckiest things in my life were my beautiful Shirley, and my wonderful son, David," Mayerhofer said.

He said he brings flowers to Shirley's resting place "every week, and I just talk with her about what I have been doing. She blessed my life."