Central Vermont residents might remember Happy Herb the plumber. He spent 45 years climbing under sinks and fixing leaky pipes. But a decade ago, Herb Heath closed his business.
He spends winters in Florida now, but every summer Heath is back home in Central Vermont, playing music for the elderly in convalescent homes and assisted care facilities.
On a recent Friday afternoon, residents of The Gardens, an assisted living facility in Williamstown, filed quietly down the hall, moving at a pace a couple of gears slower than leisurely.
But once inside, the group of all women and one man turned out to be a lively crowd, even before Heath struck the first chord.
“Back 15 years ago, I would have never thought I could get so much pleasure out of this,” says Heath, who started playing guitar when he was almost 60. He’s 75 now and has recorded three CDs.
Heath fronts a three-piece band that includes drummer George Drew, who, at 82, also tap dances. Eighty-two? That’s young, as far as some residents of The Gardens are concerned.
“God, I wished I was 82. I’m 93 going on 94. The only time I’m young is when you come,” says Thelma LaRochelle, referring to Heath. The Gardens is a regular stop on Health’s summer circuit.
Jan Pecor, who helps coordinate activities at The Gardens, says Heath and his band are not alone in their willingness to entertain the elderly.
“We have a wonderful, wonderful group of people who come on a regular basis,” says Pecor. “Music is incredibly beneficial to seniors, I think.”
Heath’s first number is the country music standard, “Mountain Dew.” The song is about moonshine, not the soda.
LaRochelle is out on the dance floor as soon as the music starts.
“I can’t dance every dance. Once in a while I have to sit down. I hate the thought of having to give it up," she says. "I don’t have the breath that I used to have, but I keep going."
Heath’s set list includes mostly rock and country covers. He chooses his songs from a thick notebook of about 250 numbers, occasionally fielding an audience request.
Most of the residents at The Gardens stay in their seats for Heath’s show, but they’re moving all the same. There’s lots of hand clapping, foot tapping and head bobbing going on.
Sally Indelicato, who’s 102, going on 103, takes a few turns on the dance floor.
She pronounces Heath and company "gorgeous."
“Mwhaa. That’s an Italian kiss!” she says as she blows an air kiss to guitarist Tom Wales at the end of the 90-minute set.
Music has the power to move us regardless of age, and often in spite of our condition.
Heath remembers an incident during one of his gigs at a Barre nursing home.
“I was up at Rowan Court and I was singing away,” he says. “All at once I saw a bunch of people surrounding a lady in a wheelchair. Her husband came and thanked me. He said she hadn’t spoken a word for over two years, but she sang with me.”
You might think people of a certain age prefer music that’s soothing and peaceful, not the more raucous honky tonk and old rock n' roll numbers that Heath favors. That’s what he thought when he got started.
“I was under the impression that people at nursing homes, let’s say, had already crested the mountain and they were headed down the other side, just coasting to the end,” he says. “I thought they probably would want to hear slow music to end the journey. But I was wrong. They don’t want that at all. They want to run to the finish line!”
Heath says he has no desire to branch out and play for other audiences. He’s happy to continue playing the retirement home circuit in Central Vermont.
