Harvey Roehl

[gordon stelter]

--- Richard Moody <remoody@midstatesd.net> wrote:

> Gordon wrote...."Certainly not the amazing
>   organization it was when friend and neighbor
> Harvey
>   Roehl ( who was  a "second father" to me ) ran
> it!"
> 
> Glad to know you knew Harvey Roehl.  Is he still
> with us? 

Harvey passed away about 5 years ago. He had a  Jazz
funeral and was a very remarkeable fellow.  I met him
in 1964, when I was 7, and spent as much time as
possible at his home, lying under his Steinway Duo-Art
listening to Confrey and Arndt and playing the
orchestrions ( about 25 of them ) in his wonderful
music hall.  Harvey was diligently dedicated to the
preservation of the actuality and memory of what he
termed  "neat things" -- aspects of our culture he
considered too quickly discarded: such as trolley
cars, movie palaces, player piano music, classic
silent films, etc..
     At its peak the Vestal Press was a  buzzing
little beehive, with several workers pulling Ampico
schematics off shelves, as well as more esoteric
tomes, such as a  book on Tesla.  When he published
the Reblitz Book ( the first comprehensive book on
piano technology and repair )  he asked me to come
over and help pick the cover. I also unofficially
proof read the first edition, catching about 30 goofs
which had escaped the "official" proofreader,
apparently. ( He suggested I do this for a living. ) 
     He referred many customers to me, and was
intrigued by my soundboard ideas, recently being
worked on with Trent Lesher, of this list.
    We spoke several times shortly  before he passed (
of pancreatic cancer ). I told him of my newspaper
articles and  he suggested that I enter politics.  I
had become a monk in 1980, and had not seen him for
many years ( I left the monastery from sexual
harrassment --- directed toward me ---- if you're
wondering ). It was great re-kindling our friendship!
     A dedicated, intensely patriotic ( in the best,
non-military sense of the word ), funny ( in a deadpan
way ) very colorful person who did his best to return
to American conciousness joyous and wonderful aspects
of its more benign and imaginative past.
     A truly dynamic fellow who affected many, many
people, he was, beside my father, the most powerful
influence of my youth.

     Peace,
     Thump



P.S. His widow ( Marion ) still lives in Vestal, N.Y.
I believe, is sharp as a  tack and may be able to help
you with your manuscript questions.  Sorry, I don't
have her # presently.


		
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