Ed Thayer, Axial valves and an unfulfilled legacy.

[DougHulme]

Forgive me if you are reading a similar narrative for the umpteenth time! Also I did broach the subject under the ‘Coronavirus’ topic because it is highly relevant to our present predicament, as you will see. If the Mods want to move this or cut it please feel free.

More has been said of this elsewhere but as everyone on this forum knows Ed and Barbara Thayer were responsible for the invention of the Axial Flow valve, that led in turn to so many other variations and improvements of the trombone valve. It’s a fascinating story that wasnt entirely fair on Ed and has ended up being entirely unfair to Barbara. Ed died in the summer of 2009 but he never made much money out of his revolutionary design in fact I suspect if you total all the expenses of development, court costs and everything over the years he probably lost out.

There were certainly big debts that were left to Barbara Ed’s wife after his passing. Barbara had been an equal partner in the running of the company; she spent many hours doing various tasks in the production and assembly of the valves and the horns they retrofitted. She was an astute partner but not able to continue the production after Ed's passing. I Believe the tooling and all the specifications were sold to Bob Milashuis of Minnesota, possibly better known for making mouthpieces but if anyone needs spare parts or valves of identical specifications to Ed’s own production then he is the go to man.

Now here is the thing... Barbara is very much still with us but is still struggling to get out of the aftermath of debt following being made a widow. She refused to go down the bankruptcy route and has all but paid everything back. It was a principal thing for her and you have to admire her for it. She is now 94 and although very spritely and still very with it, she has nowhere permanent to live and has spent the last few years Going from bed and breakfasts to Airbnb’s. Her social security payments are not quite enough for her to live on let alone raise a deposit to rent or buy her own flat. The trombone world that recognise Ed’s (and her’s) contribution to the development of our beloved instrument have been coming together for a little while now to help remedy this situation (just in case anyone had missed it!). Ken Novotney has started a ‘GoFundMe ‘page to raise funds for Barbara to see her remaining years out in some comfort but also with security (did we cover this in a thread before?).

It has been running for 4 months now and I have just been looking at the record of giving and I wonder with this current epidemic if we are running out of steam? The response has been magnificent so far with raising over $7,000 of the $11,000 target but now with other more pressing and more personal matters at the forefront of our minds could it be that we might subconsciously put Barbara down our list of priorities? Three of our members have contributed in the last few days following my mention under coronavirus.

With the present troubles and Barbara being 94, now would be the very time to renew our support, if not a first time perhaps a second smaller donation just now? I know many on this forum have already given and are well aware of the circumstances of the appeal but in case anyone is not I suggest you go to Doug Yeos blog ‘The last Trombone’ and look up his appeal, it is far more eloquent than mine. Alternatively go straight to Ken Novotney’s Gofundme page and see what ken says and the various updates he’s posted.

There are some nice photos on there of interest to historians I am sure. I met Ed and Barbara a couple of times at ITF’s and again a short while before he passed when I was trying to persuade him to put a valve on a horn for me but alas despite his great desire to help I think I was too late but I can say what a wonderful, warm and sincere couple they were. I truly commend Barbara to you now and hope we can carry this appeal on and that it hasn’t run out of energy in these extraordinary times.

Doug Yeos Thoughts Can Be Found here… https://thelasttrombone.com/2019/12/

And Kens GoFundMe page is here… https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-barbara ... hare-sheet

Forgive me if we’ve done this before here – just take it as a reminder. Stay safe… Doug

[DougHulme]

Just thought I'd bump this up the list in case anyone intended to donate and has forgotten

[DougHulme]

Bump