Andrew Vere, Jr. was born in Clymer, Pennsylvania, a small coal mining town, on May 18, 1918. His mother Margaret and father Andrew Veres, Sr were immigrants from Hungary who met each other on the ship bound for America.
When Veres was 4 years old, his parents, older sisters, Julia, Margaret and Betty, moved to Cleveland, Ohio. They took up residence in the Buckeye and East 116th area of Cleveland.
Young Andrew became fascinated with the gypsy violin he heard being played at Buckeye Road Hungarian dances. He began lessons on the violin and became quite skilled in a short time.
In 1929, 25 years after his parents Andy and Margaret arrived in the U.S., they made a return trip to their native Hungary, with 11 year old Andy Jr, in tow. They sailed on the 1,001-foot-long ocean liner AQUITANIA.
“Our room was below the water level, that’s all my parents could afford,” said Andy. “There were a lot of Hungarians on the ship with us down below, and one day, my father said, ‘why don’t you take out that violin’? I played for them and they started throwing me money. I liked that.”
With that lesson learned, Andy set his sights on a career as a musician, which served him and his family well. Veres’ life path took him places, and had him brushing shoulders with some famous people and popular musicians through the years.
When Andy and his parents returned home from Hungary, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression took hold of the U.S. and the world for the next several years.
Even though Andy’s father spent what money they had on the trip to Hungary, they were never on welfare. Andy Sr. would go to the butcher shop and other Shaker Square area stores, and ask of he could sweep up for a little money.
While no other members of his family played instruments, Andy’s musical talent became the centerpiece of his life. His music teacher at Audubon Junior High School recommended that he follow- up his violin studies by taking up another instrument.
“I started playing saxophone, and in six weeks I was the best player in the school band.” He won many awards and competitions on the saxophone. Later on, he would learn to play the clarinet made famous by bandleaders Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and featured prominently in the sound of Glenn Miller’s band, in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Andy eventually added the flute, creating a 4 instrument repertoire.
Andy attended HRUBY CONSERVATORY of music which was located at 5415-17 Broadway in Cleveland, for the violin. He graduated in Cleveland from East Tech High School in January 1939, then played with a band in 1941 on Mackinaw Island in Michigan. In 1942 he joined Sammy Watkins’ band at Cleveland’s luxury Hollenden Hotel, playing alto sax and violin.
“Of course, World War II was happening and I enlisted in the Army Air Force so I could be in their band and not get drafted and have to serve in the infantry or something. I served 39 months in the states, playing music the whole time with the Army Air Force,” said Veres.
While in the service, he was stationed in Texas, California and Illinois. His military occupation was listed as “Bandsman, Sax-Clarinet-Violin: Played three different instruments for considerable periods during his entire military career. During first year played the saxophone in a 28 piece Army Air Force band in Texas. Performed for all military formations and functions. For a 10 month period, played a violin with a 50 piece orchestra on an official weekly air force broadcast in the Texas area. During the last year and a half has played the clarinet in an air force band in California and at Scott Field, Illinois. Has assisted in musical recordings made by OWI (Office of War Information) for use to men overseas. Also played for dances, (USO dances) and special service programs. Has done music copying work in preparation for radio broadcasts”.
Vere’ first trip after enlisting took him to Major’s Field in Greenville, Texas. On his first night in Greenville, at a USO dance, he met his future wife, Dorothy Greenhalgh. “She was standing in line with other women waiting to be asked to dance. She was the prettiest one there. That’s why I walked to the end of the line to ask her,” said Andy. Two years after that, on December 31, 1944 when Dorothy was 22, they married in Greenville, Texas and after discharge from the military, they settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Thus began a love affair that would last a lifetime.
After the war, Andy returned to Sammy Watkins seven-piece Hollenden Hotel Band where, in 1948, he encountered a talented likable young singer from Steubenville, Ohio who was destined for fame – Dean Martin.
“Dean was the singer in our band making $60 a week. We traveled together. He was a funny guy. He used to keep us laughing all the time. And the women just loved him. He was so funny that when he and Jerry Lewis started their act, I was surprised he was the straight man,” Andy said. As to Dean Martin’s stage persona, Veres said, “he wasn’t a drunk. That was an act, his ‘schtick’.”
Andy’s work life wasn’t all music. He worked for 32 years at Higbee’s department store in downtown Cleveland. He started in men’s apparel, then sold records and eventually sold TVs, stereo, and lastly appliances when the number of floors were reduced. He also gave music lessons to children and teens learning to play violin, sax, clarinet and flute, at the Higbee School of Music. He retired from Higbee’s in 1984.
“I was very busy. I’d work at Higbee’s in the day, teach, and play at club dates at night and on weekends”, he said.
Before DJ’s took over playing at weddings and other events, live bands provided the musical entertainment. Andy played wedding anniversary parties, bar and bat mitzvahs, birthdays and anything else where people got together to celebrate. “We hardly ever saw him, he was so busy, but we usually had supper with him, if possible,” said his daughter, Patti.
Andy was also proud that, despite his busy schedule, he was never sick and never had to take a prescription medicine until he had a heart valve procedure at age 98. Until that happened, he was still an active musician. (Sadly, after that, he never played again.) “I never missed a day of school or work,” he said. The Veres family, Dorothy, daughters Patti and Deborah moved to Mayfield Heights in 1959, where he lived until his death.
Andy’s other musical endeavors included playing violin with the SUBURBAN SYMPHONY Orchestra in Beachwood, Ohio from 1969-2010; the Hillcrest Concert Band playing clarinet from 1979-2014; and also clarinetist in the four/three piece Dixieland band that walked around Jacobs/Progressive Field at Cleveland Indians’ games, serenading baseball fans, from 1995-2016. After Andy had to leave the Dixieland band, due to his health, the band continued on till this day.
For his 100th birthday in 2018, Andy was interviewed by Channel 3 news, by Jeff Piarkowski of the Sun Press, and the Cleveland Indians’ honored him at Progressive Field that May. He brought his clarinet and wore the band’s uniform, and played along with them for one tune. The family also had a party for him with special friends, his daughters, grandsons and great-granddaughters.
Andy was also a violinist in the orchestra at the Front Row Theater that was in Highland Heights, Ohio. He played there behind Sammy Davis, Jr. (which opened the Front Row in 1974), Liberace and a “lot of others that people probably wouldn’t know so well today.” The Front Row closed in 1993.
Andy said, “I played all kinds of music: classical, popular music, show tunes and musical numbers, Dixieland and regular jazz”. He could never pick any favorite songs, as he loved playing them all.
Sadly, most of his former bandmates and all of his original family members pre-deceased Andy. His wife Dorothy, of 55 years, passed in 1999, age 76, after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. He took care of her at home as long as he could. When it was necessary for her to get nursing home care, he visited her everyday, to feed her lunch. They loved each other deeply. She always waited up for him to come home from his gigs. They both loved dancing and having fun. Andy was never interested in finding another companion after Dorothy passed. “Why would I want to? I had the best, no one could replace her,” he often said, according to his daughters.
Regarding his longevity, he always ate properly and credits inheriting his father’s genes. Also, he claims he never worried about anything he had no control over.
Surely, music also had a part in keeping any Veres young and active until he was 98.
“I stood all day at work at Higbee’s, but when I played that night, we would play 4 hours and it was like relaxing to me. I would feel rested when we finished,” said Andy. He often said that he felt like he never worked a day in his life, as he enjoyed working at Higbee’s, teaching and of course playing music and making people happy with that music.
“I can’t feel sorry for myself,” Andy said after he had to give up playing because of his health, “I got to play music for 90 years. I got to be alive for 102 years.” Andrew Veres, Jr. passed peacefully at David Simpson Hospice House in Cleveland, Ohio at 1:40pm, October15, 2020. A life well lived, with no regrets.
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