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Ann and Bob Tirk in their Choir tour T-shirts.
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It is going to be very busy at Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 5603 Bull Valley Road in McHenry.
First, Friday evening and
Saturday afternoon we bid a fond and emotional goodbye to a long
time beloved member and then at
regular Sunday worship services will
be inspired by great music performed by an internationally
admired classical guitar duo.
Bob Tirk died
on July 3 just days after entering hospice care. He succumbed
to pancreatic cancer after a
long battle. Most of us last saw him in June as he made his way with his beloved wife Ann to the annual Barn Service at the Tinkler barn. A large
man, he looked frail and needed a walker
to get up the gentle slope to the barn.
But he wanted to be with us one
last time. During the joys and concerns part of the service he quietly stood up and announced
mater-of-factly that he would be entering hospice.
A visitation will
be held from 7 to 8:30 on Friday July 20
and celebration of Bob’s life will
be held on Saturday July 21 at 2:00 pm, both
at Tree of Life. In lieu of flowers, donations in Bob’s name can be made to the Congregation
or Land Conservancy of McHenry County,
4622 Dean Street, Woodstock, IL 60098.
I first met Bob maybe 25 years ago or so in a different context. I was helping organize my first big event for the Democratic Party of McHenry County—an election rally with our county
candidates on Woodstock Square. It was one of the years when the Party made a
big push to have candidates in almost all races that were often left uncontested in what seemed like a hopelessly Republican territory. I was new to this sort of thing and had
neglected to arrange for candidate
posters and yard signs to festoon
the Gazebo—an important visual. The candidates themselves were coming off a day long tour with several
stops in the county. I was in a near panic when someone called Bob Tirk, who was a precinct committeeman in Marengo.
Bob showed up with a carload of signs for all of the candidates and
helped get them up in a nick of time for the event.
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Bob Tirk, fourth from left singing with the Frothy Boys.
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As I would discover, it was typical of Bob’s eagerness to pitch
in where ever needed. I would
witness it time and again over the years first with the Party and then at
church. Bob was a beloved figure even
then in Marengo where he had been a
long-time music teacher and Band Director at the High School and where he had since
become Director of the Park
District. Despite not having ambition for elective office or much taste
for the sometimes ugly side of running
for office, when the Party told him that only someone with his deep connection to the community and universal respect would have a prayer,
he agreed one year to run for County
Board in probably the most deeply Republican district in the county. As always in those days, it was an underfunded candidacy and could not overcome and entrench GOP organization, but he did succeed in elevating the
Democratic profile in the area.
Not long after that Bob and Ann moved to Woodstock where they both quickly
became huge parts of what was then the Congregational
Unitarian Church. Both musicians,
they sang in the Choir and Ann
sometimes subbed at the Piano.
Those were the days of the annual Dille’s Follies shows, large-cast
musical reviews that played to sold-out
houses for several performances
every summer and raised money for both the Church and local charities. Bob was
always a member of the ensemble and also pitched in helping to assemble stage platforms and build sets. Always a good singer, he would be the first
to admit that he was not much of a
dancer. But you could always spot
him in the back row of elaborately stage production numbers shuffling
along gamely alongside to other rhythmically
challenged big men, the Rev. Dan
Larsen and Whit Sears.
In addition to his regular presentence in the Choir
under the direction of Kathy Brunke, Tom
Steffens, and Forrest Ransburg, Bob enjoyed singing in barbershop quartets and choirs
and especially with the Church’s men’s
a capella group the Frothy Boys who performed in their
signature matching bowling shirts and
raised money for charities at numerous public performances. When he and Ann began wintering in Florida he
lent his voice to the Unitarian
Universalist Church of Sarasota choir as well. But the highlight of Bob and Ann’s long
association with our church choir was going on the 2016 concert tour to Transylvania in Romania.
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In his element--Bob Tirk cooking outdoors with his Dutch oven.
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Another of Bob’s passions was cooking—preferably for a lot hungry people. He was a proud and active member of the Black Hawk chapter of the International Dutch Oven Society and
participated in their regular events and picnics. Bob also was a dedicated volunteer with PADS,
the McHenry County church-based rotating
homeless shelter. The Woodstock
church was long a host on Wednesday
evenings to PADS guests and Bob liked to cook them big, hearty breakfasts of bacon, eggs, and sausage the likes of
which they never got at any other site. When
we began our weekly summer Compassion4Campers to help the homeless
during the May-September months when
the church shelters are closed Bob
became the regular grill master. He also frequently cooked for the monthly Thursday night gatherings of
the church’s informal Men Group at
members’ homes.
There is no way to recount all of the ways Bob
volunteered at church and in his community.
He would often just show up ready
to work when jobs that needed doing
were hard, dirty, and thankless. He
did it without expectation of praise or
glory.
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Bob at a 2017 Inaugural protest in his winter home town in Florida.
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If he sometimes ducked
attention, he reveled in knowing that if a poll were taken he would have been voted the church member any one would mostly like to sit down and a have a beer with, or share some of his favorite gin and tonics.
Here is some more background on Bob from his obituary.
Robert
“Bob” James Wescott Tirk was born May 29, 1943 in Boston, MA, the son of James
Wescott and Marguerite (Greb) Wescott. James Wescott died while serving in the
Coast Guard during World War II. Marguerite married Richard “Dick” E. Tirk, who
adopted Bob at age 4. Bob grew up in New York and also spent time with the Greb
family in Wisconsin.
Bob
graduated from Briarcliff High School (NY) and was one of many family members
to attend Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, where he majored in music
education. There he met fellow music student Ann Uber, who was performing the
opera double bill of Gianni Schicchi and Die Fledermaus. Bob and Ann married in
her hometown of Hartford, WI on June 19, 1965 and spent 53 happy years
together.
Bob
and Ann both taught in McHenry County where he served as a music educator for
29 years in Huntley, Woodstock, and Marengo. Early in their teaching careers,
they lived on farms in Woodstock where they raised pigs, chickens, and got into
the hay baling business. In Marengo, Bob took his band students on many grand
adventures including trips to California, Florida, and Churchill, Manitoba.
After retirement, he continued to teach part time and worked for the Marengo
Park District where he created the “Summer with the Arts” program and helped to
build the town pool. As if those activities weren’t enough, Bob enjoyed many
hobbies including ham radio, model railroading, family history, National Park
stamp collecting, bee keeping, and serving as a den mother for his son’s Cub
Scout Pack.
After
Bob’s time at the Park, he returned to teaching with Ann at Huntley. Once Ann
and Bob both retired, they continued their travels visiting all 50 states,
Mexico, and all but one of the Canadian Provinces hauling their fifth wheel (except
for Hawaii). At home in Woodstock and Florida, Bob enjoyed singing with several
barbershop groups, the Tree of Life Church Choir, and the Unitarian
Universalist Church of Sarasota Choir. He was an expert chef at Dutch Oven
Gatherings, for P.A.D.S. and Compassion for Campers, and for his grandchildren
who loved his bacon and pancakes. Always up for a party, Bob loved Friday night
fish fries, hot dog roasts, and any opportunity to gather with his family and
friends.
He
is survived by his beloved wife Ann, his daughter Liz (Brian) Yanoff,
Niskayuna, NY; his son Richard (Suzanne) Tirk, Norman, OK; his brother Kirby
(Veronica) Tirk of West Chester, PA; and grandchildren Eliana and Jacob Yanoff
and Simon and Malia Tirk.
***
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Classical Guitarists Bert Lams and Fabio Mittino.
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Classical
guitarists Bert Lams and Fabio Mittino will perform at a musical worship service at Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist
Congregation this Sunday, July 22, at 10:45 pm.
The worship is part of a Sumer
with Music series and will also feature a message of community and wisdom by Worship Committee Chair M.E. Tanabe.
Lams and Mittino will present a program from their album
Long
Ago featuring compositions by
G.I. Gurdjieff and Thomas De Hartmann arranged for two steel-string acoustic guitars by the duo.
Mittino is Italian
and began his study of classical guitar at age 13. In 1998, he attended a Guitar Craft course presented by
renowned English guitarist Robert Fripp.
Since then, he has continued studying and playing with the Guitar Craft technique.
Lams is originally from Belgium. In 1984, he graduated
with honors from the Royal
Conservatory of Music in Brussels, where he studied classical guitar.
Shortly after that, he became involved with Fripp and the Guitar Craft school
where he met Mittino.
They successfully
perform as a duo internationally and record
their unique guitar stylings. This
is their second visit to Tree of
Life.
The exotic
music they will feature Sunday features the work of G.I. Gurdjieff, a philosopher of Russian/Armenian descent who had the remarkable gift of remembering music he had heard during
his travels in Asia and the Middle East—Armenian songs, Hindu melodies, Kurdish melodies, an Orthodox Hymn, Sayyid dances,
and others. Many years later he sang and played the melodies to Russian composer Thomas De
Hartmann. Together they created over 300 pieces between 1918 and 1927.
The service is open
to the public. Coffee and refreshments will be shared in a social hour after the
service.
Child care for
infants and toddlers is available.
For more
information call the church at 815
322-2464, e-mail office@treefolifeuu.org or visit https://treeoflifeuu.org/2018/07/05/guitar-duo-at-tree-of-life/.
