John H. Daum was my wife’s maternal grandfather. To Andrea and her brothers and sisters he was their Opa.

One of the earliest memories that Andrea has of her Opa comes from when she was a very little girl and her family lived on Calvin Street in Washington Township, New Jersey.

Opa and Oma (Andrea’s grandmother, Ruth Sevester Daum) had just arrived for a Sunday afternoon visit. Andrea remembers that as she excitedly dashed across the lawn to greet them, Opa stepped out of the car pretending to play the guitar and singing, “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog…!” Then, after he swept her up in a big hug, still singing this silly song that Andrea had never heard before, her Opa told her about the man whose record of the song had been playing on the radio in the car, a man named Elvis Presley.

It seems that John – or Hank, as Ruth usually called him – had always been tuned in to the popular music of the day. When he was a young man, the banjo was the instrument of choice for anyone who liked to sing and wanted to accompany him/herself in style. As soon as he could afford to, John became the proud owner of a brand new Wurlitzer 4-string, tenor banjo. This handsome, open-back instrument sported friction-peg tuners with carved white (ivory?) knobs; a 17-fret, bound fingerboard; and a honey-colored, birds-eye maple rim.

For the past thirty years or so, Opa’s Banjo has lived at our house; handed down by Andrea’s mother. Every now and then I take the instrument off its shelf, carefully slide it out of its thick, black cardboard case, tune her up and plunk out an old Folk song or two from the tarnished but still lively strings.

One day in the future, Andrea and I will fulfill what we know would have been Opa’s wishes and pass the instrument on to the next generations of our/his music-loving family.

This banjo will always be Opa’s Banjo – a cherished and unique reminder of this fun-loving, warm-hearted, deeply loved and still greatly missed man.

John George Harold Daum was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 26, 1906. He was the first born child and only son of John and Laura (Weick) Daum. The photograph above was taken on his 75th birthday.

Opa passed away on October 26, 1990 in Stamford, Connecticut.