Veteran Band Member Still Playing a Trombone
Bob Trautloff may be over 90 years old but that doesn’t stop him from doing much. Bob is currently playing his bass trombone as a member of several bands, including the Minnesota River Valley Wind Ensemble.
“I tried to quit last year, but the director, Dr. Amy Roisum-Foley said, ‘You have a place here, if you want it,’” Bob explained.
Bob joined the military in February 1944 when he was 17 years old. He attended basic training in Amarillo, Texas. Near the end of World War II, he opted to join the inactive reserves. Using the GI Bill, which provides educational assistance to service members, veterans, and their dependents, Bob studied at a music conservatory.
At the beginning of the Korean War, Bob joined an active reserves group. He was stationed at Castle Air Force Base in northern California. He was supposed join a band, but the base had eliminated the band to save money. He was then transferred to March Air Force Base, also in California.
“And guess what? The next week, the band had a parade at Castle Air Force Base. So my first assignment was to go back to the base I came from,” he said.
The band Bob belonged to would travel to different Air Force bases throughout the United States and perform at celebrations. After close to a year, Bob chose to leave the armed forces. Today, Bob calls Highland Regency House in New Ulm, Minn. home.
Bob is only one of over 80 veterans currently residing in a TLHA care community. TLHA’s history begins with one family’s loss during the Civil War. A 15-year-old Ernst Boessling from Belle Plaine volunteered to serve with the Minnesota troops. He died in September of 1863 in service to his country at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
His mother, Sophie, had saved the government death benefits she received all the years after Ernst died. Wanting to provide a home for others like herself, she donated the money and her family’s farmland to build das Alten und Waisenheim—the Aged and Orphans’ Home. Now more than a century later, Sophie’s gift continues to benefit countless lives.
TLHA has active senior living, assisted living and memory care communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Looking for a place to call home? Visit www.tlha.org/communities.