Farewell Bob Verge
HodgePodge by Charlie Hodge
Heaven’s all star musical ensemble was bolstered last week by the arrival of a wonderful man – Bob Verge.
Bob was well known in the Okanagan for his diversified music mastery. He was best recognized for his exceptional guitar skills but also played piano, drums, bass guitar and was a talented singer and composer. Bob was equally happy playing live to crowds or in his home studio (Sword Music Productions) recording his own tunes and/or helping others with theirs. During the past dozen years or so he found time to teach music as well.
Bob was born in St. Catharines, Ontario and grew up living in Ontario and Alberta before arriving in B.C. From a young age, he showed a great talent for music and first played professionally at age 15.
In 2000 Bob married his sweetheart, Laurie Orange.
His musical profession began early with a band called the Shadracks in the mid 1960’s followed by a stint with Dick Tater in 1969. He then took up his licks as a six-string bass player and vocalist with the popular Graeme and the Waifers in Edmonton, Alberta at the end of the sixties and early seventies. Other band members were Graeme Moorehouse, vocals, Geoff Aire drums, Al Treen bass, and Pat Coleman on guitar. Moorhouse is still considered one of the greatest front men in Edmonton rock n roll history. Graeme and the Waifers were Edmonton’s first ‘mod band’. They played their own compositions including a 20-minute epic called Jennifer’s Career and Death – an Alberta cult classic.
Bob then briefly toiled with a band called Moxie which was already in its death throes when he joined. When that band split up in 1972 he joined a new group called Fresh Air. However, as is often the nature in rock n’ roll bands, that band was short lived as well and the chaotic nature of the band was more than Bob’s passive nature could handle. Halfway through the band’s second set one night he just walked off the stage.
“Certainly, the boys weren’t happy with me but it was leave or lose it and I didn’t want to do that,” Bob chuckled in recollection of the event.
Apparently two of the remaining band members played bass so Bob knew they would carry on without him.
I had the pleasure of working with Bob over several years and always found him a kind and sensitive man who never tired of talking to music fans. He was a quiet man with a passive, sometimes shy demeanor. A class act, Bob treated fellow band mates with respect even when occasionally some did not deserve to be. I loved his quick wit and sense of humour.
Most local music fans will remember Verge from his time spent with the Incredible Shrinking Band, Cowboy Bob, and a blues trio with Scott Martin and Gary Smythe. He was also a long-time member of music program at Willow Park Church.
“He was a wonderful guitar player, a great attitude, and a good guy,” Incredible Shrinking Band partner Barry Mathers recalls.
Sadly, Bob was inflicted with Frontotemporal Dementia which he battled extensively. In 2022 Laurie, Bob and family moved to Lacombe, Alberta to be with family with Bob finally succumbing on March 24, just four days short of his 75th birthday.
My sincere and deep condolences to his wife Laurie and family.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date in Kelowna.
