John Wood 95th birthday tribute set Sunday at VFW

John Wood

Musical friends and former bandmates will gather Sunday, Oct. 9 for a musical tribute to John Wood in honor of his 95th birthday.

Wood, who turns 95 on Oct. 13, was the keyboard man for the John Wood Combo, which performed about everywhere live music was played in Greencastle and local environs over the previous 70 years.

Wood performed his final show Oct. 8, 2021 at the American Legion.

For many of those years he was accompanied by bassist Tom Hardwick, Tim Grimes and more drummers than he can name. Donnie Hopkins is his 24th.

Other former band members -- guitarist Sandy Williams, bassist Carol Hamm, sax man Bill James and Hopkins -- will be on hand Sunday along with emcee James “Figgy” Hardwick.

The musical entertainment is free and is set for 5-7 p.m. at VFW Post 1550 on South Jackson Street. A barbecue meal is available for purchase.

Daughter-in-law Brenda Wood said John has stayed busy in his retirement, remodeling his house and even adding an entire upstairs onto it.

But it’s music you think of when someone mentions John Wood.

“I was always involved with music — my mother liked music and she made me take piano lessons against my will,” Wood said in a 2021 interview. “I also played clarinet and oboe in the high school band.”

However, Wood gave up on woodwinds after high school.

“I wasn’t very good and I didn’t like it,” he recalled.

After high school, though, he finally started to enjoy playing the piano. It didn’t hurt that he lived on Anderson Street right next door to the Hardwick family.

“They had four kids and all of them were musical,” Wood said. “None of the Hardwicks ever had a music lesson. They were just natural musicians.”

After briefly playing in a different band, Wood hooked up with Tom Hardwick as his bassist, and they stayed together for decades.

“Tom Hardwick was with me for years — all through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s,” Wood recalled.

The early years were great for Wood, as he recalls playing high school proms and plenty of dances at DePauw University.

“We just still play the old music, what was popular back in the World War II era,” Wood said. “All the songs we play were written in the ’30s and ’40s, probably some even in the ’20s.”