Frank’s Heroes Presents Free Guitar Classes and Enjoyable to Native Veterans

It’s one other Saturday morning for the charity Frank’s Heroes, an area outreach that gives free guitar classes for vets, together with espresso and doughnuts, within the basement of the United Methodist Church on First Capitol Drive in St. Charles.

Founder Bill Dennis had a coronary heart for veterans and music, in keeping with his widow, Barb Dennis. The effort started in 2013 and has helped 50-60 veterans be taught to play guitar. 

“Bill played guitar since he was 12 years old,” Barb says. “It was his desire to give something back. I think he felt a calling to do something of the sort.”

Barb Dennis, whose late husband Bill based the outreach, says they’ve helped greater than 50 vets. The classes are given by longtime musician John Baker, who studied classical guitar at Washington University and has performed in a number of native bands via the years, together with a bunch referred to as FOG, which stands for “Four Old Guys.”

Baker, 75, says enjoying guitar is sweet for the thoughts and the soul. “It makes your mind sharp,” Baker says. “You’re learning how to play all these different chords and what all the different notes are, and you learn how to read music. And for some of these guys, I think it’s an escape from some of the things that they’ve experienced, especially if they’ve been in Vietnam or Iraq or someplace like that.”

Among the scholars who noticed motion, Wunderlich served in Vietnam as a Navy Seabee, a development unit that constructed ahead bases whereas additionally combating in fight. He obtained there in 1968, simply earlier than the Tet Offensive, a large-scale shock assault by the North Vietnamese in opposition to forces of South Vietnam allied with U.S. troops. “I got there two weeks before the Tet,” Wunderlich says. “That was a party you needed to miss.” After the battle, Wunderlich took a job piloting boats going up and down the Mississippi River. The years glided by, and now he’s retired. Only just lately did he resolve to be taught guitar. It helps him loosen up, he says.  “With guitar, you have to really be thinking about it and concentrating, and the rest of the world just goes away,” Wunderlich says. “So, it’s a relief and all your other cares of life just disappear for a short time.”

Another Vietnam veteran taking the free guitar classes is Juan Ramirez. He enjoys the enjoyable and the camaraderie of the group. “You know, a bunch of guys reminds me again of being in the service and working with each other—without a war.”

The longest strumming member of the group is Vietnam-era veteran Ralph Moore. He began taking guitar classes with Frank’s Heroes in 2016. He additionally sings for the group whereas all of them play. “Music soothes the savage beast,” Moore says. Also retired, Moore had a profitable profession in training, serving 19 years within the Ferguson-Florissant School District and retiring because the principal of Cool Valley Elementary School. “My wife saw an article in the paper about Frank’s Heroes and told me to sign up,” Moore says. “So that’s what I did!”

The free classes embody sheet music. You can carry your individual acoustic guitar, or one could be supplied. The classes happen Saturday mornings from 10-11:30 within the church basement at 801 First Capitol Drive. 

The group’s title, Frank’s Heroes, is a tribute to the founder’s father, Frank Dennis. 

To register, please get in contact with Barb Dennis at 314-479-5750.