Profiles in Life & Music
Meet some of the people who make the Hot Springs Concert Band a special community of musicians.
Ruth Hamm: A life of love and music
By Jeff Olson
Every once in a while, and perhaps even less often, you will meet someone who is so impressive that words are too inadequate to describe. I’ve been very fortunate in so many ways - including having met several of such folks in my life. One of those is the subject of this writing and let me say from the outset. In these few lines, and with my limited skill, I cannot do such a life justice with mere words – regardless of how eloquent and descriptive they may be. However, here goes my best attempt.
When my career brought me to Hot Springs back in 2008, I auditioned for the Hot Springs Concert Band. I had heard of the band through various sources several years prior, and knew I wanted to be a part of it if I could. Well, I passed my audition and subsequently started rehearsing and getting acquainted with band members. Several stood out, in part because of personalities and in part because of musical skills, and in part because of age…and some of these overlapped.
Such was the case with a woman in the French Horn section. She appeared to me to be in her seventies and was quite the musician. It amazed me that someone of that age could play at the level she was playing at and doing so over twenty years my senior. I didn’t waste much time in getting to meet her. I found out that she joined the band at about the same time I did.
Just over thirteen years later, in 2021, I started playing in a smaller band which played most of its concerts in rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and assisted living centers. This really appealed to me, having served such wonderful folks through the church for some years. Well, lo and behold, there was this same lady playing her French Horn in the Hot Springs New Horizons Band. So, for more than sixteen years, she and I have played in two bands together, and what a privilege it has been.
Ruth Hamm was born in Colorado in 1934. She grew up on a farm – a life full of hard work, long hours, and strong traditional family values. Good things for sure, but it didn’t leave her much time to pursue her own interests. However, Ruth enjoyed music as a child and she could always make time to sing, no matter what she was doing. Ruth wanted more though. At ten or eleven years old, she made a decision which would open doors beyond her wildest dreams and expectations. She began learning to play the French Horn, and for the next 78 years she never looked back – except to recall countless beautiful memories.
She played French Horn through high school and into college at Westmar University in Le Mars, Iowa. After she was married, she and her husband moved to Naperville, Illinois and together they had two children. In Naperville, Ruth’s commitments extended beyond that of wife and mother. She taught music and physical education, eventually earning her master’s degree in physical education. She also competed in tennis, golf and softball – the latter until she was 72 years old. She enjoyed square dancing and taught it to fourth and fifth graders. Ruth and her square-dancing kids were even featured on the Phil Donahue Show in Chicago.
However, her French Horn was her first love, as far as hobbies were concerned. She played regularly in her church in brass sextets and other groups and in the Naperville community band for more than 50 years. However, her musical life was not limited to this wonderful band. For three years she toured with bands on six ship cruises in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Pacific. She toured overseas as well, in countries such as England, Scotland, Germany, Holland, and Austria.
As Ruth continued telling me the fascinating details of her life story, she kept coming back to Naperville and her community band there. From her first day in the band in late 1956 until her final concert in 2007, this special group of musicians and friends filled her life not only with song but with joy and purpose. One of the band’s traditions was that if you were a member of the band for fifty years then you earned the privilege of soloing, planning a concert and directing the band in one number. That she did. I would have loved to have been there.
In 2008, Ruth moved to Hot Springs Village, and it didn’t take her long to find her musical niche here. She immediately joined the Hot Springs Concert Band and the Hot Springs New Horizons Band. And, when Covid came along, did that slow Ruth? Not much! She still managed to play her horn for her neighbors outside her home, giving a free concert and morale boost during a quite perplexing time in our lives.
While Ruth doesn’t worship her horn or her music, she is quick to acknowledge that the French Horn was what God used to open the most doors in her life. Let that be a lesson to younger people who are deliberating on whether to learn a musical instrument. You never know just where or how far it may lead you and how much it may influence others.
One of the last things Ruth said to me before we parted, and I think the most important, was that her priorities in life have been in the order of God, Church, Family, and music (French Horn). If only all of us could follow her example.
Every morning Ruth starts her day by reading from a book of Christian hymns. She reads the history of one hymn and then sings and/or plays the hymn. What a beautiful way to start the day – the first day of the rest of her life – and a life well lived, I might add! Lead on, Ruth Hamm – and thank you!
PHOTOS -- TOP: Ruth warming up prior to the Hot Springs Concert Band Winter Concert on February 27, 2025. INSET: Ruth playing in her front yard during COVID, giving her neighbors a refreshing French Horn concert. BELOW: Ruth in front of a larger-than-life painting depicting 150 years of the Naperville Community Band and choir, with Ruth in the middle playing her horn.
By Jeff Olson
Every once in a while, and perhaps even less often, you will meet someone who is so impressive that words are too inadequate to describe. I’ve been very fortunate in so many ways - including having met several of such folks in my life. One of those is the subject of this writing and let me say from the outset. In these few lines, and with my limited skill, I cannot do such a life justice with mere words – regardless of how eloquent and descriptive they may be. However, here goes my best attempt.
When my career brought me to Hot Springs back in 2008, I auditioned for the Hot Springs Concert Band. I had heard of the band through various sources several years prior, and knew I wanted to be a part of it if I could. Well, I passed my audition and subsequently started rehearsing and getting acquainted with band members. Several stood out, in part because of personalities and in part because of musical skills, and in part because of age…and some of these overlapped.
Such was the case with a woman in the French Horn section. She appeared to me to be in her seventies and was quite the musician. It amazed me that someone of that age could play at the level she was playing at and doing so over twenty years my senior. I didn’t waste much time in getting to meet her. I found out that she joined the band at about the same time I did.
Just over thirteen years later, in 2021, I started playing in a smaller band which played most of its concerts in rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and assisted living centers. This really appealed to me, having served such wonderful folks through the church for some years. Well, lo and behold, there was this same lady playing her French Horn in the Hot Springs New Horizons Band. So, for more than sixteen years, she and I have played in two bands together, and what a privilege it has been.
Ruth Hamm was born in Colorado in 1934. She grew up on a farm – a life full of hard work, long hours, and strong traditional family values. Good things for sure, but it didn’t leave her much time to pursue her own interests. However, Ruth enjoyed music as a child and she could always make time to sing, no matter what she was doing. Ruth wanted more though. At ten or eleven years old, she made a decision which would open doors beyond her wildest dreams and expectations. She began learning to play the French Horn, and for the next 78 years she never looked back – except to recall countless beautiful memories.
She played French Horn through high school and into college at Westmar University in Le Mars, Iowa. After she was married, she and her husband moved to Naperville, Illinois and together they had two children. In Naperville, Ruth’s commitments extended beyond that of wife and mother. She taught music and physical education, eventually earning her master’s degree in physical education. She also competed in tennis, golf and softball – the latter until she was 72 years old. She enjoyed square dancing and taught it to fourth and fifth graders. Ruth and her square-dancing kids were even featured on the Phil Donahue Show in Chicago.
However, her French Horn was her first love, as far as hobbies were concerned. She played regularly in her church in brass sextets and other groups and in the Naperville community band for more than 50 years. However, her musical life was not limited to this wonderful band. For three years she toured with bands on six ship cruises in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Pacific. She toured overseas as well, in countries such as England, Scotland, Germany, Holland, and Austria.
As Ruth continued telling me the fascinating details of her life story, she kept coming back to Naperville and her community band there. From her first day in the band in late 1956 until her final concert in 2007, this special group of musicians and friends filled her life not only with song but with joy and purpose. One of the band’s traditions was that if you were a member of the band for fifty years then you earned the privilege of soloing, planning a concert and directing the band in one number. That she did. I would have loved to have been there.
In 2008, Ruth moved to Hot Springs Village, and it didn’t take her long to find her musical niche here. She immediately joined the Hot Springs Concert Band and the Hot Springs New Horizons Band. And, when Covid came along, did that slow Ruth? Not much! She still managed to play her horn for her neighbors outside her home, giving a free concert and morale boost during a quite perplexing time in our lives.
While Ruth doesn’t worship her horn or her music, she is quick to acknowledge that the French Horn was what God used to open the most doors in her life. Let that be a lesson to younger people who are deliberating on whether to learn a musical instrument. You never know just where or how far it may lead you and how much it may influence others.
One of the last things Ruth said to me before we parted, and I think the most important, was that her priorities in life have been in the order of God, Church, Family, and music (French Horn). If only all of us could follow her example.
Every morning Ruth starts her day by reading from a book of Christian hymns. She reads the history of one hymn and then sings and/or plays the hymn. What a beautiful way to start the day – the first day of the rest of her life – and a life well lived, I might add! Lead on, Ruth Hamm – and thank you!
PHOTOS -- TOP: Ruth warming up prior to the Hot Springs Concert Band Winter Concert on February 27, 2025. INSET: Ruth playing in her front yard during COVID, giving her neighbors a refreshing French Horn concert. BELOW: Ruth in front of a larger-than-life painting depicting 150 years of the Naperville Community Band and choir, with Ruth in the middle playing her horn.
