A great pipe band is a joy to behold and listen to, and in Shasta County, we are blessed to have a great pipe band, The Jefferson Pipe Band. The leaders of the band, Bob and Molly Skinner, are master pipers, and they love to play and give back to the community.
Hi Bob, how are you?
I’m doing great, thank you!
Excellent. Can you please give us a quick synopsis of your life story?
Well, I was born in Pasadena, California, and my dad decided when I was five years old that he wanted to move his family to the mountains. So we moved to Shasta County.
What year was that?
1957. And I’ve been in Shasta County ever since. And I lived outside of Shasta County for about four years. I lived in Stockton and Sacramento. Stockton is one of the most crime-ridden cities in California. And Sacramento was just a little too busy for me.
Okay, let’s jump right in. How did you get involved in playing bagpipes and then the Jefferson Pipe Band?
How I got involved in it is that my godfather was one of the Canadian Black Watch in World War I, one of The Ladies From Hell. He would come to our family gatherings in his Black Watch uniform for Thanksgiving, Christmas, you name it. And when he showed up, I just loved my Uncle Ken. And wherever we went, bagpipes were playing. My father made us stop and listen to them, and I just fell in love with the sound.
How old were you?
Oh, gosh. I was probably eight when I fell in love with the pipes. I didn’t learn to play the pipes until I was 32. I went off to college, where I played football and spent a lot of time learning my profession.
What was your profession?
I was a pharmacist. I had my own pharmacy, so I ran my business. And then, one year, my father-in-law came up to me and said, “There’s a College of Piping right where I live for two weeks every summer.” And I said, “I’m there.” So I bought a practice chanter, I walked in, and Seamus McNeill looked at me, and he says, “Well, show me what you know.” I held it up, and I said, “This is a practice chanter.” He goes, “Okay!” So he goes, “We’ll put you in the beginning class.” So I started in the beginning class, and in 10 days, I could play the whole Green Book College of Piping Tutor. And he looked at me, and he goes, “Buy pipes.” And so I bought pipes that weekend and…
The rest is history.
Yes, the rest is history.
So, how did the Jefferson Pipe Band come about?
We used to be called The Shasta Scots, and there were four of us, and there was a band on the coast called The North Coast Scottish Society. And we got together, we’d do parades together, and the leader from that one moved to Medford, Oregon. We were doing parades, and this one time, we said, “Why don’t we form a band between us?” He lived in Medford, and we lived in Redding. And he said, “Let’s call it the Jefferson Pipe Band for the State of Jefferson.” We covered that area. And that’s how that came about about 2000, the year 2000, maybe ’98, 2000, somewhere in there. And so we’ve been going almost 25 years now.
Wow, that’s a long time.
So, many people know the Jefferson Pipe Band, both locally and regionally. Do you consider it giving back to the community, a profession, a money pit, or what it is?
It’s giving it back to the community. We play for a lot of veterans’ affairs. In fact, last year, we won the President’s Award for the Shasta County Affiliated Veterans Council, the President’s Award as the nonprofit that donated more time than anybody else to the veterans of Shasta County.
And I’ve played for 35 years at Shasta High School’s graduations.
You’ve been in Shasta County quite a while now, do you still think Shasta County is a special place?
Yes, I do. We’ve talked about it. Molly and I love living here, and I don’t see myself living anywhere else. I love the beauty of the area we live in. And I’m a fairly conservative person, and Shasta County is a fairly conservative county, and I just know so many people here now. I also love the river in the middle of town where you can go fishing for salmon in the middle of the city you live in. Where can you live and find that?
So when people come to visit, as I’m sure they do, because of the Jefferson Pipe Band, do you ever send them out to explore?
Yeah, we send them out to a lot of places. We send them up around Whiskeytown to the falls over there and up to Burney Falls, of course. And, up around Mount Shasta, there are several places up there I love, such as the McCloud River Falls in that area. I was raised down Big Bend Road, so I always take them to Hatchet Falls and up in there. I think I was raised in probably one of the most beautiful valleys in California.
Last question. What are some of your favorite restaurants, and when you send people to go eat, where do you recommend?
I like several different ones. For Chinese, I like New China on Eureka Way, and I’ve gotten to know the people there, and they’re great people. I also know most of the people up at Casa Ramos, and I love it there for Mexican food. I also go to Lulu’s quite a bit because that’s where a lot of us old-timers hang out. And then if I want to go out for Italian, Nello’s Place is a pretty special restaurant. That pretty much covers it.
Bob, thank you, and thank you for all you do for our community!
Thank you!