Musician's Ashes Buried in Clarinet

WINONA, Minn. - Roger Busdicker went out on a high note. When Busdicker, often seen playing his ebony-and-silver clarinet, died last week at the age of 88, his daughters thought it befitting to have his cremated remains buried in the instrument.

"One of my sisters found the clarinet in a closet," said Sue Enger, of New Richmond, Wis., one of Busdicker's daughters. "All three of us decided it would be appropriate to bury his ashes in it."

Sure, their father could play the saxophone and other instruments, "but he had played that clarinet for more than 50 years," Enger said. He played Benny Goodman tapes in his car.

"They just thought this was so proper, that their dad went into the clarinet," said Noreen Busdicker of Minneapolis, who's married to Roger's brother, Gordon. "What didn't fit in the clarinet went into the lining of the case."

Roger Busdicker toured with the Hal Leonard Orchestra in the 1930s and '40s before becoming a music teacher in Winona schools. He later co-founded and ran a sheet-music publishing company until retiring in 1985.

He never stopped playing though.

"When I was young, we were in municipal band together. Every day or every other day, we'd go to the basement and play band music _ real upbeat music, the kind that made you tap your toes," Enger said

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/06/21/ap/strange/d8icr8ag1.txt

He must have been awfully small for the ashes to fit in that clarinet!

BusDICKer...heh heh heh

at least he was buried by what he loved