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Career military musician and local 'music man'
share love of music

March 10th, 2017

It’s been a few years since Don Russel has been able to create music, but the new resident to Points West Living Wainwright sure does appreciate hearing it. When Patrick Watkins performed his multimedia music show in late February the two musicians shared an instant bond. 

Don Russel's music

Don is a career military musician who has travelled the world, playing flute and piccolo with military bands of both the United States and Canada. Born in November 1932 to a musical family on Long Island, New York, Don took up the flute as a boy, and continued his studies and completed high school with a scholarship to Valley Forge Military Academy. His first military musical posting was to the prestigious US Army Field Band at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Don soon found love north of the border, and was able to continue his music career with the Canadian military. Over the years he played with the Canadian Forces Centennial Tattoo Band in 1967, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders Regiment) in Montreal, and the Princess Patricia Light Infantry Band in Calgary. He also taught music.

Patrick Watkins' music

Patrick is a longtime resident of Wainwright, arriving as a young teen more than 40 years ago. Music has always been in his life, “I started playing several instruments when I was about 10 years old,” he says. “I currently play guitar and 5 string banjo. Other instruments that I played but have forgotten are accordion, piano, clarinet, trumpet trombone, coronet and organ.”

Over the past five years, Patrick has come regularly to PWL Wainwright to perform his multimedia music show, which he takes great care in producing. “Most multi-media shows take me about 80 hours to research, develop, script and record,” he says. “My guitar synthesizer has 584 instrument voices and that is how I record all my background music.”

Music shared

Patrick concluded his PWL Wainwright February 22nd performance with an Andrea Bocelli song that brought a tear to Don’s eye. “It was a stroll down memory lane,” Don told recreation coordinator Jenna Hopaluk. “It doesn’t matter how bad my memory gets, I always remember the best.”

Photo: Patrick Watkins and Don Russel share a deep appreciation for music. They met at Patrick’s February 22nd multimedia music performance at PWL Wainwright.

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