Music has never guided Dexter native wrong

By Gloria Austin
Houlton Pioneer Times

    Music has always been a part of Ron Clukey’s life.
    Clukey, who moved to Houlton in 1980, formerly of Dexter, had a keen ear for the organ until a loss of hearing. Now, he doesn’t play much anymore. But like the memories, the music never dies.
    As a sophomore in high school, Clukey always told his mother, “I am going to quit [school] today.” Her reply was simply, “You don’t want to do that.” One day, Clukey went to school, didn’t say a word, handed in his books and went home.

    “Some of the subjects I had chosen to take weren’t going to be offered because there wasn’t enough students,” he said. “So, we had to take other things that we really didn’t want.”
    That’s when Clukey decided he wanted to learn to play the organ.
    “I took lessons from Harold Hatch in Dexter,” he recalled. “I got a job playing the lounge and that is what I did for a living for years.”
    Understanding the importance of education, Clukey did attain his GED as an adult.
    But, music set him on a course he loved.
    His first job took him north to Van Buren where Clukey played the organ in the cocktail lounge at the old Hammond Hotel for a summer. The summer position ended up being a 10-year stint until the establishment was sold.
    He married his wife, Francis Hutchinson Hallet, three years after arriving in Van Buren. The couple was to wed the last week of January on Clukey’s mother and father’s anniversary, but that was foiled when the two were offered jobs in Florida.
    “So, we rushed and got married the last day of November,” he said. “We had to be in Florida on the 13th of December.”
    “But, we didn’t get down that far,” he said. “We got as far as Presque Isle and I went to work at the Music Shop. I was there for 11 years.”
    During his time in the Star City, Clukey was offered a job playing the organ a couple of nights a week in the dining room of Aucoin’s Restaurant. From there, he was enticed by the manager of the Northeastland Hotel to come and serenade their lounge customers.
    “He said, ‘Ron, we will buy an organ if you come over and play it,’” explained Clukey. “So, he bought an organ and I went over there and played for a couple of nights of the week.”
    Joining Clukey at the Northeastland Hotel was guitarist Ervin Craig of Mars Hill.
    Clukey left the Music Shop and went to Expert Electronics until he suffered a leg injury leading to a layoff.
    “The day I was laid off, I had surgery in the morning and that night, I had a telephone call from my sister in Dexter telling me that my other sister’s 17-year-old son had drowned,” he said. “Naturally we headed to Dexter. On the way, I stopped at Woolco (in Houlton).”
    After talking with a girl in the office, Clukey came away that day with a job in the chain store’s popular music/camera department.
    From there it was off to Trustworthy Hardware for five years until they closed; to Mainely Music for a couple of years and then to the Boston Shoe Store until they closed, finishing at Epstein’s until they closed.
    “ Evidently, I put everyone out of business,” he laughed. “Really, I was never out of work.”
    Through the years, Clukey and his wife shared one of their favorite pastimes with others.
    “My wife and I were always active; of course when we moved down to Houlton, we used to go to the nursing homes and long-term care at Houlton Regional Hospital ballroom dancing,” he said. “We went once a month anyway.”
    While sharing their talent, an older lady they knew said, ‘Why don’t you start a class?’
    And, so the Clukeys did.
    “There were quite a few who wanted to learn,” Clukey said. “We held a few classes here in town and another in Presque Isle and ended up with two more in Woodstock. We did that until I got arthritis in my knees and couldn’t dance anymore.”
    Since having double knee surgery and undergoing a triple bypass, Clukey now takes it easy. Since his wife’s passing, Clukey is kept company by his bird.
    “He won’t go to bed until I do,” he laughed.
    Clukey, who has a stepson, stepdaughter, step grand-children and great-grandchildren, is very content with his life in the Shiretown.
    Clukey said he tried to sit down and play the organ again, but “Having this hearing problem, it sounds like I am hitting the wrong note,” he laughed.