A newspaper photograph of Harry H. “Lut” Willier Jr. of Pitman, Schuylkill County, making his television debut on Berks Community Television (BCTV) in 1980, singing his copyrighted son, “Uff Waxe” (“Growing Up“) in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect.
From the Pottsville Republican and Herald, October 3, 2000:
PITMAN MAN, 80, TO DEBUT ON TV
By Vicki Terwilliger, Correspondent
PITMAN — There isn’t too much Harry H. “Lut” Willier Jr. won’t try.
Four years ago, he took up banjo lessons, last June he copyrighted a song with the Library of Congress, and Friday the 80-year-old songwriter will make his television debut.
Willier will perform his song, “Uff ‘Waxe,” (Growing Up), 10 a.m. Friday as a guest of the Die Dopehock Sanger Chor at the studios of Berks Community Television (BCTV), Reading.
Willier has been taking weekly classes this year to learn more about the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect of his childhood.
On the first Friday of every month, the choir sings in the dialect and invites guests fluent in the language to join them on the program.
The show will be replayed at 9 p. m. Saturday, 10 a. m. Sunday, and 1 p.m. next Tuesday on AT&T Cable Services, Channel 13, Reading, AT&T Cable Services, Channel 16, Hamburg, and Service Electric Cablevision, Channel 20.
Willier got his chance because a friend, Avice E. Morgan of Pitman – contacted the program’s host/producer L. Stella Labe about the retired farmer’s musical talent.
Morgan’s grandchildren, Jasmine T. Morgan and Kai L. Morgan of Valley View sang on the show in July.
Residents of the Friendly Nursing Home in Pitman already know Willier’s charm and generosity.
For the past five years he’s been a member of the Pitman Trio and One,” a group that performs a free, one-hour show at the home every Friday, The group performs everything from gospel, country and western to bluegrass tunes.
“I just always sang as a little boy,” he said following recent concert. Other members of the group include, Larona A. Smith, Pitman, on the dobro, Harry’s brother, Eugene E. Willier, of Pitman, on the harmonica, and Elwood E. Klouser, Gratz, on the mandolin.
The foursome also performs at senior centers and nursing homes in Schuylkill, Dauphin, and Northumberland Counties. The band will even make house calls for people who are too ill to leave their homes.
“I love their gospel music,” said 77-year-old Betty E. Rist, a 40-year resident of the home who hails from Pottsville. Another resident, Irene Shive, of the Tower City area also attended Willier’s free concert.
Willier grew up in the Mahantongo Valley, one of 12 children of the late Harry H. Willier and Emma Willier.
“Lut” was a name his father gave to him as a young boy and it “stuck,” he said. Willier worked in the fields and as a substitute mail carrier in Pitman, substituting for his father.
His family had a hog farm, dairy, bakery ad fruit orchard and frequently took their wares to market in Ashland and Girardville. His brother Eugene still operates the 30-acre homestead farm.
He and his wife Laura M. Willier live nearby.
She plans to make the trip to the Reading television studio to watch her husband sing on air.
“Growing Up” details Willier’s life.
“It’s from the day I was born, when I went to school, when I saw the girls, and until I’m an old man,” said the 1938 Hegins Township High School graduate. “I used to go for walks every morning and the verse would come to me,” Willier said.
Here’s an excerpt from the song’s end:
“Ich bin nau alt un grummbucklich ich kann schier nimmi fatt, Es dut mier weh doh un datt un blaschder nemmts’n lot, Un wann ich’s nau noch mache kann bis an der schockelschtuhl, Noh kick ich mol die sch aus un ruhg, un ruhg, un ruhg.”
The translation:
“Now, I’m old and bending over, I can hardly move at all, It hurts all over and salve – it takes a lot. If I can make it to the rocking chair, I’ll kick off my shoes and rest, and rest, and rest.”
A Pennsylvania Dutch news columnist, Bill Klouser, of Spring Glen, assisted Willier with spelling some of the words in his song.
Willier has just finished another composition, called “Ich Bein Ein Fischermon,” (I am a Fisherman), which has not been registered yet.
Willier has come a long way from his early days of performing as a 4-year-old at Hepler’s Grove meetings in Pitman.
“I just remember singing and staring at this guy in the front row with a beard and starting to cry,” he laughed.
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News article and photo from Newspapers.com.
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