My grandfather, Clarence âConnyâ Scheer, was a jack of all trades â lumberjack, fruit picker, miner, barber. He also, on occasion, sang for his supper. As a kid, I remember him playing the ukulele, one of his many stringed instruments. He would sing, âYou Are my Sunshine,â âGood Night Ireneâ and even some bawdy tunes he learned while in the Philippines during WWII. Gramps started singing for the public when he was about nine years old, under the tutelage of William and Ivy Bischoff. The Bischoffs lived in Bigfork, provided music for local dances, and taught violin, piano, and voice.
As a young adult Gramps entered contests when he had a chance, and I found evidence of this in an article in the July 28, 1938, Itasca Progressive.