Music wafts through the halls of Tara Gardens on a bright, sunny afternoon. Richard Pearman, 96, is stationed in his big plush brown recliner and glides his bow across the strings of his trusty fiddle. On Friday he will celebrate his 97th birthday with a luau. Age doesn’t slow Pearman down when it comes to music.
Pearman has been playing music since the ripe ol’ age of 10. He was born in Missouri and his family moved to a farm east of Humboldt. When his father became ill the family moved back to a Missouri for a short period. After his father passed away from lung cancer, they returned to the farm in Kansas.
“We owned 200 acres there,” Pearman said. “I talked my mom into doing a milk route.”
He began driving for the route when he was 14. He became a self-taught fiddler when he was 10. His first fiddle belonged to his father and had some wear and tear, but Pearman took care of that.
“I started restoring instruments in my spare time when I had any,” he said. “And I can’t read a note.”
Once he mastered the instrument he began playing in dance bands. He played with the Moonlight Ramblers and would travel to theaters around the area. Pearman said they played for many packed venues.
“I played for nursing homes for 50 years,” he said. He only recently stopped playing at the homes a year and a half ago.
Pearman married his wife Agnes in 1938. She passed away three years ago. The couple moved to Iola and bought a house, which Pearman still owns, in 1948. For 14 years they hauled milk and then he became a drywall and painting contractor.
“Agnes could toss those milk cans up onto the truck,” he said pointing to an old photograph of the two in front of a milk truck.
Although they never had any children during their 74 years of marriage, Pearman became close to his nephew, Mark Pearman. Pearman said Mark has played with Roy Clark and the Cleverly Brothers.
“He claims I taught him everything he knows,” Pearman said. “He even has my name on one of his CDs.”
His caretaker Pat Trekell has helped him for two and half years now. She still takes care of his home and helps him at Tara Gardens. Trekell will sing along with Pearman as he strums his guitar or plays the harmonica.
“He is determined to teach me how to yodel,” she said with a laugh.
The two have become very close in the time they have spent together.
