Robert S. Wharton – 50th Reunion Essay

Robert S. Wharton

2303 Whitmore Dr

Olympia, WA 98501

bobwharton@mac.com

360-791-8272

Spouse(s): Mary C. Wharton (1972)

Child(ren): Rebecca W. Peil, 1975; Kevin C. Wharton, 1977; Elizabeth C. Young, 1981; Claire M. Wharton, 1984; Maya I. Wharton, 1996

Grandchild(ren): Zachary Peil (2007) Julia Peil, (2009) Emily Peil (2012)

Education: Yale College, 1969, BS in Chemistry; University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 1973, MD

Career: Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Stanford University for 3 years; Private practice in anesthesiology, 25 years

Avocations: Music

College: Timothy Dwight

Two nights ago I was sitting, with my tuba, onstage at the Pantages Theater, a 100-year-old neo-Renaissance-style concert hall in downtown Tacoma, Washington. The 1,100-seat theater was full to capacity. I was one of 69 members of the Tacoma Concert Band, the Northwest’s premier symphonic band. I’ve played with this band since 2011, but this concert was special. It was honoring the band’s founder and conductor, Maestro Robert Musser, who was retiring after 38 years at its helm. The band has traveled to Europe twice since I joined (a concert tour to Eastern Europe in 2011, and a 2015 tour to Spain). This July, my wife and I are again traveling with the band on a concert tour through Scotland and Ireland.

What is the connection between these experiences and Yale? Well, actually, quite a lot. I have come to realize that music—specifically, performing music, and, more specifically, performing concert band music—is my one truly enduring connection to Yale.

When I came to Yale in 1965, I was focused on academics and career—getting through all the pre-med courses and getting into medical school. So it was mostly on a whim that I wandered into Hendrie Hall that first week of Freshman year, and signed to march with the Yale Precision Marching Band and auditioned as a tubist for the Yale Concert Band. That decision has turned out to be one of the most consequential and life-changing of my undergraduate years.

As I reflect back on my four years at Yale, I realize that many of my fondest memories of Yale involve the band: The numerous concerts under the direction of Keith Wilson in Woolsey Hall, the performance of Fanfare for the Common Man and Appalachian Spring under the baton of Aaron Copland in the winter of 1966, the Twilight Concerts in front of Sterling Library, and especially the June 1968 Europe Concert Tour to Holland, West Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, England, and Wales.

But life hasn’t always been all about music. After turning in my tuba and leaving New Haven in 1969, I moved to Philadelphia for four years of medical school. It was there I met and married the love of my live. Internship and residency followed, and took us to the West Coast. After residency and two and a half years in academic medicine at Stanford, our family moved to Olympia, Washington, and I had a successful career in private practice in anesthesia. We have been blessed with five wonderful children, now grown, all of whom have taken up careers in medicine.

I didn’t pick up a tuba again until retirement, but I now play regularly with half a dozen bands, orchestras, and ensembles. This has brought more satisfaction than I ever could have imagined. And it has awakened the many fond memories of my time with the Yale Concert Band.

[Carla Paine, who painted my portrait in 2013, was educated in the traditions and techniques of classical oil painting in Florence, Italy. She resides on a small farm outside Olympia.]