Richard Whitmarsh, Jr. of East Bridgewater, Massachusetts died
March 19, 2017, peacefully listening to his circus music
in the Good Samaritan Hospital at the age of 93.
Son of the late Mildred (Goodwin) and Richard Whitmarsh,
Richard was raised and educated in East Bridgewater and had been proudly living there ever since.
Shortly after high school, he auditioned and became a member of the 50 piece US Coast Guard Band. He performed on cornet with the Abington Legion Band from 1947 to 1962. That band became the Rockland Concert Band with Richard as conductor. The band then relocated to East Bridgewater and Richard renamed it the South Shore Concert
Band.
He is best known outside of his community for the series of 56 recordings of traditional circus music distributed under the banner “Sounds of the Circus”. Richard and the South Shore Band recorded hundreds of compositions all of which were utilized at one time or another under the big top. Conductor Whitmarsh and the Band also promoted appreciation of classic circus music by performing pre-show concerts while the audience entered the tents of traveling shows such as Big Apple Circus, Kelly Miller Circus and Cole Bros Circus.
The Band participated in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades, often riding on horse drawn antique circus bandwagons, made television and radio appearances and “Sounds of the Circus” recordings have been utilized in numerous film and television projects.
In 2016 Richard Whitmarsh was inducted into the Windjammers Hall of Fame by Windjammers Unlimited, the Circus Music Historical Society.
Author Jon Mitchel is completing a book titled “Sounds of the Circus” that documents Richard’s contribution to the preservation of the historic circus repertoire. Publication is expected to coincide with the Smithsonian Institution’s Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC in June. The Festival this year will have the circus as one of its themes.
Memorial donations in honor of Richard may be made to Steward Home Care and Hospice 30 Perwal Street Westwood, MA 02090