Marilyn Maye is still going strong – Iowa Capital Dispatch

My husband, Richard, and I are perched in Okoboji, the place nostalgia reigns. It’s a spot for traditional vehicles, an old-time amusement park, and the place an iconic vocal artist carried out this week, as she has for over 60 years.

Regardless of a legacy connection, I nearly missed the possibility to see Marilyn Maye, stay and in individual.

Have you ever had the expertise of faucets on the shoulder by the universe guiding you come what may? Possibly you assume that’s too woo-woo, however this feels past coincidence.

In mid-June, I acquired a be aware from my pal, Geneva Overholser, saying she and her husband, David Westphal, have been within the Birdland Jazz Membership in New York Metropolis after they noticed Marilyn Maye. Geneva (former editor of The Des Moines Register) and Marilyn lit up their respective Iowa connections within the ladies’s restroom, and our small levels of separation turned clear. The Des Moines Register/GordonGammack/Julie Gammack/Des Moines/Okoboji/Geneva.

Geneva and Marilyn exchanged emails, looping me in, and we had a enjoyable alternate.

Her scheduled Okoboji reveals slipped my thoughts. Maye could be making her 66th annual look within the Iowa Nice Lakes area this summer season, and we nearly missed it.

However the subsequent faucet on the shoulder took place after I was in a dialog with David Thoreson (who deserves a completely reported column sooner or later). Maye has been a long-time buddy of the Thoreson household, particularly David’s mom, Judy Thoreson. They join when Marilyn involves the Lakes area, and Judy typically hosts the star in her stunning West Lake Okoboji dwelling on Haywards Bay. The Thoreson household sponsored Maye’s efficiency on the Lakes Artwork Middle.

Small world.

David Thoreson stated the Marilyn Maye present was bought out opening night time, however tickets remained for the next efficiency. We heeded the decision to motion and fortunately confirmed up.

The lives of the Gammacks and Marilyn Maye have been entwined for many years.

In 1969 I had the most effective summer season job ever, taking the duvet cost for nightclub leisure on the New Inn. I collected the $5-$25 an individual cost downstairs from the principle eating room, performed solitaire in the course of the reveals, and drank regardless of the bartender slipped me. Through the day, I rented a small fishing boat for the season, spending days pounding by means of the waves with my new pet, Krishna (the most effective canine ever), his ears pinned again within the wind.

When Marilyn Maye got here to city, The New Inn was packed.

Marilyn had been enjoying for audiences on the New Inn even earlier than then — she carried out at  the grand opening in 1957. Iowa’s favourite cabaret singer has survived, however the New Inn didn’t.

Honestly, I anticipated the viewers could be there out of respect for her longevity, having outlived a variety of of us who got here to her reveals by means of the years. However they bought a helluva present, too.

Marilyn Maye is 94 years outdated, nonetheless going sturdy, and never lacking a be aware.

As a Des Moines Tribune columnist, my dad coated the Iowa-kid-makes-it-in-the-big-time beat. The red-headed East Excessive College lady turned nationwide singing sensation was a narrative that stored giving, column inch by inch.