Ilion High School - Class of 1947

Herkimer Evening Telegram - June 4, 1966

Bandsman Sam Nile Born In '6-Gun' Area

Article 11

Photo caption - Samuel R. Nile, director of the Ilion Volunteer Firemen’s Band, shows the new modern uniform that the 50 band members will wear this year.

Bandsman Sam Nile Born In '6-Gun' Area
By Robert Kelder

Ilion - Samuel R. Nile, 63, of 235 S. Fourth Ave., might be handling a six-gun today instead of a baton and trumpet if he hadn't headed east as a young man.

"Deadwood still has on exhibition the chair be was sitting in, showing where the bullet went through," smiled Sam.

Although Sam had an uncle who was a cattleman, he had little interest in ranching in his early days. He loved music, and in 1925 he was on a train headed for Ilion after being hired by the Remington Band as a solo trumpet player through a music magazine ad.

"The Remington Band was one of the top bands in the east about that time," Sam recalled. The Band was a weekly music feature on Radio Station WGY and the show was broadcast to as far away as Africa.

Part of the agreement was that he work in the Remington plant, and he became a toolmaker with the company.

Later, he was director of the band for 15 years before leaving in 1949 to start his own Ilion Music Shop.

He still operates the shop, but is "on the road" about four days a week. He services many schools in the Central New York area with musical equipment.

Besides directing the local Firemen's Band - a post he has held almost five years - he also directs the Shrine Band of Ziyara Temple, Utica.

"Local residents who like bands will hear plenty of music this month," Sam smiled. "Besides the Ilion Masons parade today, there's the American Legion Convention in Ilion on June 11, two Remington Arms centennial concerts on June 16, the Ilion Firemen's convention on June 18, and the celebration in Frankfort on June 25 and 26.

And that's not all. At the end of this month, the Firemen's Band will start the annual program of weekly open-air concerts at Russell Park. The Village Board appropriates $1,000 annually for this project, and it's a popular one.

"We average about 400 in the audience at every park performance," Sam said. The program is a bit of everything. . . . Sousa marches, overtures, old fashioned music, and a dash of modern.

He and his wife have three sons and a daughter. Although Sam mostly uses the baton these days, he still likes to indulge in an occasional duet at a concert with his son, Samuel Jr., also an accomplished trumpet player.

A short time ago the Firemen's Band received new modern uniforms, just in time for the heavy spring and summer schedule. Joked Sam, "We hope we don't wear them out to soon, they're not all paid for yet."