The "A Friend Gains A Lifetime Achievement Award" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Flipping through the morning newspaper when I noticed the name Clair Global on the top left of page A4.  Brought back memories from the mid-1960s when I was going to college at Millersville State Teacher's College in Millersville, Pennsylvania and took a class with a fellow by the name of Roy Clair.    The class was titled Woodworking II and was part of the classwork needed to become an Industrial Arts teacher in the state of Pennsylvania.  Roy and I were taking the second level woodworking class with longtime teacher Mr. Eshleman.  I had never met Roy before the class, but it didn't take long to get to know him.  We were asked to decide upon a project to be made in wood that would challenge our skills in woodworking.  Roy asked me what I had plans to make and in return I asked him the same question.  He had decided to make a cherry wood stereo unit as his project.  I thought that would be a good idea also, so before long we were both working on our new solid wood stereo units.  After a few weeks the stereo units were taking shape and he questioned me as to where I was going to buy the turntable, speakers and other necessary parts for the new unit.  I had no idea so I asked him the same question.  Just so happened he and his brother Gene had just opened a new sound reinforcement and touring business which could supply audio systems for local bands and musicians.  He told me he could get me the same unit that he was putting in his stereo if I wanted one.  You bet!  The stereo units were beautiful and before long mine sat in the dining room of my new house in Grandview Heights which happened to be the new home for my wife and myself.  The turntable, speakers and amplifier that Roy had gotten for me were fantastic and had some of the best sound I ever heard.  

An old photo of Roy on left and Gene.

Wasn't long before Roy and his brother Gene opened Clair Global and began providing audio systems for touring bands.  Then in 1966, the Clair brothers were hired to provide the audio system for a Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons' show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It made them famous!  Four years later the brothers founded one of the first sound reinforcement and touring companies in the world by the name of Clair Global.  Perhaps you have heard of them!  

Over the next 50 years, the Lititz brothers' success grew, with their company expanding into five continents, 10 countries and 16 locations worldwide as well as diversifying its services, including large-scale broadcast events like the Super Bowl and the Grammys.  Later this month The Clair Brothers, now known as Clair Global, are set to be bestowed lifetime achievment awards.  On March 30th the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame will honor Gene and Roy Clair with the award also known as the Whitney Noll Award.  Every time I read the name "Clair" in the newspaper, I remember back to those days in the early 1960s when Roy and I spent a semester making our stereo units in the woodshop at Millersville State Teachers College.  I haven't seen Roy in quite some time.  His brother Gene died in 2013,  but my memories of Roy and the stereos that we built together that semester at Millersville will live on forever.  My stereo unit was given to a friend years and years ago, but the memory of it and the friend I made while working on it will never be forgotten.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.