Commenting on our history of Northern Ireland’s Robert Armstrong Memorial band, reader and retired P/M Allan Tutt writes: I have read that John (aka Jack) Geddis (1905-1976) was an honorary member of the Robert Armstrong for many years.
I have a watermarked photograph of Jack (courtesy of Kitimat Museum) standing in full uniform playing his beloved pipes upon a seaside pier in front of a passenger ship in Kitimat, British Columbia, after moving to Canada in 1959. [See picture above.]
By P/M Allan Tutt
I am guessing this photograph was taken circa 1963/64. I also understand he founded the Sandy Row Pipe Band in 1947, was a member of the Shaftsbury Pipe Band, taught members of the Belfast Ladies Pipe Band 1948-1950, and was a member of the Northern Ireland Pipe Band Association.
Attached is a brief biography of Jack and his family’s contribution(s) to our pipe banding communities over a span of decades within both Northern Ireland and Canada.
I had the pleasure of first meeting P/M Geddis in Kitimat, B.C. in 1965. I would have been 13 years old at the time and had started learning pipes four years earlier.
My teacher was P/S Neil Stubberfield, a founding member of the Chilliwack Legion (Branch #4) Pipe Band, a member of the Lower Mainland Shriner’s Pipe Band, and highly respected judge of piobaireachd throughout British Columbia, Canada.
Jack issued me his band’s uniform that same day along with a set list I had to learn within the week before accompanying him to Ketchikan, Alaska, U.S.A.
Our trip was courtesy the US Coast Guard and Alaska’s Governor William Egan. Also on the trip were members of the Kitimat, Terrace, Prince Rupert and Yukon Territory’s White Horse Pipe Band.
Although I was very familiar with those tunes often played during a mass band performance, to no surprise Jack added a number of his wee ‘favourite’ Irish tunes to the list. Awesome!
To this day, I remember Jack whenever I play his rendition of ‘Caubeen Trimmed With Blue’. It was a pleasure meeting Jack – and playing alongside him, throughout this fun adventure.
I have obtained permission to include this information about him from the book ‘Pioneering Pipers of British Columbia’ (1987) by the late Carl Ian Walker.
‘A true pioneer, John Geddis and his family in just a few years established piping in the fledgling community of Kitimat. John, better known as Jack, was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and learned the pipes as a young boy.
‘He had considerable experience with various Belfast bands, including the Sandy Row Pipe Band, which he founded and led from 1947 until 1952. He was an Honorary member of the Robert Armstrong Memorial Pipe Band for many years, was a member of the Shaftsbury 67 Pipe Band, and also taught and led the City of Belfast Ladies Pipe Band from 1948 to 1950.
‘In addition to all of these activities, he was a member of the Northern Ireland Pipe Band Association. Jack came out to B.C. in 1959, and settled in Kitimat, where he worked as a painter and decorator.
‘He then founded the Kitimat RCL Pipe Band, teaching some of the pipers. This band had many engagements, performing in the Kelowna Regatta, Penticton Peach Festival, Smithers Fall Fair, Vancouver PNE parade, and visiting Ketchikan Alaska, much to the delight of the spectators.
‘He retired in 1961, and prior to his retirement to Scotland, was made an Honorary member of the RCL, Branch 250, in Kitimat, in honour of his service to that Branch.
‘Jack Geddis died while on vacation with his family in Penticton in 1976, at the age of 71. Just a few hours before his death, he had been listening to a band of young pipers whom he had met while on vacation. They had been playing a medley of his favourite tunes.
‘His skill as a piping teacher is attested to by the fact that four of his five children became pipers. Hazel (Geddis) Tinsley, now in Osoyoos, Jack Geddis, Jr., deceased, Thomas Geddis, a professional Pipe Major, who led the Robert Armstrong Memorial Pipe Band in Belfast for many years, and Margaret Moreen (Geddis) Graham, of Kitimat, and formerly of the Kitimat Pipe Band.
‘Thomas was also an adjudicator and instructor of music until he died in Northern Ireland in 1983. Moreen Geddis began learning the pipes from her father, John, in 1948, in her native Belfast.
‘She joined the City of Belfast Ladies Pipe Band, which was led by her father, in 1948, and played with it until 1950. Coming to Kitimat with her family in 1959, she played in the Kitimat band from 1961 to 1965, and served as Secretary-Treasurer of the band. Her husband, George Ronald Graham, also from Northern Ireland, was Drum Sgt. of the band.’
- Pipe Major Allan Tutt (retired) was the founding P/M of Terrace ‘Highland’ Pipes and Drums Society, Terrace, BC, Canada.
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