Man Shares Sweet Harmonica Music Over the Years

Web Posted: 09/14/2005 12:00 AM CDT

Nicole Lessin
Express-News Staff Writer

It's been eight decades since Milton Washer's mother bought him a harmonica at the neighborhood grocery store. Now 90 and living at Golden Manor Jewish Home for the Aged, the soft-spoken veteran still is delighting people - young and old - with his shiny instrument.

"I carry my weapon with me," Washer said with a smile as he removed a rubber band from around the box carrying his harmonica. "I've been playing since I was a kid."

Washer plays all types of tunes - from the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to "How Great Thou Art."

Three times a year, Washer gives harmonica lessons to students at the Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children. He even writes letters to raise money, through Rabbi Barry H. Block of Temple Beth-El, to buy all of the Sunshine Cottage students harmonicas of their own.

The hearing-impaired students are able to hear Washer's music through cochlear implants, which electronically stimulate nerves inside the inner ear.

But Washer has fans of all ages - including terminal patients receiving hospice care at Golden Manor, where Washer has lived for three years.

One such person is Kelly Mitchell, 42, who said her favorite song is "You are My Sunshine."

"He keeps my pilot light lit - my spirit," she said. "He'll start playing and a crowd forms."

Playing the harmonica is not the only thing Washer has been doing over the years to help other people. Since 1945, this World War II veteran has been volunteering for different children's causes, from serving on the original board of Santa Rosa Children's Hospital (now Christus Santa Rosa Children's Hospital) to distributing wind-up toys at a children's shelter.

"I've never had any, but I just love kids," said Washer, a former state employee.

Right after the war, Washer began showing movies to children who had tuberculosis of the spine. In addition to showing them westerns and comedies, Washer convinced the 1950s singing cowboy star Rex Allen to pay them a visit with his horse, Koko.

On the walls of Washer's room are letters and plaques from the North East School District, Sunshine Cottage and former President George H.W. Bush, all commending him for his decades of service.

"He's just a great man," said Eileen Krandel, Golden Manor's development director. "And he's done so much for the community over many, many years."