Making music for a lifetime

By Joan Janzen

Anne Dietrich has spent much of her life making music. “I enjoy my life because I love music” she said. “My life is like that old song - I've Been Everywhere.” Anne's love of music has definitely taken her everywhere.

Anne Scherger was born on a farm eight miles south of Mendham. The three oldest children were born on the farm, and the three younger ones were born in the Leader Hospital.

Anne Dietrich played her accordion at the Octoberfest at Leader on October 5 where people were invited to learn how to polka. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN

Anne spent her early school years at a one-room country school three miles from their farm. There were no school buses, only horse-drawn buggies and sleighs.

"We had an old pump organ. That's how I learned how to play the organ," Anne explained. "But I always wanted an accordion."

The Scherger family moved to Mendham when Anne was ten years old, and she got her first accordion when she was fourteen. "Dad went to Regina for an appointment and brought back a white and blue accordion. I still have it to this day," she said. "I had to practice and practice. The right hand is always easy, but the button on the left-hand side takes a lot of practice. I gradually got better."

On August 2, 1955, Anne married Bill Dietrich at Mendham. They lived on a farm until moving to Leader. They had four children and now have two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Sadly, two of their children passed away, and Anne's husband, Bill, passed away in April 2024.

Anne said her first musical ventures began in a country church. "My grandparents did the music, then my parents, and then I took over. I was the third-generation organist," she said.

Outside of the church walls, she would play her accordion at parties. "I played for a lot of private parties for friends or private events. I wanted to play like Frankie Yankovic," she said, referring to America's Polka King.

At that time, she was asked to play with the Zubot band. "We practiced every Monday night. The band was really busy," she said. They played a lot of old-time dances in those early years and always started off with polka music to get the adrenaline pumping.

Anne recalls getting paid $10 a night and playing from 10:00 p.m. until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. "We played in Calgary, Regina and Medicine Hat quite a bit. We were a busy band," she said.

The Zubot band played at the Mendham homecoming in 1980, where 1400 people came back to their hometown for the event. "It was such a fun time!" she recalled.

The band also played for the Grand Ole Opry in Leader for several years. "It was fun while it lasted," she added. Anne's fun times playing in a band lasted for twenty-five years until 1993.

Other musical highlights for Anne included attending the Kimberley International Old Time Accordion Championships for seventeen consecutive years with a group of girlfriends. Each year, on the second weekend in July, Anne and her friends attended the week-long event.

"You should have seen all the accordions there! Eventually, I got brave enough to start competing there and won some really nice trophies!" Anne exclaimed. "But the highlight of Kimberley was in 2004 when we broke a record. It was called a North American Record - the most accordions playing for the longest time. Over 600 people playing accordions! It was unreal!"

Anne said 600 hundred musicians practiced together for a long time with one fellow conducting. They practiced playing the Snow Walz, Beer Barrel Polka, Wild Irish Rose, and Home on the Range, over and over.

During the competition they continued to repeat the songs, with all 600 accordions playing together continuously for twenty-five minutes. Anne remembered a little girl with a white and purple accordion was also part of the group. Anne has a CD of the event as a treasured souvenir.

"Every year there were less people attending, and less musicians. Eventually, it came to an end. I really missed that," she said. During that time, Anne made some cassettes and later made them into CDs.

She met a lot of great accordion players throughout her years, and also had the opportunity to play some songs with Canada's Polka King. "That was pretty exciting!" Anne noted.

Meanwhile, on the home front, she played her accordion at the Blumenfeld pilgrimage for many years. On more than one occasion, Anne's music helped lost children find their way back home.

She recalled two occasions when camping at Regina Beach and Cypress. Anne always took her accordion along wherever she went and played sing-songs around a campfire. On both occasions, Anne received a thank you from her parents the following morning. In both instances, a ten-year-old girl wandered away from camp and got lost; however, Anne's accordion music directed each girl safely back to their parents' campsite.

These days, you will occasionally hear Anne's accordion music at a local event, the Friendship Centre, and the seniors' home. "I am the organist at the Catholic Church in Leader every Sunday. That keeps me busy," she said.

During a recent power outage, Anne picked up her accordion and began to play. "It's hard to know when to quit," she said. The people from Leader and the surrounding area sincerely hope Anne never quits making music.