Minerd.com Photo of the Month: Like Daughter, Like Father - WV Country Music Hall of Famer Jack Hawker

LIKE DAUGHTER, LIKE FATHER - Minerd.com's "Photo of the Month" in June 2018 featured electric bassist Lisa Lynn Lizzie-Ann (Hawker) Janoske, newly inducted into the West Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame, having performed with such Nashville legends as the Hager Twins from Hee Haw, Doyle Holly, the Statler Brothers, Ronnie Milsap, Tanya Tucker, Herb Humphrey and Lynn Anderson.

Then in 2019, Lisa's father, the late Jack Hawker, posthumously joined his daughter in the Hall of Fame. Early in life, Jack possessed a natural talent for music. It's said that he could pick up a few spoons and "get a tune from them." He never took lessons of any kind and could not read music but played everything by ear, including the harmonica, drums, bass, mandolin and lap dulcimer but especially the guitar. At the age of 35, in 1966, he and some friends formed "Bob White and the Country Boys," with Jack on the rhythm guitar, which entertained at community functions and fairs and still performs today with newer members. Then in 1972, he joined "Frank DeWitt and the Drifters" which later regrouped as "The Royal Tones." He enjoyed mentoring his young daughter Lisa in singing and performing and incorporated her into some of their shows. When a new venue was built in 1974 at Appalachia Lake near Brandonville, The Royal Tones were the opening act for a variety of well-known Nashville stars. Sadly, Jack passed away on Aug. 8, 2005 at the age of 74.

Jack's wife and Lisa's mother, Doris (Sands) Hawker, has served as treasurer of our national reunion from 2001 to 2019. The daughter of Robert "Cricket" and Alma (Ream) Sands, she has been a valuable advisor and worker on our reunion committee and very knowledgeable about the Ream-Harbaugh branch of our clan. At our June 2019 reunion, after 18 years of service, Doris handed over the reins of the treasurer position to Joseph McKnight of the family of William Stewart McKnight. We are deeply grateful for everything Doris has meant to the reunion, research and website.

VisitPITTSBURGH is the promotional sponsor of this page. Be sure to get a copy of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau's Official Visitor's Guide, a 25-page workbook to help event organizers stay on track, no matter what type of reunion or meeting they are planning to hold. The booklet features a page of ideas by the founder of this website, headlined "Take It from a Professional."
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