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OPA'S ONE MAN GERMAN BAND
Manhattan, Ks. Larry Weigel, formerly of Hays, Ks. will present a program on Sunday August 28, 2011, at St. Fidelis Catholic Church in Victoria, Ks to celebrate the church’s 100th anniversary. The program will include selections from his Opa’s One Man German Band CD that was recorded in memory of his father, and noted Volga German historian, Lawrence A. Weigel.
Those in attendance will hear some of his original compositions including a song about his oldest ancestor Thomas Weigel, a wig maker who migrated from Passau Germany to Russia in 1776, and the kidnapping of his five times great grandfather, Hanjorg Linenberger by the nomadic Kirghiz tribes while living in Marienthal Russia along the Volga river.
Weigel graduated from St. Joseph’s Military Academy in 1962 (now Thomas More Prep), then played and coached basketball at Kansas State under “Tex Winter while completing a degree in Business Administration. Weigel was a member of Winter’s 1964 Final Four team, and later coached under K-State coaching legends Cotton Fitzsimmons and Jack Hartman.
He has entertained audiences throughout Kansas and the Midwest during the past 45 years and enjoys music as a hobby while singing, composing and playing multiple musical instruments including the guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, trombone and autoharp. Weigel was a member of the Palace Jazz Band of Manhattan for more than 23 years and played with jazz great Matt Betton.
After 22 years as a Certified Senior Advisor for Keating and Associates in Manhattan, Ks, Weigel recently trademarked “The Medicare Coach” program that is the first of its kind in the nation, and continues to provide fee based Medicare counseling services for seniors.He lives in Manhattan with his wife Kay.