FAMILY, REUNIONS AND "THROUGH THE YEARS"

So I’ve had a couple of requests to tell the story of how Dawn and I met. Since that’s “all about the music,” I guess I’ll include it on this website as well!

The summer of 1966 the InRhodes were playing weekly as the house band at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for Dave Kelsey’s “Summer at the Civic” venue. (I’ve written more about this on the “Summer at the Civic” page). Anyway, David DeFore had been playing drums with us for a few months and one evening his sister Dawn, who had been away at college in Northern California, came to “hear her brother’s band.” After the show I asked Dawn to go out for coffee. Four years later, we were married. So while our sons love to tease her about being a “groupie” that wasn’t really the case. There were lots of them, but only one of her.

Where the story gets interesting (at least to me) is that my family and the DeFore’s had been attending the same church for a number of years yet Dawn and I had never met. We belonged to very different social strata – my dad was a union printer and Don DeFore, well, was a movie and TV star; among a small group of celebrities attending that church. I was active in the church youth group, the DeFore kid’s weren’t. My sister Linda and I went to Santa Monica High School, the DeFore’s were at Palisades High School, site of the “Sport’s Nights” at the InRhodes played many times, but definitely "across the tracks" (in the good way). But, because of mom and dad’s status at church (see "The Early Years" page), we were brought into contact with the DeFore’s more than one might imagine.

For example, the DeFore’s lived on a gorgeous piece of property in Mandeville Canyon. They started offering the church use of the property to hold an annual church fundraiser fashion show. Mom, of course, coordinated the fashion show and hence Linda and I (and dad) were all in attendance. The DeFore’s also held a giant Fourth of July party to which my parents, Linda and I were invited. Years later going through Defore family photos, we found numerous photos of “Jimmy Burdine” at fashion shows and Fourth of July events. Even more strange is that Dawn and my sister Linda sang in a trio together at church which used to rehearse at our house in Santa Monica. Again, I’m sure I was around but somehow missed out on meeting Miss Dawn until the right moment!