The family that plays together stays together. Members of Allentown’s Owens family are closer than ever since they started sharing their passions for music.
Their collective talents and dedication over the years have most recently culminated in Dale Owens and his daughter, Taylor, 13, playing the bagpipes in the Trenton Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) Pipe Band, while Maggie, 16, helps keep beat in the drum section and Pam keeps time as drum major.
Dale, a South Brunswick police officer, first took interest in the bagpipes when he saw them played during Police Memorial Week in Washington, D.C., where officials from all over the country gather annually to honor fallen officers. Upon hearing the droning instrument and the emotion it evokes, Dale vowed to learn how to play the pipes by the age of 40.
Although he started taking lessons on a chanter under the direction of Frank Watson in 2000, Dale stopped pursuing his dream when his mother suddenly took ill and passed away. At that time, he wasn’t sure he would ever take up the bagpipes again. However, after a year passed, he realized that learning the pipes was something that his mom had always encouraged him to do. So, he picked up the chanter again and ultimately purchased his first set of bagpipes at the age of 43 in 2003.
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