Hit with cancer, community teacher spends his remaining time doing what he loves most

Ever since Jon ten Broek's arms have been long enough to reach around a guitar, he has been playing music. Ten Broek's father was a professional musician who traveled around the world, playing on cruise ships, as well as performing in local gigs in San Diego.

Throughout his childhood, ten Broek's home was filled with musicians, and his father hired a professional music teacher for ten Broek when he was young.

But ten Broek said the first time it occurred to him that he could make money as a professional musician was when his great-grandfather began giving him a quarter every time he played "Ghost Riders in the Sky" on his ukulele.

"There seemed to be a never-ending supply of quarters," ten Broek said with a laugh.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, the thought planted itself. People pay to hear good music.

Ten Broek is now 64, and last March was diagnosed with lung cancer and given only six months to live. He's already surpassed that deadline, and is taking chemotherapy and pain medication to prolong his life. But it's music that has kept him going, and has supported him his whole life.

Ten Broek first began to play professionally with his father. They loved to ski, so they would travel to ski lodges, play at night and ski all day. When he graduated from high school in 1961, he planned on going into the ministry, but said he became disillusioned and turned to music as a means to support himself.

"I never looked back," he said.

A combination of performing, teaching music and composing has kept ten Broek a part of the music community for decades. When the smog and traffic of southern California became too much, he decided to explore Oregon, where he and his father had often fly-fished.

He traveled all over Oregon for 15 years, from Salem to Portland to Bend, and finally settled in Corvallis, where he lived in a house full of musicians.

"It was like living in a music conservatory," he said. He'd sometimes find, wandering downstairs for breakfast, that a string quartet was practicing in the living room.

Ten Broek quickly established himself in the musical community, teaching for 20 years at Linn-Benton Community College as well as taking on private students, performing and producing multiple CDs and writing guitar performance books.

He volunteered for a variety of programs and organizations, from ArtCentric to the Corvallis Folklore Society, and gave numerous benefit concerts for various causes.

Because of his illness, ten Broek has had to cut back on his activities, and has tried to focus on putting together a final CD of autoharp music, which will include performances by some of his friends and fellow musicians.

"I want to do as much music as I can," he said. Music is what keeps him going, he said.

Friends have already held a tribute to ten Broek at the Old World Deli. The event was packed with people and filled with musical tributes, but ten Broek's friend, Emily Hegstad, said the highlight of the event was when ten Broek got up and performed, only two days after surgery to reattach one of his lungs.

"I could barely breathe," he said. "But you get a special energy."

Having his friends arrange such a special concert was an important and touching event for ten Broek.

"I didn't know it was so much fun to die," he joked.

Ten Broek has received numerous honors over the years, and most recently has been nominated for a Celebrate Corvallis Patron of the Arts Award. The winner will be announced in mid-January.

Hegstad said in the two years she's known ten Broek, she's learned that he has a special spirit and extraordinary talent.

"I've been observing his talent with working with people," she said. "I've witnessed what he has contributed to their lives."

Gary Rowles can attest to that talent. A fellow guitarist, he has known ten Broek for 20 years, and owns Wake Robin Recording, where ten Broek has recorded three albums.

"We are a mutual admiration society," Rowles said.

A year and a half ago, Rowles' wife, Mimi, passed away from cancer, an experience that he said has allowed him to "mentor" ten Broek as he tries to navigate the health-care system and keep his quality of life as high as possible.

"You really have to learn that stuff firsthand," Rowles said.

Rowles has been helping ten Broek on his final recording project, a CD of autoharp music, and while it's been rewarding to work with ten Broek, it's also emotional.

"It's hard to go down this road with a friend," he said. "I just went down this road with the best friend of my life."

Not only is ten Broek a world-class musician and teacher, Rowles said, but he has a deeply calm and sweet inner spirit. One of the proofs of that, he said, is ten Broek's ability to tame wild birds into eating out of his hand.

"He's incredibly gentle and incredibly patient," he said. "It says a lot about his core being."

Jan Burgett met ten Broek five years ago at a jam session. He sat down next to her and began teaching her some guitar chords she didn't know. Then he suggested she might want to take a class from him.

That was the beginning of a strong musical bond and friendship. She said ten Broek took her under his wing and helped her music in many ways. Not only did Burgett's playing improve, but ten Broek encouraged her to perform in public, even sharing gigs with her.

"He's probably one of the kindest, most patient people I know," she said.

Burgett now takes ten Broek on various errands, from going to the gym to picking up food for his beloved backyard squirrels, to shuttling him to the studio when he feels up to it. Burgett is pleased that ten Broek is working on an autoharp recording.

"He is absolutely the best autoharp player in the Northwest, but he hasn't been given the recognition he deserves for that," she said.

The life of a full-time musician is never an easy or a lucrative one, Burgett noted. Once, she asked ten Broek if he regretted his choice. He told her, "Every day and never." But she believes ten Broek made the right choice.

"He's been very fortunate to spend his life doing what he loves doing," she said.