Carson City resident Fred Wiersma says a group of Carson High School Blue Thunder Marching Band students made his birthday memorable by singing to him and signing a personal birthday card on a Betsy’s Big Kitchen kids’ menu during his dinner.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
On Oct. 1, Carson City resident Fred Wiersma saw the large table of 12 high school students seated nearby during his free birthday dinner courtesy of Betsy’s Big Kitchen in Slot World Casino and had one thought.
“I was thinking, ‘So much for a quiet dinner,’ ” he said.
But the teens “were in harmony and weren’t being raucous.”
Wiersma ordered his usual chicken fried steak. When he asked for cake for his birthday dessert, the staff placed a candle on it in honor of his birthday and greeted him. The high school students, part of the Carson High School Blue Thunder Marching Band that took first place in the AA Band Division at the Galena Performance of Champions in Reno that day, quickly joined in and sang “Happy Birthday” and made his day.
Wiersma said he was celebrating his 81st birthday on Oct. 4 a few days early but said the students’ gesture “made his year.”
“This old man’s eyes just teared up something fierce,” he said, still emotional. “I had to compliment them and say thank you.”
They slipped a kids’ menu, signed by all the band members who had gathered for the meal and used as a makeshift birthday card, on the table for Wiersma. The following Monday, he called Carson High and left a message for Principal Bob Chambers to compliment director Nick Jacques’ students.
“On Wednesday, I drove past the school, saw them practice and talked to the band director,” he said. “He called all these kids over, he took one look at the card and told them … ‘I’ve never been prouder.’ He didn’t know anything about this.”