Clem Rohde
Inducted 1998
Clem Rohde began his musical career at the age of 19 with a second-hand clarinet, eventually learning saxophone. He took lessons and began playing with his dad’s band for house parties, barn dances and dance halls. Clem’s sister sometimes played the pump organ and his brother Irving played trumpet. The family band was kept very busy and Clem was also very active in church choir and the Community Band in Morgan, Minnesota. In the early 1930s, Clem met his first wife, Geneva. They married in 1933 and she joined the family band. They competed in a contest and won a trip to perform over KSTP radio in St. Paul, and in the 1940s the band began to perform at Southern Minnesota radio stations KWLM (Willmar, Minnesota) and KNUJ (New Ulm, Minnesota) weekly. Over 40 years, The Clem Rohde Band traveled many miles to cover the Midwest. In one peak year, they logged over 50,000 miles and played 200 dates. Clem claimed the music kept him young and the joy it brought to happy dancers helped everyone forget hard times.
