By Jody Henson
I’ve been wanting to write something since Dec. 20, 2025, the day our good, fun-loving friend Frederick “Fred” Gauch III, 85, passed away. He had lived on Hilton Head Island for a good many years, and I had hoped David Lauderdale (of the Island Packet) might write something as he has the gift for doing so with love, grace and creative dignity.
It all started for me when my father and I drove up Hwy. 170 in July of 1962 on our way to our new home in Beaufort, having left McCain Field, Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., three days before as we camped out and fished during our travels. Only two lanes in those days, it carried us by a rectangular cinder block building on the right side of the road near what is now Okatie.
Clearly marked with a sign above the entrance that read in large letters, “Oak Grove,” with “Dance every Friday and Saturday Night” painted around the edges of what I think was a red circle. Alcohol served here?
When I read the sign to my father, I said “I can just picture square dancing on a sawdust floor going on in there.” … Man, was I wrong!
I have always called Beaufort my “Camelot,” as it was a magical place to grow up and only the second town in which I attended a school for two years during our family’s military moves involving nine states and at least 14 cities before I was 15. In fact, Camelot was the theme of our Senior Prom at Beaufort High School in 1965.
Wandering minstrels were quite common in that period, and Fred fell right into step when he arrived here. I first met Fred at a Beaufort High School dance in late 1963. He was with the band “The Melody Makers” and he told me he was an active Corpsman at the Beaufort Naval Hospital, his day job.
In the spring of 1964, I was encouraged by friend and BHS senior, Judy Smith, to venture out to the Oak Grove to hear the Melody Makers, along with several good friends of hers and her younger brother Smitty. She was driving. I believe her friends that night were Patsy Flowers and Missy Grindley (Patsy, forgive me if I am wrong.)
Many parents did not want their children to venture that far out of town to a place of such notoriety, both of ours included, but we went. And of all things, the club was raided while we were there and the only time I ever witnessed that.
Those were hot Lowcountry nights and lots of things went on in the parking lot. Coolers in trunks filled with ice and beer and bottles of VO and Jim Beam to be mixed with Coke or Sprite. Beer was available inside, as I recall, but I was just 16, and we were there to hear and dance to the Melody Makers with Fred the lead singer on his bass guitar, along with Ronnie Nobles, Larry Rogers, O’Neal Clamp and Gerald Polk playing drums, guitar and keyboard and with brass instruments that really carried them for my money. There were others I’m sure, but I had not lived in Beaufort long enough to know the history of the band. I just loved their rhythm and blues music. We all did.
Bailey’s, on nearby Old Bailey Road, had been a predecessor of the Oak Grove, having burned down before I arrived, but a place the Makers, aka the Melody Makers, played in their early days. Kids came from everywhere — Beaufort, Hilton Head, Bluffton, Hampton, Varnville and Ridgeland and other towns, including kids from Savannah, who called it Oak Gove, while the Beaufort kids still called it Bailey’s.
Being a Roadie for Fred and the band while on local and East coast tours had to be a story that Pat Conroy would have turned into a novel and big screen hit. Just think of “The Big Chill,” the music made that movie what it was, and here was the music of the times sung so well.
Three of my best friends, Tillman Erwin, Norman Jones and Jack Keener were “roadies” for the Makers. What a crew they were and the memories they must have shared.
At the Oak Grove singing along with the band was a must, even if you were not dancing, and it never drowned out Fred. Everyone knew practically every song by heart, and I believe all the girls just knew Fred was directing his version of “You’re So Fine” (The Falcons) directly at them with his handsome good looks and silky voice, ending with a well-directed wink and grin.
“Kidnapper” (Jewell & the Rubies) had a great beat to dance to and referred to most of the detective shows and some westerns on TV at the time. “Personality” (Lloyd Price) was a favorite and requested most nights along with the “Oreo Song,” a rather bawdy short tune, about midway through the night before the last break was signaled by playing “Green Onions” (Booker T & the MGs).
“I’ve Been Hurt” and “What Kind of Fool” (both by Bill Deal & Rhondels), “Hey Baby” (Bruce Channel), “May I” (Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs), “Everlasting Love” (Robert Knight) and “Walking Up a One Way Street” (Willie T) were real crowd pleasers.
My personal favorites were the slow songs, and they were Fred’s specialty. Do kids slow dance anymore? Isn’t that what love songs were written for?
Among those he sang were “What’s Your Name” (Don and Juan), big hit “I Who Have Nothing”(Ben E. King) and “Hurt So Bad”(Little Anthony and The Imperials), everyone called for them nightly as only a few were sung during the course of their show. “The End”(Earl Grant) and “For Your Love” (Ed Townsend) were often longed for to be chosen as the last dance of the night, which was always a slow song.
I swear every time I play “The End,” Fred sounded just like Earl Grant or Earl sounded like Fred, soulful, warm and romantic. My wife Anita and I visited Bailey’s, aka Oak Grove, many times in our early courtship and marriage years and that song can still bring tears to my eyes. It was with great adoration Fred attended our 50th Wedding Anniversary party in 2022. Many of the attendees knew him so well. I could not convince him to sing, but our DJ Ben Franklin, played many of the songs he had sung for us.
Fred was supposed to be honored while riding with his son Freddie in the Beaufort Veterans Day Parade last November, but he was not feeling well and the weather was bad, so he did not participate. He would have loved it had it been a nice day and he were feeling better as friend Connie Hipp had hand-held fans made with his photo and caption “Fred’s Fans” on them, giving them out to many of his good friends and adoring fans to wave along the parade route.
We called him afterward on his 85th to wish him a Happy Birthday and were so glad we did, letting him know how much we loved him. He will be missed by the many who shared nights with Fred and the Band, and if you look up on YouTube the songs and the artists I have noted throughout this story, memories of summer nights with special dates may come flooding back to you.
My oldest grandson Kent loved the song, “Don’t You Just Know It” (Huey “Piano” Smith and The Clowns), always asking me to play the “Tuba Tuba” song when we he and I were in the car together. He’s 21 now, and Fred is gone. But Fred lives on through his music and our grateful memories, here in Camelot.
Jody Henson lives in Beaufort.