George Gephart

CHARLESTON Pipe band

George Gephart joined our band in 2019. He found out about the band because his wife saw the Charleston Pipe Band on parade on St. Patrick’s Day 2016 and approached PM JD Ingraham and got the contact information for the band. George formerly played in the Washington Memorial Pipe Band in Wayne, Pennsylvania. George particularly enjoys playing in the holiday parades and the Chalmer’s Street Parade. He also enjoys being a part of an ensemble in the band circle for competitions. Winning the Grade IV competition in Jacksonville in 2023 was a highlight.

George has always had music as a central part of his life starting with the trumpet, then he played most of the stringed folk instruments. He eventually concentrated on a cappella singing. George started playing the pipes at 40 as his “mid-life healthy crisis.”

George retired to Charleston after a career in business, most notably as the Former President & CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. George is a busy retiree (golfing, hiking, birding, fly-fishing, bridge playing, concert going, and cooking) who takes his hobbies very seriously and has even completed the Master Naturalist Program.

George feels fortunate to have visited Scotland several times. Two great experiences stand out: attending the WPB championship in Dunoon, and watching their daughter Nolie win first place for dancing the Irish Jig at the Stirling Highland Games. As George says, “Who was that Yank?!”

George also feels fortunate to have married his wife Pooh and to have three wonderful daughters, a great son-in-law, and two grandsons. They live in Mt Pleasant, and George hopes they, too, will find their way to the Charleston Pipe Band in a few years.