"To savor the many unique aspects of my Celtic roots. Despite the mix of a few other nationalities in my ancestral tree, I enjoy a special affinity for all things Scottish and Irish — a nourishing fire stirred in 1982 and still burning bright."
In the Beginning
January 1982
A fellow Girl Scout leader invited the Walker family to the annual celebration of the poet Robert Burns sponsored by the Scottish Society of Nebraska. The bagpipes, individual Highland and group Country dancing enthralled the entire family. Lyle shared that his great-great grandfather, John Henry Walker, had immigrated from Edinburgh in the late 1800s.
Since hearing a recording of the pipes in childhood, Lyle had harbored a desire to play the instrument. Sally encouraged him — he contacted the local Omaha Pipes & Drums, bought a practice chanter, and began weekly lessons. That Christmas his mother gave him an expensive set of bagpipes. He qualified for band membership the following March and eventually taught piping to two grandsons. The eldest evolved into a piping savant competing with a Canadian Grade III pipe band.
The Lure of All Things Celtic
A Family Avocation
When Lyle discovered how time-consuming his avocation was, the family discussed how to make it a family affair. That summer of 1982, Sally enrolled two-year-old Deb and four-year-old Barb in pre-school Highland dance classes. Ten-year-old Dori had been taking regular dance lessons since age 3 and enthusiastically took to this form.
Renowned fiddler and multi-certified Highland Dance teacher Teri Crumbliss began giving the girls private lessons. Subsequently, all three won or placed in every single competition they entered. Sally herself advanced from Beginner to Novice in competition and performed until a devastating knee injury while dancing the Swords at a screenwriting party in 2004 ended her "dance career."
My Writing
Celtic Storytelling
The more the family was exposed to Scottish and Irish culture and history, the more Sally's imagination quivered to learn and depict both history and customs in her storytelling. She has become a serious critic of misused customs and history in Scottish romances written by others — believing it inherent to the integrity and dignity of a way of life that a writer research and portray these elements as authentically as possible. It is a matter of respect.
She has one screenplay, "Paying the Piper," dedicated to her husband because it is based on events at one of his piping gigs. Each of her Scottish children's stories is dedicated to an individual grandchild and all those bright eyes and enthralled expressions she has seen over the years of youngsters watching the spectacle of a highland games.
Clan MacKenzie Society of the Americas
The Clan Mackenzie Society in the United States was incorporated in February 1988, with the purpose "to foster a greater interest among MacKenzie descendants in the Clan MacKenzie and to educate and instill an awareness of Scottish traditions in minor children as well as adults."
Sally's Connection
When Sally left dance competition, she chose instead to participate by putting up a booth for Clan MacKenzie on the Clan Row of the various games where Lyle and the girls competed. She recruited members to the Society and encouraged them to contribute their family information to the MacKenzie Archives. Eventually she was appointed an official MacKenzie Commissioner for the states of Nebraska and Iowa, then was elected Heartland Regional Vice-President.
One of her most prized mementos is a 1997 photo entitled "The Tall and the Short of the MacKenzie Clan" — 4'11" Sally standing with 6'7" Ross MacKenzie, then curator on-site at the battlefield in Culloden.
Omaha Pipes & Drums
The Omaha Pipes and Drums has been thrilling audiences with their repertoire of Traditional Scottish and Irish music since 1970. The Band is a registered 501(c)(3) teaching organization providing bagpipe and drumming lessons and offering scholarships to encourage participation in local, regional, and national piping and drumming schools.
The 2017 trip to the World Pipeband Championships in Glasgow included not only Lyle, but also 18-year-old grandson Jacob Schildhauer piping beside his grandfather and eldest daughter Dori flourishing on the tenor drums. In Fall of 2018, fourteen-year-old grandson Ryan Schildhauer began piping lessons with his grandfather — learning even faster than his eldest brother.