His last note — Former teacher ends his decades of playing bugle with the honor guard

POWELL — With the flags lowered to half staff and the audience silenced by the honor guard’s three-volley salute with M1 Garands to commemorate Veterans Day, Tom Bibbey broke the silence with the first crisp notes of taps: G, G and C. 

Once you hear those three notes, your mind instantly recalls the rest of the song — as well as poignant moments from the past. 

Before taps became a bugle call traditionally played at military funerals and patriotic memorial ceremonies – meaning “lights out” for those being honored – it signaled merely “lights out” (time for bed) for military personnel.  

It may be one of the most recognizable melodies of this country’s nearly 250 years of history. 

Yet Bibbey, who has played the song thousands of times in the Big Horn Basin, likes the call to be the star, not himself. 

On Veterans Day, Bibbey played taps for the last time with the American Legion Hughes-Pittinger Post 26 Veterans Honor Guard. The honor guard is made up of volunteers from all branches of the military service, as well as the Sons of the American Legion. 

They are on call to travel to all veteran’s funerals in the basin and special occasions such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day, said Powell Honor Guard Commander Steve Burtoft. 

“The funerals are usually on a weekday in the afternoon, so it takes a special person to be able to travel that much,” he said, adding that it’s a perfect volunteer opportunity for retired veterans. 

However, there is constant turnover in the organization, as the volunteers eventually need to retire from the special service. 

Bibbey will be tough to replace, Burtoft said. 

“It’s gonna be hard to fill his position, because, you know, none of us here are too musical,” he said. “We could depend on Tom, and if you heard him play, he plays very well, and we really appreciated it. He’s been here a lot longer than most of us.” 

Bibbey gave 27 years to the organization and rarely missed a beat. 

He began playing the bugle well before he served in the Air Force from 1959 to 1965 as an intelligence officer, serving overseas during much of his years of active duty. He said he was forced to take a break while in the military due to his duties in a highly secretive linguistics unit. His service is still classified. 

“We couldn’t talk about the job we were doing,” Bibbey said while waiting for a Memorial Day service to begin. “We couldn’t even tell our parents where we were.” 

During his military training, he was taught to be able to separate himself from his service. It was important then, and those lessons have helped him through the years. 

Taps is one of those melodies that can pull a tear from the most-hardened warrior — often on those first three notes. For Bibbey, he has had to disassociate his memories of lost family and friends to be able to give each note the respect it deserves, he said after a 2024 performance. 

His post-military career was spent performing and teaching music, including to high school students in Alliance, Nebraska and Newcastle before ascending to Northwest College as an administrator. 

When Bibbey retired from NWC, he immediately joined the honor guard. 

At the end of Tuesday’s Veterans Day ceremony at Powell High School, Principal Tim Wormald mentioned Bibbey’s retirement to the crowd. 

“I just want to say thank you Mr. Bibbey for playing taps for [the school] for many years and for providing that in our community for many, many years,” Wormald said. 

Bibbey was touched by the sentiment. Unfortunately Bibbey and the rest of the volunteers had already left the auditorium to prepare for their duties, but Bibbey heard Wormald say his name just before exiting the building and stopped to hear him speak. 

There was little time to gloat as the honor guard needed to be standing at attention as the large crowd gathered near the flags, lowered to half staff to honor former Vice President Dick Cheney, who died last week. 

Bibbey seemed to be comfortable in his role, but looks can be deceiving. He was forced to switch his weight from one leg to the other during the ceremony due to severe back pain, he said afterwards. As he looked for a place to sit down for a moment, several people came to him to express their thanks. He was gracious, as always, but in terrible pain. As the crowd thinned, his wife Marianne grabbed his arm and helped him to a seat. 

Bibbey’s flawless performance was his way of saying goodbye to 27 years with the honor guard, he said.

This story was published on Nov. 13, 2025.