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Over my 13 years teaching middle school band, I worked alongside four, amazing men. The skills and lessons I learned from each of them helped me as I embarked on a second and now third career. My last person I worked with was Jim.

Jim could talk to anyone. With a razor-sharp sense of humor, he could make you feel comfortable no matter the situation…and his students loved him. Teaching with him during the holiday season was especially fun. He loved Christmas. When we began to teach Christmas music the band hall would be energized with the excitement of the season. On the last day of school before the holiday after the kids went home, he would crank up a CD of Christmas music on the stereo as we prepared to take our vacation. One year Jim made me a CD of his favorite Christmas songs and every year as my family opens presents, the tradition of playing “Jim’s CD” is part of our Christmas morning. Dogs barking Jingle Bells is a favorite as well as “hippopotamuseses.”

We moved hundreds of music stands, chairs and risers. Sold reeds and valve oil and shared stories about our families. Those were the best moments. I learned so much working with Jim, but perhaps the most significant lesson I learned was that having fun while doing good work was of the utmost importance. It was never about recording for Honor Band or increasing numbers of kids who made All-Region, it was about teaching, putting on a great performance and enjoying music.

I vividly remember my last day teaching. It was almost noon and teachers were able to leave when their paperwork was completed. I stood at his office door, looked at him, and he did not let me say anything. He said, “Okay, Cazandra, I’ll see you later, I figure you’ll be gone before I get back,” and he walked to the front office. He could not bear to say good-bye and I hadn’t realized how hard it was for me to do the same.

Whenever I use a yellow legal pad, with a sharp, Ticonderoga pencil, I think of my days at Arnold MS. A Diet Coke next to the metronome, and Jim, in jeans and his maroon, Arnold sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows with a big grin under that mustache is an image that warms my heart. I wish I could have one more beer with him at Willie’s after a concert. Those were some of my favorite times.

The heavens are a little brighter with this amazing man now in residence. I bet he wrangled George, John and Ringo into singing a few songs with him, and hopefully he is hitting under par on the golf course.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

You will be missed, my dear friend.