Tag Archives: Teacher Musicians

Business Ed teacher, veteran, and musician Jim Flynn of Maine

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Business Education teacher, veteran, and award-winning country music songwriter Jim Flynn of Lewistown, Maine. Photo credit: Creative Commons.

There are many examples of dedicated educators who have earned fame in arenas outside of the classroom. One of these was Jim Flynn, a business education teacher from Maine who was also well-known as a country music songwriter.

Jim was born on March 24, 1938, in Lewistown, Maine. He was raised is Monmouth, Maine. As a young man, he served his country in the US Army as a radio operator. He was deployed to Germany as part of the Cold War effort known as Operation Gyroscope. In 1957, he joined a musical group named the Tune Toppers which was featured in the 10th Infantry Division Band and Chorus that performed in Wurzburg.

After Jim earned his Honorable discharge in 1959, he enrolled in business courses at first the Auburn Maine School of Commerce and then the Husson College in Bangor, Maine. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Education in 1964. Ten years later he earned his Master’s degree in Secondary School Administration from the University of Southern Maine at Portland-Gorham.

Jim inaugurated his career as an educator in 1964. He taught Business Education and also coached sports. Once he retired from the classroom, he sold educational textbooks to public schools located in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

After he left the classroom, Jim became a local celebrity among country music aficionados in New England. The former educator earned several awards for the songs he wrote. In 2005, he garnered first place in the Best Folk Songwriter category for the song “The Ballad of L.L. Bean” at the Down East Country Music Awards (DECMA). That same year, he earned second and third place in the Traditional Country Songwriter category for his compositions entitled “As Calm as a Blue Lagoon” and “The Day they Paved the Road.” In addition, DECMA honored Jim with a Founders Award for his contributions to the Maine country music community.

Jim Flynn passed away on May 8, 2019, in his home town of Lewistown. He was 81 years old. To read more about this talented teacher, see his entry at Moviefit.

Texas Band Director Mike Westbrook succumbs to coronavirus

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Beloved Texas Band Director Mike Westbrook succumbed to the coronavirus on March 26, 2020.

Sadly, the coronavirus has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Mike Westbrook, a teacher, administrator, and Director of Bands at Hardin Jefferson High School in Sour Lake, Texas. At the time of his passing on March 26, he was 54 years old.

Mike was born on February 6, 1966, in Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, in 1990. While there, the respected musician participated in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Kappa Kappa Psi. In 2005, Mike completed the requirements for his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership, also from Lamar University.

After his college graduation, Mike inaugurated his career as a music educator at Lumberton Independent School District (ISD), where he worked from 1994 to 2002. He also served as the Assistant Principal there. After eight years, Mike accepted a position at Port Neches Groves, where he worked for three years as the school’s Band Director. Since 2007, Mike served as the Director of Bands at Hardin-Jefferson High School in Hardin County, Texas. In total, Mike’s career in educator has spanned 30 years.

“I worked with him when I was the Assistant Principal at Hardin-Jefferson for eight years,” expressed Gretchen Scoggins, Communications Director at Lumberton ISD. “Every day with Mike – he is a hilarious bubbly personality, who absolutely adores kids,” she recalled.

In addition to his work as a music educator, Mike also logged in 30 years as a trumpet player in the Symphony of Southeast Texas. He also played with the horn band Eazy and the Spindletop Brass Quintet. In addition to the trumpet, Mike could play all woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. He volunteered regularly at activities sponsored by the Texas Music Education Association (TMEA) at the local, area, and state levels.

To read Mike’s obituary, click on this link at Broussard’s Mortuary.

Educator, jazz musician, and Tuskegee Airman LeRoy Battle

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Educator, jazz musican, and Tuskegee Airman LeRoy Battle with his 1995 autobiography, Easier Said.

I always enjoy sharing stories about superb educators who have also distinguished themselves in areas outside the sphere of education. One of these is LeRoy Battle, a high school music teacher who was also a fine jazz musician and a heroic Tuskegee Airman.

LeRoy was born Dec. 31, 1921, in the Harlem section of New York City, New York. His father owned a candy store, and his mother worked as a beautician and cook. While a youngster, LeRoy expressed an interest in music. He was able to take music lessons through both the Boy Scouts and the YMCA, where it was obvious he was a natural. By the time he was in the seventh grade, young LeRoy owned his own drum set. After years of learning and practice, the youthful musician was proficient enough to give music lessons as a private tutor.

As a teenager, LeRoy attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. There he played drums in the marching band and the school orchestra. He also performed in New York’s All-City Orchestra, the Harold Cabbell Orchestra, and the Al Bounds Orchestra. By the time LeRoy was a senior, he played with legendary singer Billie Holiday at the Three Deuces Jazz Club. He also worked with Pearl Bailey. After his graduation, the youthful musician joined a traveling band and went on the road.

Educator LeRoy Battle shown during World War II, when he served in the prestigious Tuskegee Airman group.

During WWII, Leroy was drafted. He served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1945 to 1947. Once he earned his silver wings and bars, LeRoy volunteered to join the Tuskegee Airmen. “I can’t say that I ever had any previous aspirations to be a pilot,” he once confessed. “But it sounded like a much better opportunity than anything else that was likely to come along.”  After completing the Tuskegee program at Tuskegee University, gunnery training at Tyndall Field, and bombardier training at Midland Air Force Base, LeRoy joined the 616th Squadron of the 477th Bombardment Group stationed at Freeman Army Air Force Base. For his heroism during WWII, LeRoy garnered the Congressional Gold Medal.

When the war ended, the former pilot continued his studies in music. He returned to New York City and enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music.Then Morgan State University, a historically Black college located in Baltimore, Maryland. There he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Musical Education. He also earned a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Maryland, College Park.

In 1950, LeRoy accepted a position as a music teacher at Douglass High School in Washington, DC. That year he established a stage band for his students. Over the next eight years, The Douglass High School Band placed garnered first place in 14 competitions. In 1958, the students became the first African American band featured in the prestigious yearbook First Chair of America. Jet Magazine  also printed a spread on the outstanding young musicians. Before LeRoy retired in 1978, he also served as a guidance counselor and assistant principal. For 17 of those years, he also served as a drummer in the Washington Redskins Marching Band.

Post-retirement, LeRoy continued to make music. From 1992 to 1996 he did session work with jazz musicians Eva Cassidy and Chuck Brown.In addition, he worked as a motivational speaker for the Tuskegee Airmen’s Speaker’s Bureau. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, he authored an autobiography entitled Easier Said, published in 1995.

Sadly, LeRoy passed away on March 28, 2015, in Harwood, Maryland. He was 93 years old. To read more about this remarkable Chalkboard Champion, see his obituary published in the Capital Gazette.

Nellie Ramsey Leslie: The former slave who taught emancipated citizens

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Nellie Ramsesy Leslie: The former slave who taught elementary school and music to emancipated citizens.

I love to share stories of exceptional African American educators, especially during Black History Month. One of the most interesting of these educators is Nellie Ramsey Leslie, a teacher, composer, and musician from the American South.

Nellie was born into slavery in Virginia in circa 1840. The exact date of her birth is not known. When the Civil War ended in 1865 and left her emancipated, the 25-year-old ventured north to Ohio to attend school. Once she completed her education, she relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana. There she founded a musical conservatory for girls under the auspices of the Freedmen’s Bureau. In New Orleans, Nellie educated newly freed slaves and their children.

Between 1870 and 1872, Nellie decided to refine her teaching practices by completing courses at Straight University Normal School. Straight is now known as Dillard University. Once Nellie completed those courses, she accepted a teaching position in Straight. Two years later she relocated to Amite City in Tangipahoah Parish. She taught there for two years.

In 1874, Nellie married the Reverend R. A. Leslie, a Native American of the Creek tribe. The couple moved to Osyka, Mississippi. Six years later, Nellie and R. A. moved to the Indian Territory located in the state now known as Oklahoma.There the couple established schools for emancipated Creeks. The next year Nellie and R. A. founded a boarding house in Muskogee, Oklahoma. 

Following her husband’s death in 1884, Nellie traveled to the Boston Conservatory of Music where she took courses in music. Then she traveled to Corpus Christi, Texas, where she established a music school. Later, she returned to Indian Territory, where she taught in a private academy for African American girls. The veteran educator also taught at the Tallahassee Mission School for three years.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away in Muskogee, Oklahoma, sometime in the 1920’s. Again, the exact date of her death in unknown. To read more about her, check out the Google book version of Notable Negro Women: Their  Triumphs and Activities by Monroe A. Majors, which you can access at this link: Notable Negro Women.

 

Brian May of the rock band Queen: He was once a teacher

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Brian May, the lead guitarist and songwriter with the superstar rock band Queen. was once a teacher?

You may have heard of Brian May, the lead guitarist and songwriter with the superstar rock band Queen. But did you know that he was once a teacher?

As a youngster, Brian received his education at the Hampton Grammar School, now known as the Hampton School. By all accounts, he was an exceptional student. After graduating from high school, Brian enrolled at Imperial College London, where he studied mathematics and physics. He earned his Bachelor’s degree, with honors, in 1968. In 2007, he completed the requirements for his Ph.D. in Astrophysics which he had begun in 1971. His doctorate is also from Imperial College.

In 1971, before he struck it rich with Queen, Brian worked as a math and science teacher at South London’s Stockwell Manor. The school served economically disadvantaged students at the time. “It was very challenging,” Brian confesses. “You couldn’t get the children to attend unless they were incredibly interested in what you were saying,” he continues. “I had an advantage because I was young and could speak to them in their own language,” he said.

Brian says he enjoyed his experience as a teacher, although one class gave him exceptional trouble. “One of my most disastrous experiences was the time I tried to teach the second form rectangles, pentagons and hexangles,” Brian remembers. “I had this idea of letting them cut up colored paper with scissors. The staff said, ‘You are seriously going to take scissors into the second form?’ Half an hour into the lesson, they were all attacking each other with scissors — ears, feet and hands were getting cut and there was blood and paper everywhere,” he admitted. “I remember thinking, ‘I will never try this again!'”

To read more about Brian May, click on this biography.