This is an inspiring tale, one that begins in a coffee shop and inspired by a little dog with the same name as our leading lady.
Prelude
It was in that coffee shop I heard a story—a love story—of a relationship between a keyboardist and a clarinetist.
It’s a good one, so bear with me.
And, actually this is a story within a story within a story.
A love story based in music and set against a backdrop of a festival. In New England, no less. And, like all good stories, it takes us from the heartland to the East Coast with roots and endings in Texas.
So let’s start. Maestro…
Movement One: The Heartland
Kansas isn’t necessarily a place you think of when you discuss music (unless, of course, we are talking about that country-rock band, Kansas, now that’s a whole ‘nother story…).
Except in this tale.
Our main protagonists met and performed together in Kansas. Sally, a Plainville, Kansas, native was a student of the organ and music education. Jim, born in Illinois, originally played first clarinet in the band at Dallas’ Woodrow Wilson High School. The arcs of their careers and lives intersected at Emporia State University in Kansas. In the Music Department. And, actually, Sally first saw Jim perform with the Mid-America Woodwind Quartet.
So, imagine those amber waves of grain being home to some of the most beautiful music in the world. And the heartland of our story.
Back to Sally and Jim in a moment, but first let’s make a stopover in beautiful New England.
Movement Two: The Festival
The third player in this story, the New Hampshire Music Festival, is an annual summer event in New England, running for the past 72 years. Classic and Chamber music played in a variety of venues over a period of weeks each summer.
Plymouth, New Hampshire, for these days, becomes home to some of the world’s most talented classically trained musicians in the world. This is an artist-driven event that attracts audiences during each run from around the world.
So it was with Jim. Each summer from 1972 through 1994, Jim performed clarinet at the festival. This teacher of clarinet and saxophone (in places ranging from the University of Notre Dame to Emporia State University) apparently viewed the festival as his annual; summer Olympic Games of music to help keep himself sharp. If there is a third member of a love triangle between Sally and Jim, it is the festival.
And, because of his deep ties to the festival, he made sure his love, Sally, was a part of the scene. It is a key point in those intersecting arcs.
Movement Three: The Romance
Peanut butter and jelly. Ham and eggs. Sunrise and sunset. Reeds and keyboards. Concerts and recitals. Kansas and New Hampshire.
So dissimilar yet alike. Brought together by a common chord. Despite their 20-year age gap. Music has a way of being a great gap closer.
Their courtship was a whirlwind. Measured in weeks, the clarinet player swept the pianist off of her feet and into the courthouse.
They met in the orchestra pit. She couldn’t help but notice him and he kept her in his line of sight from that first chair in the woodwinds.
Some things just go together naturally. So it was with Sally and her Jim. They reconnected at a mutual friend’s house in mid-March and by April they were engaged.
When they finished their musical, they flew to New Hampshire. When they landed they headed to the courthouse for their license. Three days later they were wed in the backyard of the local Justice of the Peace.
They were together for 5 short years. Jim practiced daily, and Sally knew not to disturb him as he did. And she knew when he was about to stop when she heard a few bars of “Rhapsody in Blue.” Then Sally got her Jim back from the arms of his music and into hers.
Love and music intertwined.
Movement Four: The Passing
Jim passed quietly where he had spent most of his career in Emporia, Kansas.
The 2023 edition of the Music Festival’s Chamber Concert was dedicated to Jim.
It was only fitting that his last appearance in a performance was on Eagle Cliff Trail above Squam Lake, New Hampshire. That’s where his widow and his children and some close musician friends spread his ashes.
To forever play on the winds…
Postlude
With Jim gone, Sally found herself looking to turn a page. After his passing she found she couldn’t live in their Kansas home, so she chose to relocate to Dallas. She had done a residency at Southern Methodist University (SMU)’s Perkins School of Theology. and opted to return to the community that had raised Jim and had helped her reset her own musical direction.
This is a love story with many facets and players. The themes of community, friendship, music and love are intertwined and show that we are the sum of our parts.
Thank you, Sally, for allowing me to share your story with Jim, your music and this wonderful community you are a part of.
Relentless
