Page 43 - Memories of the Maestro 9.11.21

. . . Cool

Dear Mr. Johnson;

I wanted to say thank you for the CD and
picture of the band in 1977. This was a
wonderful surprise and refreshed joyful

memories of my time in the bands at
Fort! (and yes, even though I am 61 years old, you will
always be Mr. Johnson)

At times when I look back in my life and re�ect on those

people that had an outsized impact on me, I always come
up with 5 people—you are one of my �ve!

I am so happy to be able to let you know the impact you
had on me. From learning and appreciating music,
playing in front of patrons at the country clubs,

competing in contests, and the environment you
fostered of challenging ourselves, competition, and fun
gave me memories I will never forget. Even though I
stopped playing when I went to college, I never sold my

instruments and ended up married to a woman who likes
jazz as much as I do! I share tales of my time in the
program with everyone and explain how ‘cool’ my

teacher was—because you were!

So if you’ve ever wondered if teaching
music had an impact on your students,
please know that for this student, you

did!

I’ll never forget it!

Mike Balderson
Class of ‘77