Melvin Montgomery
1925-2016
Melvin Montgomery passed away on Nov. 18, 2016 in Huntsville.
Funeral service for Mr. Montgomery will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Directors in Nacogdoches with the Rev. John Bingham officiating. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Park.
Visitation will be held from 1 p.m. until time of service Tuesday at the funeral home.
Melvin was born on Jan. 3, 1925 in Richards to Henry Lester and Mary Francis Montgomery. He attended elementary school in Montgomery and junior high school and senior high school in Conroe. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Sam Houston State University and did post graduate work at Texas Tech University and the University of Texas.
Mr. Montgomery began his musical training playing in the first band formed in Montgomery under director Vernon Cleveland. She gave private instruction to Mel on trumpet, piano and mandolin. Later he played baritone horn, trombone and percussion. In 1936, his family moved to Conroe and he entered junior high school. In junior high school and senior high school, he played baritone and French horn and played drums in the high school dance band.
Mr. Montgomery graduated from Conroe High School in 1942 and completed one year of college at Sam Houston State before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 as a musician and perimeter guard. While in the service, he attended and graduated from the Army School of Music, played in the U.S. Army Field Band and Dance Band and served in the European Theater Operations as a musician in the special services attached to the U.S. 7th Army. In December 1944, his battalion was attached to Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army and he served 23 days in the Battle of the Bulge as an infantryman in defense.
Following his Army duty, he returned to Sam Houston State and completed his music degree in 1948. While at Sam Houston State, he served as director of the Houstonians dance band and during his senior year was employed as the music director for the Texas prison system.
Mr. Montgomery’s first teaching position was at Stephen F. Austin High School in Port Acres. During his four-year tenure, his bands received three sweepstakes awards.
In 1952, he became director of bands at Snyder High School. During his 16-year tenure, the Snyder band amassed an enviable record of contest honors and performed in the 1957 Cotton Bowl. They won 15 consecutive sweepstakes awards through the University Interscholastic League and several honors at the Tri-State Music Festival. At the Buccaneer Festival, the Snyder band was selected as the outstanding concert band in its class four times and won the grand sweepstakes award seven times. They were consistently ranked among the top five bands in their classification in the state honor band competitions. In 1966, the Snyder band was chosen as the Texas Music Educators Association honor band in their classification.
He was also a pioneer in the stage band movement in Texas. His Snyder High School stage bands won national acclaim during the 1950s and 1960s and was ranked third among 225 participating schools in the National State Band Contest in 1966. His Snyder stage bands also won the competitive Brownwood State Band Festival 12-of-14 times from 1954-68. They also won first place at the Tri-State Festival in 1962 and first place in the Texas Tech Stage Band Festival in 1967.
During 20 years in the Texas public school systems, Mr. Montgomery’s bands won 19 sweepstakes awards.
In 1969, Mr. Montgomery was selected as director of bands at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in Nacogdoches. He began with a band of 70 and turned it into a group of more than 200. His teaching load was very heavy, including Lumberjack Marching Band, symphonic band, concert band, instrumental methods and materials, marching band techniques, conducting, band literature, percussion, percussion ensemble, percussion techniques, horn and the supervision of student teachers.
He served for 18 years as director of bands and professor of music. Under his leadership, the SFASU bands gained considerable recognition with both the marching and symphonic bands and became highly regarded throughout Texas and the United States. The symphonic band was invited to perform four concerts for the Texas Music Educators Association and once for the College Band Directors National Association under Mel’s leadership.
During his time at Stephen F. Austin, he began a commissioning series that continues today. Under his leadership, the following band pieces were commissioned, Armand Russell, Fantasy and Cantilena; W. Francis McBeth, Caccia; Armand Russell, Fantasy and Cantilena; Luigi Zaninelli, Capriccio Spiritoso; David Holsinger, In Spring, at the time When Kings Go Off to War; and James Curnow, Variants on an Ancient Air.
The Curnow piece was dedicated to Mel and Virginia Montgomery for their 18 years of service to the SFASU band.
In 1976, the spirit of patriotic fever led to another Mel Montgomery creation — the annual Concert in the Park. The original idea was to create a nostalgic atmosphere of an outdoor concert with families enjoying the music in Pecan Park. Later, the concert was moved to its present location in the free speech area in front of the Wright Music Building at Stephen F. Austin.
During his years at Stephen F. Austin, both Mel and Jenny Montgomery worked with the chapters of Kappa Kappa Psi, which was consistently ranked as a Top 10 chapter, and won the Founder’s Trophy in 1983.
During his teaching career, he was honored with a citation from the Texas state legislature and selected to membership in the First Chair of America, honoring the nation’s 100 best high school bands. He was also the recipient of the A. Frank Martin award from Kappa Kappa Psi national band fraternity for his contributions to music education.
In 1978, he was elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and in 1986 was given honorary membership in the Stephen F. Austin State University Band Director’s Hall of Fame. In 1993, Mel Montgomery was selected by the Texas Bandmasters Association as the bandmaster of the year. He was inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame in 1994.
Mel Montgomery was a member of American Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Phi Beta Mu, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha, Tau Beta Sigma and Phi Delta Kappa. He holds listings in Who’s Who in the South, Who’s Who in the Southwest, International Who’s Who in Music, Personalities of America, Men of Achievement, Who’s Who in Percussion: USA and the Directory of Distinguished Americans.
After retiring in 1986, Mr. Montgomery taught part-time, supervising student teachers. The Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents awarded him the title of director of bands emeritus and professor of music in 1987. He continued to serve as an active clinician and conductor until he began losing his vision in 1999.
The Montogomerys continued living in Nacogdoches enjoying their home, their friends and travel until 2011, when Mel and Jenny came full circle returning to the town in which they met, had their first kiss at the grave of Sam Houston and fell in love, Huntsville. They resided at the Carriage Inn and were loved by all.
Following Jenny’s death in 2013, Mel remained active at the Carriage Inn and returned to the teaching profession, holding music appreciation classes, sharing his depth of knowledge and love of music from Willie Nelson to Glenn Miller to Gustav Holst. Mel also taught many residents to play “hand and foot,” a form of Canasta, and enjoyed playing nightly in teams of two and often had multiple tables playing simultaneously as he never stopped teaching or conducting. He is also known to have been a force at the poker table.
Mel loved life. He loved living. He loved learning. He loved the challenge in the “everyday” and inspired those around him to enjoy each day a little bit more than they would have without his encouragement, not so subtle admonitions as he always led by example with a strong wit, strong will, clear sense of self and integrity down to his bone marrow. He was a leader who understood that you cannot teach what you do not know and cannot lead where you will not go. His legacy will live on and touch generations to come.
Mel was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Virginia Faye Harrington Montgomery.
Survivors include one son, Don Montgomery, a two-year all-state bass trombonist and member of Kappa Kappa Psi; one daughter, Jill Criddle, who played flute in the Stephen F. Austin band; and four grandchildren.
Online condolences may be posted at www.casonmonk-metcalf.com.
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