It’s Homecoming this week in Lincoln, and if my wife had been able to join me today in Beatrice it would have been a homecoming of sorts for her too. My wife’s mother was born and raised in Beatrice where she attended Centenary United Methodist Church and played trombone in the high school band. Mary Ann had a gift for music and loved to sing, and although her parents were not well-off they were able to send her to Lincoln in the late ‘50s to study music at the University of Nebraska. It was there that she met her future husband Tom, and the two were married in 1960.
I always found the story of how they met to be quite charming. Mary Ann was living in the house of her sorority, while Tom was living in the nearby house belonging to his fraternity. It seems that one of Tom’s fraternity brothers was dating a girl from Mary Ann’s sorority and Tom talked his way into accompanying his friend when he went to pick up his girlfriend for a date. Apparently the pictures of all of the girls in the house were displayed on a notice board in the lobby, and when Tom spotted Mary Ann’s picture his eyes must have lit up. He told his friend as he pointed to Mary Ann’s picture “That’s the one!” he exclaimed, “You’re gonna get me a date with her! I don’t know how you’re gonna do it, but you’re gonna get me a date with her!” Tom’s friend duly obliged and the four of them went out on a double date. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Tom and Mary Ann were married for 43 years until Mary Ann died from a heart attack.
Mary Ann was a music teacher for the major part of her life, mostly teaching piano to school-aged children from the studio in her home in Omaha. One of her students from an early age was a promising girl named Karrin Schoonover, who showed a flair for improvisation. Now known by the stage name of Karrin Allyson, this “promising” young lady has so far had a very successful international career as a jazz pianist and vocalist, having released a number of albums and being nominated for four Grammy Awards.
Looking further up into this distinguished line of succession, a few weeks ago my wife and I were astonished to discover that Mary Ann’s music teacher – the lady who taught her trombone and helped her develop her musical talents - is alive and well and living in Beatrice. Joan is 88 years old (what a wonderful age for a piano teacher!), continues to attend the same Methodist Church and still teaches various instruments to a handful of students. And just as important – she and her husband are staunch Big Red fans. They even drive a red car!