Price starts to retire again, but changes his mind

May 18—Harvey Price flirted with the idea of retiring again. But his passion for teaching band and being part of a program made him rethink his decision after more than 50 years of guiding youth on their musical journeys.

It's not the first time Price "retired" before being called back into the classroom. After 35 years of teaching at Tahlequah Public Schools, he made the decision to hang it up in 2011. He said at the time that he was probably retired for about 13 hours before accepting the director role at Grand View School.

"Three weeks ago, I was definitely done," Price said.

Then he received a call from Muskogee Public Schools. Now, he'll be transitioning into his new role as an assistant director of fine arts, and he'll also be teaching eighth-grade band. It will give him a chance to continue doing what he loves — and it could extend the life of his vehicle, too, as he already lives in Muskogee and has for 33 years.

"I've been taking that drive since 1988," said Price, who estimated after some quick math that he's driven about 250,000 miles on his routine commute. "I'm knocking on wood, but I've never hit a deer and that's never been a problem in 33 years of driving. I wore several cars out completely."

The Tahlequah High School Orange Express racked up more than 550 awards under Price's 35-year tenure. Since then, he's helped the Grand View band become what it is today, which in turn benefits THS, as the school typically receives a group of band students from Grand View every year.

"I think everybody [at Grand View] wanted a good band, including the administration and the faculty," Price said. "When I came out here, we had a very small group of kids. "We were marching like 56 to 70 kids that first year. That just told me they really wanted a good band. Last year in the parade we did, we marched about 130 at that point. So it's just grown every year."

After 50 years, one might think a teacher would be ready to move on. Price, though, pointed to longtime trumpeter Doc Severinsen, who led The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. At age 93, Severinsen continues to perform and is still considered one of the best trumpet players in the world.

Price compared his situation to Severinsen's, saying he still loves watching students progress and asked, "What else would I do?"

"You can see them grow through a lot of things," he said. "We're involved in a very important stage in their life, so I'll get to see them for four years and watch them grow. To me, that's really important, and I just love to see it happened and see them mature."

Price is looking forward to joining the Pride of Muskogee Roughers as helps produce the next generation of musicians. And while his actual retirement has been pushed back yet again, he still plans to enjoy the time he does get off as a teacher.

"We were planning to do some traveling, which we still are," he said. "We've got all this time that teachers have: fall break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, spring break, and then summer again. So there's still plenty of time to travel."