Ralph Sordyl, who started and owned House of Music on city's north end, has died

Ralph Sordyl, the founder and longtime owner of Sordyl's House of Music on North Grand Avenue in Springfield, died in Houston on July 21, according to his family.

He was 91.

Sordyl co-owned the store with his wife of 64 years, Jane, who died Sept. 22.

Sordyl had not been running the store on a day-to-day basis since 2016, when he suffered congestive heart failure.

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Family members — the Sordyls had nine children, though none live in Springfield — have been trying to sell the store and three other properties at 222 North Grand Ave. E. Much of the day-to-day operation has fallen to Eileen Sordyl, a chiropractor and longtime professional cellist who lives in Pittsburgh.

Currently, the store remains open regular business hours.

A native of Flint, Michigan, Sordyl started the store in the family's home three blocks further east on North Grand in 1960.

At first, he repaired woodwind instruments and later got into sales and giving music lessons, Eileen Sordyl told The State Journal-Register earlier this year.

The store opened in its present location in 1968 and was a destination for band directors, musicians and parents renting and buying band instruments.

Sordyl taught at Springfield Junior College (later Springfield College in Illinois). A track of practice rooms at the store was designed, Eileen Sordyl said, to mimic Ursula Hall, a music conservatory that was part of the college but fell into disrepair and is now getting new life under Tony Libri's group.

Sordyl played in a number of bands and orchestras locally for many years. During his college days at Michigan State University, he would play in polka bands, said Eileen Sordyl, a chiropractor and longtime professional cellist who lives in Pittsburgh.

"There are so many people who appreciate what (my parents) built and have shopped here and taken lessons here, become friends with my parents," Eileen Sordyl said earlier. "They worked so hard, but they loved it. And they had a great life. They had a great life by doing what they loved. They brought a lot of joy to a lot of people."

Mayor Jim Langfelder called House of Music "an iconic store."

"I remember when it was a bustling place for music and music lessons," Langfelder said. "The family stayed committed as long as they could to that storefront, which we really appreciate, and bringing the love of music to as many people as possible."

In addition to his nine children, Ralph Sordyl is survived by nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life is being planned for Sordyl later in the fall in Springfield.

There will be a memorial jam in Sordyl's honor at House of Music at 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, contact Mike Reid at 815-370-3490 or Hunter McConnell at 217-381-7170.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield House of Music owner Ralph Sordyl dies at 91