WT Band Alumni to hold All-Decade Reunion, honor Dr. Gary Garner

CANYON — Hundreds of West Texas A&M University alumni will congregate this month to celebrate the legacy of the region’s most dominant band program and to cheer its guiding spirit.

An all-decade band reunion — gathering, for the first time, WT band members from the 1960s forward for the same event — will take place June 10 and 11 in various locations in Amarillo and on the WT campus in Canyon.

The on-campus highlight will be an alumni band concert at 2 p.m. June 11 in Mary Moody Northen Recital Hall, featuring the debut performance of “Endurance,” composed by Dr. B.J. Brooks, WT professor of composition and director of The Sound of West Texas Buffalo Marching Band. The concert is free and open to the public.

The reunion weekend also will pay tribute to WT’s longest-serving marching band director, Dr. Gary Garner, professor emeritus. Garner will be honored at a sold-out dinner at 7 p.m. June 11 in the Amarillo Civic Center Complex Grand Plaza, 401 S. Buchanan St. in Amarillo.

Garner served as director of bands from 1963 to 2002, only the fifth in WT’s history. Garner is widely regarded as one of the most influential music educators in the state.

“Dr. Garner was the very best in the country at what he did,” said Don Lefevre, associate professor of music and former WT marching band director. “He had no equal.”

Garner, an Amarillo native, was working as the marching band director at the University of Southern California when he returned to Texas for an opportunity to develop his own program in a state renowned for marching bands.

“The marching band scene in California at that time was not remotely what it was in Texas,” Garner said.

Under his baton, WT’s marching and symphonic bands performed across the state and country. An estimated 8,000 students studied under Garner; hundreds, if not thousands, of them became band directors in their own right.

Since Garner’s retirement, WT’s marching band has been led by three directors: Lefevre from 1994 to 2008; Dr. Russ Teweleit from 2008 to 2020; and Brooks currently.

“I had the perfect mentor,” Lefevre said of Garner. “I had the perfect mentor to help me become a successful teacher.”

Though Garner will turn 92 this summer, he is still an active presence in WT’s School of Music, particularly at the WT Band Camp, scheduled this year for July 10 to 16.

The full slate of reunion weekend activities include:

• 4 to 6 p.m. June 10: Meet-and-greet reception at Four Points by Sheraton Amarillo Central, 1911 E. Interstate 40;

• 6:30 p.m. June 10: Dinner for 1960s alumni at Braceros, 727 S. Polk St.;

• 7 p.m. June 10: Dinner for 1970s alumni at Napoli’s, 700 S. Taylor St.; and dinner for 1980s alumni at Hoffbrau Steak and Grill House, 7203 W. I-40;

• 7:30 p.m. June 10: Dinner for 1990s alumni at Tacos Garcia, 1100 S. Ross St.; and dinner for 2000s and 2010s alumni at Six Car Pub & Brewery, 625 S. Polk St.;

• 8:30 a.m. June 11: WT campus tours

• 10 a.m. June 11: Alumni band rehearsal in Northen Recital Hall

• 2 p.m. June 11: Alumni band concert in Northen Recital Hall

• 7 p.m. June 11: Gary Garner Tribute Dinner

For information about the reunion, call Lefevre at 806-651-2855.

Fostering an appreciation of the arts is a key component of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World. That plan is fueled by the historic, $125 million One West comprehensive fundraising campaign. To date, the five-year campaign — which publicly launched Sept. 23 — has raised about $110 million.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: WT Band Alumni to hold All-Decade Reunion, honor Dr. Gary Garner