Neighbor Grover sez if you answer your phone with, “Hello, you’re on the air,” telemarketers will quickly hang up.
“Mr. G”—one William C. “Bill” Grusendorf—has worn a lot of hats in his 90 years.
Yes, that “Mr. G” as he was, and is still known, to legions of former Rockdale ISD band students now living near and far.
A number of them gathered among some 50 others in Bill and wife Pat’s spacious back yard in San Saba a couple of Saturdays back to celebrate his 90th birthday. Memories did flow.
Mr. G. was hired in the late 1950s to build the RISD band program from meager numbers to what was, in a few years, to become a 120-piece award-winning tradition that spanned over three decades, led, in succession by Grusendorf, then Don Thoede (first hired by Bill as an assistant) and Jim Perry (likewise hired by Don as an assistant). Consistency breeds quality.
How’d Mr. G build such a major program? Well, he recruited well, even volunteering to help coach juniorhigh football for his first five years here (he was band director at both RJH and RHS). He had played on Waco High School’s state championship single-wing football team in the 1940s (the leather helmet days).
Prior to his arrival, athletics and band both met sixth period. Kids couldn’t do both. He managed to get that changed and as a result our town’s youth could experience both the thrills of athletic competition and making music.
Former long-time Rockdale resident Gerry Selden Janik was among the party attendees and Bill praised her years as piano accompanist for RJH and RHS solo and ensemble competitions. She once accompanied 46 different soloists/groups in succession. Some of Mr. G’s former local musicians attending were Jackie Thornton, Mary Ann Tunnell Walker, David Henry and sister Anne, Eddie Selden and Nathan and Regina Hammett Baker. It was a busy back yard. Apologies for any omissions.
Wife Peg and I attended with our neighbors, Dr. John M. Weed III and wife Jean. The good doctor was Mr. G’s drum major in 1963- 64, and took his trombone talent to the Texas Tech Red Raider Band. How many RHS grads of that Grusendorf-Thoede-Perry era went on to play in college? Hard to measure, but most acquired a lifetime appreciation of music.
Finally, an amusing anecdote from Don Thoede, who attended with wife Joan. When Mr. G finally convinced the school board that his program needed an assistant, a mutual friend recommended he interview Thoede, just out of the military. The interview went well, until Mr. G posed a question: “Mr. Thoede, do you drink beer?”
Wow. Loaded question. Interviewing for job teaching kids. “Here I was just back from a couple of years in Germany, the world’s beer capitol, with Uncle Sam’s Army, and here was a guy named Grusendorf asking that question,” Don said. “So after a long pause, I admitted to enjoying a beer now and then.”
Mr. G said: “You’re hired!” A second link acquired in the trilogy.
Back to the many hats Mr. G has worn. He became a school administrator, and then spent years as a successful legislative lobbyist representing financ i a l l y p o or school districts. Meanwhile he completed all studies needed to become an Episcopal vicar and has for years served St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in San Saba.
Bill’s party was planned and executed by Pat and his two daughters, Becky and Connie, who live in San Saba and Lampasas respectively with their families. Becky put together a video presentation with photos of Bill in high school, at TCU where he got his degree in music education, serving in the Army (directed the Soldiers Chorus at Fort Bliss in El Paso), and much more.
“You usually see these videos at funerals,” Bill joked, “but this way I get to enjoy it too.”
The dark, thick flat-top he wore when hired here is now white and perhaps thinner, and, like all of us, the gait is somewhat slower. But “Mr. G” still golfs and shows no signs of hitting the rocking chair.
Like all educators, he’s touched a lot of lives. I have editorialized several times that education, shaping young lives, is the most noble of all professions. Some would argue that, pointing to preaching the gospel, or the medical profession and health care, or science and engineering. But those all begin with education, right?
Many happy returns, Mr. G.
bill@rockdalereportercom
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