Bonham -- It has been 40 years since Tommy Neugent directed the Bonham High School Band, but memories of challenges and accomplishments have only grown fonder for many of his former students. If fact, something of a reunion is in order, so a group of Bonhi Band members will be traveling to Paris, Texas Friday, July 13 to watch Mr. Neugent direct the Paris Municipal Band at a concert in Bywaters Park.
Neugent had a very successful five-year run in Bonham, from the 1966-67 school year through 1972.
"I have always said that band was for me what being on a football team must have been for the guys," says Cathie Carter Walsh, one of Neugent's former students in Bonham. "It was the place I wanted to do my best, to earn the 'coach’s' respect, and to experience the great camaraderie of working together toward the goal of becoming a sweepstakes band. Mr. Neugent made us believe we could play pieces that were unbelievably hard for a little AAA school, but we did it! In a high school of maybe 600 kids, 100 of us were in the band. We worked ourselves to death for marching contests, concert contests, and Solo and Ensemble contests – and we loved doing it because we were successful. Mr. Neugent instilled that desire and that pride in us. Those of us who were in his bands know just how incredibly fortunate we were. And by the way, how many schools our size had an excellent oboe player, for Pete’s sake?!"
"I guess my (not) favorite memory is watching him run across that practice field and being scared to death he was coming after me!" recalls Lynn Denney Underwood.
"I remember all the 7:00 a.m. practices on summer mornings and that once Mr. Neugent said that all he expected was blood, sweat, and tears," said Cheryl Eason Peeler. "He was a taskmaster but we did so well in competitions that it made it more than worth the effort."
"How red his face would get!" exclaimed Wendy Brinlee Keeton. "How we really all loved him and wanted to please him! The memory of marching on the football fields and the year we won sweepstakes was the greatest memory! The way Janeen Vestal could get him to smile!"
"I don't think most of my memories of Tommy Neugent are publishable," jokes Lou Ashmore Brown. "My favorite was when the JR/SR bus broke down on the way to Gainesville or Greenville or somewhere like that. He told us all to get off the bus, get our horns from the instrument truck, and start hitchhiking. He said, 'I expect to see every one of you in line for the school song. Oh, and first chairs get the first rides.' And we did. Can you imagine what would happen to a teacher today who threw 50 kids out on the road and told them to catch a ride? Remember him making freshmen put rocks in their 'step off' side hand because he said they were so stupid? And when he threw a temper fit and knocked over music stands? He was a hoot! Oh yeah - and the kid who wanted to be in football and band? He told Mr. Neugent that he could come every other day and play twice as hard. Mr. Neugent said, 'I have a better idea. Why don't you come every day and play every other note?'"
Former Bonhi Band members welcome classmates to join them for the trip to Paris. Anyone wanting to go should meet at the Brookshire's parking lot in Bonham at 7:15 p.m. or just go directly to Bywaters Park in Paris and be there by 8:00 p.m. Everyone needs to take his or her own lawn chair.
For 86 years, Paris Municipal Band has entertained the public with a summer concert series and the performance Friday night will be the band's finale for the 2012 season. Nugent, 73, is a Deport, Texas native and the band is comprised primarily of local high school and college musicians, along with slightly less than two dozen adult musicians.