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seminole high school band
Sanford, Florida

Alumni

As Seminole High School Band begins a new chapter of history in a brand new building in March 2008, we wish to pay our respects to Seminole Band from years past, to keep alive the spirit of "the old days" in previous Seminole band buildings.  Through announcements in the local newspapers and the school newsletter, we invited past members of Seminole Band to send in their stories. These accounts are presented below.

If you would like to contribute YOUR memories, we welcome them. Please email them to Kevin Fletcher (webtech@seminolehsband.org). Please include your name, phone number, the year that you were in band, what instrument you played, your band director at the time, have you continued to play an instrument, have any of your kids attended Seminole, and your memories.


M.L. "Sonny" Raborn, Class of 1945

At the time, the school was located at the site of the current Sanford Middle School. Those buildings were later torn down for the buildings that stand there now. The Band Directors included Ollie Reese Whittle, Dorothy Sanford Gatchel, Mrs. Jackson and others. These ladies had husbands in the military, and worked with the band until they had to leave town with their husbands.

I was on the football team and in the band. I mainly played in the football games during football season. We had orange and black marching uniforms.

We marched for the first time in the Sanford Christmas Parade on First Street in downtown Sanford. We also had a homecoming parade, and marched in parades in New Smyrna, Oviedo and Mt. Dora. There was no fee for bands to march in parades in those days. We also marched in the Veterans Day parade.

We had an after-school swing dance band, consisting of Neil Powell, Tommy Vaughn, Catherine Clark Whelchel, Oliver Mathieux, Mary Ann Whelchel Smith, Ed White, Raymond Reel, Wade Rucker, Pete Bukur, Bill Brumley and Emmett Herndon. We played for the USO dances in the building that is now the Chamber of Commerce in downtown Sanford. It was a new building at the time. At one of the dances, a USO sailor asked us what our band was called. We did not have a name, so he gave us one: The Banana Boys, Music with Appeal!

The swing dance band disbanded at the end of World War 2.

My three sons graduated from Seminole High School in 1967, 1970 and 1973.

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Earl Ratliff, Class of 1951, Cornet & Trumpet

THE OLD SEMINOLE HIGH SCHOOL BAND

As far as I am concerned the Seminole High School band really began in 1947. There had been a band before that but not a serious one. It was run by the music teacher who really wasn’t interested. The old band’s only purpose was to make noise at football games and it was only about 25 or 30 strong up until Mr. Black came along.

Seminole High School at that time was where Sanford Middle School is now, at 18th and French. Our band consisted of about 50 members, maybe 60. Our Fight Song was “On Wisconsin” sung “Onward Sanford.” The school had a total population when I graduated in ’51 of about 500. Our graduating class was 124. Seminole was the largest High School in the county, the other High Schools being Oviedo and Longwood.

  1. How did I get into the band? I was recruited for the band when newly hired band director “Barnie” Black came to the house to recruit my sister who was still in Junior High. Mom had encouraged us in music and we were taking piano lessons and could read music. I was just entering High School as a freshman. Well, next thing I knew Jan was signed up for clarinet and me for brass.
  2. My first instrument. It was really a hodgepodge at first. It was start of the football season and at the first game I was assigned to the cymbals as I did not have anything else to play. My two best friends Ronnie Garner (Dr. Ronald S Garner of South Daytona Beach now), and Rudy Smith, (Dr. O. R. Smith Jr. now of Fort Worth Texas) were also in the band. Rudy was playing the snare drum and Ronnie was playing the bass drum. I guess Mr. Black figured we could do the least damage there. We showed him. He never let me play the cymbals again.
  3. Our first parade. Our first parade was down 1st Street, I think for homecoming or maybe it was Christmas. By that time I had received my cornet and was in the brass section. Rudy played the snare and Ronnie still had the bass drum, as his sax had not arrived yet. Well, Mr. Black told Ronnie just to beat time on the drum, a whack for every step. I guess we sounded pretty bad, but down 1st Street we went, Ronnie beating the drum. At about Magnolia Avenue, the head came off of Ronnie’s drumstick and it went flying into the onlookers. Ronnie never missed a beat. He dropped the broken stick, continued on and finished the parade, beating the drum with his fist. Then Ronnie got his sax and played it for the rest of the time as well as being the band’s Drum Major. Rudy stayed on percussion and went on to play in the Stetson concert band while earning a degree in chemistry there. When he went on to pre med at Emory he quit band.
  4. The band room. At first we practiced as a band in the “Music Room” which was on the south east corner of the high school. In the past it had been good enough for the Glee Club, but having the band making all that noise in the middle of class rooms was a problem, especially Miss Wray’s Civic class. So it was decided that we needed a separate band room. But there was no budget. Well someone found out that Orlando Air Base was giving away buildings so we acquired two of them. These were ramshackle temporary wooden storage structures left over from the Second World War. Someone paid to have them moved to Sanford. They were covered, roof and sides, with green roll roofing tar paper material. There were no windows as such, just panels hinged on the top that we propped open with a stick. They were each about the size of a single trailer home. They had to be a real fire hazard. We used one for band practice and the other for storage. No heat and certainly no AC. We froze in the winter and cooked in the summer.
  5. Uniforms. At first we inherited some old – old uniforms from the thirties. Really ugly, worn out, and not enough to go around. The school board came up with money for grand new uniforms and as Barnie Black was an ex Marine band alumni, it was all military. The style was West Point dress. The jackets were cutaway style with tails and three columns of big brass buttons down the front, fully lined. It had a high collar, right up to your chin. They were bright orange. The trousers were black with an orange stripe on the sides. The hat was a West Point shako. That is a tall cylinder style in orange, a small shiny black brim and an orange plume on top. The uniforms were wool and pretty hot in the summer. But because of our grand (or garish) uniforms we were popular and marched in a lot of parades around central Florida.
  6. Our first band competition. Our first band competition was held during my second year. It was held at Seminole High. I think that the bands came from all over Florida. By that time we were pretty good at marching as ex Marine Black was pretty demanding. We were strictly military style, no fancy stuff and played mostly Sousa marches. We got a first place in marching, a little less in music. I don’t remember the second competition. I think it was in Deland. The one my senior year was in Miami at the Orange Bowl and we did very well.
  7. Playing in the band shell. There used to be a band shell on a spit of land at the end of Park Avenue. From time-to-time we would play a concert there. We also played a Sunrise Service there on Easter Morning. I remember playing, and as at the band fired up it woke up Leo the Lion in the Zoo across the street. So we completed our sacred Easter music to the accompaniment of the roars of Leo the Lion.
  8. Where did I go with music? As I said, I played the cornet and was 1st chair trumpet my last two years at SHS. After that I went one year to Stetson where I played in the marching band and the concert band, as well as the Army ROTC band. After the first year of college I transferred to the University of Florida where I quickly found out that any extracurricular activity and an Engineering curriculum did not work together. So I put down the horn in 1953. Last November I bought, on ebay, a horn just like the one I played in High School, (An Olds Ambassador, because, alas, through moving so many times the original got lost.) Now I am practicing, trying to get back where I was 54 years ago. I am trying to start a brass choir at the church. Anyway, band and my mother gave me an appreciation for music. I am a classical music nut now.
  9. My children and SHS and music. In 1970, my eldest son, David, picked up the same horn and joined the West Bend High School band in West Bend Wisconsin. He played it for four years. Then in about 1979, my second son, Ian, picked it up and joined the Seminole High School band. He then bought a new trumpet as the old one was pretty beat up. He dropped out of band in his senior year to join the track team. He was class President at SHS his senior year. I also have three daughters, two of which graduated from SHS, while the youngest graduated from Shorewood HS Milwaukee Wisconsin. My eldest daughter, Kyle, however was the only one musically inclined. She was not in band but played piano at an early age. But when we moved to Bangkok we had no piano so she took up violin. When we moved back to Wisconsin she played 1st chair violin at both Nicollet HS and Shorewood HS orchestras in Milwaukee. But then when we moved back to Sanford for a while and SHS had no orchestra or string group, so she joined the, I don’t know, Pom Pom team? That was pretty much the end of her musical career. Unfortunately she stopped playing violin and piano after she left High School.
  10. Sister Jan. My sister Jan was two years behind me. She first tried clarinet but since the tip of one of her fingers was missing she couldn’t play it. Then they tried her on drums but apparently she couldn’t keep in time. So they made her a majorette. She was head majorette her last two years (graduating in ’53). Her best friend was, (and still is) Mary Ann Bucker who played clarinet I believe. Mary Ann’s father was Mr. Bucker who had a band instrument repair shop behind his house at about 22st Street and Holly Av. At one time or another for many years, all Seminole High School band instruments passed through that shop. Mr. Bucker was the first president of the Band Parent association at SHS. Mary Ann gave the plaque that was given Mr. Bucker by an appreciative band to the Sanford Museum.
  11. Other Band Members. Other than Ron Garner and Rudy Smith that I have already mentioned, there are a few band members around still from the original band. Joyce Anderson who played the flute is still around. She was married to, Roger Harris, ex music teacher at SHS who died a couple of years ago. Jonnie Mae Jones played Oboe and now lives in Jacksonville (forgot her married name.) Donna Lou Harper played Baritone Sax. She went on to FSU, and played in the band there I think. She met Ruben Askew in Tallahassee and she became Mrs. Askew. Ruben Askew became Governor of Florida and Donna Lou was First Lady of Florida for 8 years. She lives in Florida, I think down near Lake City. Allen Hetzel, who also played trumpet, became an Episcopal Bishop. Last I heard of him he was in North Carolina. In about ’62 my cousin Tommy Ratliff joined SHS band and played the sousaphone for four years. He graduated from Rollins as an economist and lives in Atlanta.
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Glenn Jones, Class of 1969, French Horn & Trumpet

I was in the SHS band from the fall of 1966 to the end of my senior year, 1969. I came into the band playing trumpet and left playing french horn.

I remember...walking into the band room the summer before my sophomore year, scared to death, but greeted by a friendly, smiling Mr. Elmore.

...being a band member allowed you the use of one of the tall lockers located just outside the band room, while everyone else had to use the short ones located along the hallways.

...in my sophomore year, we received a "superior" rating at district marching contest. All the way home we rocked the bus and screamed,"Seminoles got superior!" "Seminoles got superior!" I couldn't talk for three days.

...having to make our own Indian feather headdress that we wore with our marching band uniform. Many eagles gave their all for those headdresses. (At least they TOLD us they were eagle feathers.)

...working the lot selling Christmas trees as a fundraiser.

...when we wanted to "challenge" someone above us in our section, we both went into the little area in the back of the band room behind the wall and play our challenge music. If you won, you took their seat.

...many, many fond memories that I will treasure forever. Thanks, Mr. Elmore, for three wonderful, fun-filled years!

I now live in South Daytona FL...my parents still live in Sanford. I have 2 boys that graduated from Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach FL. I continued to play french horn in the city band in Daytona and in a brass choir for a few years, but eventually gave it up.

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JohnAaron Henderson, Class of 1973, Drum Major

Greetings!

I am JohnAaron Henderson, the first African America drum major at Seminole High School. I attended Seminole High from 1970 - 73. Our band director in 1970 -71 was Jack Foo. In 1971, Roland Castro became our new band director. He was even there after I graduated in 1973. I was in the stage band, which was five saxophone players, four trumpet players, four trombone players, a piano player, bass guitar player, and a drummer. My freshman year, I was assistant chief operation officer. In my junior year, I became chief operation officer. As chief operation officer your job was to distribute and collect uniforms. Your job was to ensure that everything was properly carried out. The area where the quad is wasn't there then. The present quad area was a marching field with a stage.

Life seem so simple then. I remember the fun things we would do. Things like stuff the sophomores in the tuba cases for fun. Once all the band officers got together and squeezed ourselves in a small car, right along with our instruments. All seven of us with tubas, trumpets, and saxophones.

Some of my favorite memories:

  1. Playing in the Stage Band and the practice sessions, Songs like Mood Indigo and Take the A Train.
  2. Messing around with band members when I was the assistant or chief operations officers. We'd issue the wrong uniform, give them a hat that was too big or too small, or put their Overlays on backwards. All in fun, guys!
  3. Trying out for Drum Major and winning, Being the First Black (African American) Drum Major for Seminole High School.
  4. When we would meet on the outside Stage between the Band and Chorus Rooms.

Those were the good old days. I shared so many great band days with my daughter Joh'naye Henderson, that she also wanted that band experience.  This is her third year as a flutist for Seminole High School Band.

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LeRoy Williams, Class of 1975

I played in the seminole band from 73, 74, 75. And was very glad to have played in that band. We played to every foot ball game, and got a chance to perform in all the Xmas festivities. Along with the Statefair and the Gasperillia parade. My band director was named Mr. Castro, and he kept us the band members on our toes. I will always cherished the moments that I had in that band. Thank you Leroy Williams

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Gena Bukur, Class of 1976, Drum Major

My family roots are buried deep in that wonderful building. My name is Gena Bukur and if you are familiar with the old Sanford, the Bukur name has always been associated with music. Our family history with the Marching Seminoles goes back to 1951 when my grandfather, Peter J. Bukur, was instrumental in organizing the Sanford Seminole High School Band Parents Organization and serving as its first president. This was at the old high school location on French Avenue.

My father, Peter P. Bukur, did his student teaching/internship, under Ernie Cowley when the band room was brand new. He went on to become the band director for Sanford Junior High/Sanford Middle where he retired in 1982.

I myself was a member of the Marching Seminoles from the fall of 1973 until my graduation in June of 1976. While I was there I was under the direction of Roland Castro, Martha Oestreich and Bob Maguire. During my freshman year I can remember collecting the large egg flats, spending weekends and spring break attaching them to the walls of the band room. This was done to give the room better acoustics. During my senior year I had the privilege of being drum major for the Marching Seminoles.

I went on the get my degree in music education and came back to Seminole High where I taught out of field for 3 years. While I was there I did some instrumental private instruction and directed the flag and rifle corps for the band. I have been living in Kissimmee for the past 8 years but still come up for the football games just to watch the band at halftime. I have just purchased a home in Sanford and returned back to the town I hold so near and dear to me. I have dreams that one day my 8 year old son, Matthew, will also become a Marching Seminole. I have spent many an hour in that old band building and have many fond memories. I have seen many lives enriched through the programs presented in that building. As with all good things they must come to an end, but my memories of the old Seminole High Band Hall will live forever.

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Elisabeth Gilbert, Class of 2006, Flute

I used to sit in the front row of the band with the flute section, and the ceiling leaked. God only knows what it was, because it happened every day, rain or shine, without fail. It would do it every minute or two. Drip! and there’d be a splash of water on your music or your hair or — even worse — the headjoint of your flute, and you’d have to try to figure out how to keep playing without letting it slide into your mouth. The thing was that it seemed to follow me around from year to year, because one year I was third or fourth chair and I got dripped on there, and the next year I was first chair and I got dripped on there too.  But it was still better than being a percussionist, where instead of water falling onto you, it might be a piece of the wall.

I seem to remember some kind of termite season for a week or two each year in the band room, but the details escape me. I might be repressing them.

I remember Sean Bresemann (whom most of the whippersnappers there won’t remember, I guess, and their lives are the less rich for it) used to be able to make the ceiling panels vibrate by hitting a specific pitch on the horn. Incidentally, the band room had to be the site of at least six or seven of my marriage proposals to him as well. I’m still waiting for the ring.

One of the things I remember most about the band room is that no one ever seemed to want to leave. Before school, during lunches, after school, after concerts, after games, we all just hung around—even when it was 11:30pm on a Friday night and Mr. Malcolm was pleading with us, okay, everyone, time to go now, I’d like to lock the place up and go home, no, seriously, time to go!

It wasn’t that we wanted to spite him, but there was something special about that band room. Like, that was where the magic was happening, or was going to happen, or had happened, and when you finally hung up your uniform and left, the magic was gone. I think most of us felt that way at one time or another. The band room was somewhere special, and whatever was going on in there, we wanted to be a part of it.

The new band room may have ceilings that don’t leak and walls that don’t disintegrate, but that sense of magic is one thing I hope stays the same.

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