November 2009
Volume 75, Number 2

2009 Awardee

In 1982, the LMEA Board of Directors established the LMEA Hall of Fame, to honor Louisiana music educators for their outstanding work and service for their profession.  With the three inductees for 2009, seventy-seven individuals have been so honored over the past twenty-eight years.  The inductees for 2009 are as follows:

Julia P. Davis taught elementary music and full orchestra at Campti, Louisiana, for twenty-nine years.  Prior to going to Campti, she was a string teacher and assistant band director at Thibodaux High School, a music teacher in the rural schools of Natchitoches Parish, and one year as assistant band director at Bossier High School.  After leaving Campti, she returned to Natchitoches Parish as s strings teacher in the Talent portion of the Gifted and Talented Program.  Julia officially retired in 1987, but agreed to continue as an elementary music teacher in various schools in Natchitoches Parish for four years. In response to a critical need in the Rapides Parish string program, she became an itinerant strings teacher, and remained in that position for 15 years.

Julia was born in Shreveport to parents that were very supportive of her early music studies in violin and piano.  She completed elementary school in Mansfield.  After graduating from St. Mary’s Academy in Natchitoches, she earned a bachelor of science degree from Louisiana State Normal College – the last class to graduate before the name change to Northwestern State University.  An academic scholarship allowed her to attend LSU where she earned a master of music education degree in 1945.  She was one of the first music teachers in Louisiana to earn certification in the Gifted and Talented Program.

Her orchestras have received awards at LMEA district and state large ensemble festivals, and numerous students have participated in honor orchestras and the All-State Orchestra, as well as solo and ensemble festivals.  Perhaps her teaching contributions are best summarized by her having been named Natchitoches Parish Secondary Teacher of the Year in 1978-79.

Julia’s LMEA membership is characterized by varying levels of involvement, including membership in the Theory Committee during her early teaching years.  Other professional memberships include the American String Teachers Association and the Texas Orchestra Directors Association.

For several years, Julia played violin in the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, and she played violin and string bass in the Natchitoches/Northwestern Symphony Orchestra.  At one time she was a Sunday School Teacher and church organist at Trinity Episcopal Church in Natchitoches.

In each community where Julia as taught, her students have participated in local activities and made numerous presentations to civic organizations, and many of her students have entered careers in music education and/or music performance.  All of her students have been enriched through the love of music.

Stanley Dale Liner has been recognized as Teacher of the Year by West Ouachita High School, Monroe City Schools, Neville High School, Prairie View Academy and Congressman Jerry Huckaby.  Among his other awards are Bandmaster of the Year by the Louisiana Bandmasters Association and Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame by West Monroe High School.

Dale was born in Monroe and graduated from West Monroe High School in 1966.  At Northeast Louisiana University – now the University of Louisiana at Monroe, he earned the bachelor of music education degree, master of education degree in administration and supervision, the master of education – plus 30, and he completed class work toward the doctorate.  He has done additional studies in music education at Louisiana Tech University.  He is certified in vocal and instrumental music, as well as elementary and combination school principal, secondary and combination school principal, parish or city school supervisor of instruction and supervisor of student teaching.

Dale Liner retired from teaching in 2007, after serving twenty-nine years as band director at four high schools in the twin cities.  In addition to teaching at Prairie View Academy, St. Frederick High School. Neville High School and West Ouachita High School, while he was at St. Frederick High School, he also taught at Our Lady of Fatima, Jesus the Good Shepherd and Little Flower Academy.

He has been very active in several professional organizations.  For LMEA, he served as District I Director, State Orchestra Division Chairman and President.  For the Louisiana Bandmasters Association, he served two separate terms as President, and since 2000, he has served as Executive Secretary.  Also, he was Secretary of the District I Band Directors Association and President of the LISA Bandmasters Association.  Also, he holds membership in Phi Delta Kappa, Phi Beta Mu, the Louisiana Alliance for Arts Education, the National School Orchestra Association, the National Bandmaster Association and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

His community involvement includes service with the Ouachita Valley Federal Credit Union, including Chairman of the Supervisory and Credit Committees, as well as membership on their Board of Directors.  His community involvement also includes  his thirty-two years as music director at several churches in Northeast Louisiana.

Dale spent two years in the United States Army, serving as non-commissioned officer in charge of Crypto/Security in Cakmakli, Turkey.  While in Turkey, he received the Turkey National Land Forces Award and was recognized as Soldier-of-the-Quarter-U.S.Army-Europe.

Frank B. Wickes will retire from Louisiana State University after thirty years as Director of Bands.  He holds the rank of full professor in the College of Music and Dramatic Arts.  He received degrees from the University of Delaware and the University of Michigan.

In 1999, Wickes was honored at LSU with an endowed Alumni Professorship, and in 2000 received special recognition from the Chancellor for twenty years of distinguished dedication to LSU and his profession.  In April of 1994, he was featured in the cover story of The Instrumentalist Magazine.  Additional honors include the Kappa Kappa Psi Distinguished Service to Music Medal in 1996, the Phi Beta Mu National Bandmaster of the Year in 1998, the Presidency of the National Band Association (1988-1990), the Southern Division Presidency of CBDNA (1988-1990), and the Presidency of the American Bandmasters Association (1997-1998).

Prior to his college teaching career, Wickes taught for fourteen years in the public schools of Delaware and Virginia.  His Fort Hunt High School Band in Fairfax County, Virginia (1967-1973) was honored by the John Philip Sousa Foundation with the Sudler Order of Merit as one of the nation’s most outstanding high school programs for the decades 1960-1980.

From 1973-1980, he served as Director of Bands at the University of Florida and in 1976, he was named Teacher of the Year in the College of Fine Arts.

At LSU, Wickes conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches courses in graduate wind conducting and wind literature, and serves as Director of the Tiger Marching Band.  In 1997, the Tiger Band was unanimously named the outstanding marching band of the Southeastern Conference in a poll taken of the SEC Directors by the Northwest Arkansas Times Newspaper of Fayetteville, Arkansas; and in 2002, the LSU Tiger Band received the Sudler Trophy for a distinguished history of marching and performance excellence.

Wickes is in constant demand as a clinician, having served in that capacity throughout the United States, as well as in England, South America, Mexico and Canada.  He has conducted thirty All-State bands and has appeared several times at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan.

As part of the 2009 Louisiana Music Education Conference in Baton Rouge, the induction ceremony is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 21^st, in the Premier Ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.