Annual Cemetery Walk showcases Perry’s memorable musicians

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Chuck Schott, left, and Patty Hurd Will shared fond memories of Kate Hurd at the 2015 Violet Hill Cemetery Walk.

The 2015 Violet Hill Cemetery Walk drew about 35 Perry-area residents last Tuesday evening to the dramatic readings and another 25 on Saturday afternoon for a second performance.

The walk is an annual event sponsored by the Perry Historic Preservation Commission and is held in honor of people who have figured prominently in Perry’s history. This year’s cemetery walk celebrated the lives of four prominent Perry musicians: LeRoy White, Muriel Buettell, David Evans and Kate Hurd.

Attendees listened to enactments presented at the gravesides of the honorees as readers portrayed important moments in the musicians’ lives. This year’s actors were Rick Fazel in the part of White, Ramona Peel as Buettell, Gary Weishaar as Evans and Carla Wood as Hurd.

LeRoy White (1907-2000) was a Perry native, the eldest son of the minister of the AME Methodist Church in Perry. He became an accomplished jazz trumpeter who played with the likes of the Count Basie Orchestra and others after World War II. White attained great success in Los Angeles, later scoring songs for Desilu Studio and working in Las Vegas.

White and his wife, Cecil, retired to Perry later in life, a period recounted in Fazel’s Cemetery Walk reading:

“Before I was able to adjust to the slow pace and boredom of a small town, we were hit with a staggering blow from which neither Cecil nor I ever recovered. Our son, LeRoy White Jr., was prematurely killed during the Watts riots in Los Angeles. I will never forget the shock and feeling of loss I felt when a Dallas County deputy sheriff came to my job at Wiese Industries to inform me of the loss of our beloved son. My dear wife, Cecil, turned to God and composed a simple song called ‘Tell It.’ To humor my wife, I set the words to music, and it was about that time that I found my own solace by forming a gospel-jazz band made up of 17 musicians and a vocalist.”

Muriel Buettell (1924-2004) gave piano lessons in Perry for many years and offered a home away from home to her students, including snacks baked by her mother, affectionately know as “Grandma Doane.” Buettell even sometimes suspected “that some of the students that I taught were more interested in the warm snacks that Mom fixed each day than they were in their piano lesson.”

Buettell explained, in the voice of Ramona Peel, one of her teaching techniques to visitors taking the Cemetery Walk:

“Seeing the need for piano and organ teachers in Perry, I opened our home to provide lessons for a couple of hours after school each day. I enjoyed not only the musical side of teaching piano but also the imagination and creativity of my young students. When I say creativity, it many times didn’t apply to the student’s music lessons so much as to the creativity they used to explain why they hadn’t been able to practice and get their assignment perfected. One of my teaching tactics that appealed to many students was to allow the student to learn a popular selection of music in exchange for a promise to work hard and perfect the assigned lessons.”

David Evans (1911-1964) was a longtime instrumental music instructor at Perry High School. His voice was recreated, appropriately, by 38-year PHS music department member and recently retired vocal music instructor Gary Weishaar. Evans recalled his devotion to his students.

“I tried very hard to be an asset to the Perry community, which I loved. It is to this end that the Evans-Hall Award continues to be awarded to a Perry High School senior. Alan Hall, vocal music director and dear friend, worked with me all of the years that I taught in the Perry School system. . . . I am very blessed and appreciative to have had such interesting, fulfilling life. Few words can express the sorrow in my heart when on Monday, Jan. 13, 1964, I suffered a sudden heart attack while walking down the hall of the school that had become so much a part of my life and family. I very much miss sharing music discipline and touching the many students with the love of music.”

Kate Hurd (1919-2005) was the cornerstone of music at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Perry for a generation and was active not only in the Catholic Daughters and Regina Guild but found time to take a hand in the Perry Fine Arts Commission and the Dallas County Hospital Auxiliary’s immunization program, plus two bridge clubs. Hurd spoke movingly, in the voice of Carla Wood, of playing at one last funeral Mass shortly before her own death in 2005.

“It was during that time that Chuck Schott and I were asked to provide the music for one last funeral. Even though my final days on earth were approaching quickly, Chuck and I successfully provided music for one last funeral. As we finished, I remember looking at Chuck and saying, ‘We still got it, don’t we?’ It meant so much to me to be able to perform one last time with such a good family friend.”

Wood was unable to give her performance on Tuesday, but able substitutes were found in Hurd’s eldest daughter, Patty Hurd Will, who came from Des Moines for the Cemetery Walk, and Chuck Schott, a protege of Kate Hurd and longtime family friend. Their impromptu remarks brought out several handkerchiefs in the audience.

Hurd closed her story on Saturday, via Wood’s voice, with a sentiment probably shared by the full chorus of 2015 Cemetery Walk musicians: “I’m sure that you have other places to visit today, so I will thank you sincerely for spending time with me today. Enjoy this beautiful fall season.”

The Perry Historic Conservation Commission provides the annual Cemetery Walk as a public service. Donations can be directed to Gary Martin, commission chairperson, at 515-465-2368. The Perry Historic Preservation Commission includes Martin, Vice-Chair Jeanette Peddicord, Secretary Judy Marckres, Treasurer Gene Peel and members John Palmer, Jim Von Behren, Ronda Onken, Larry Vodenik, David Berkmann and Chris Hinds.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you very much for the honoring the musical contributions of my mom, Kate Hurd. She also thoroughly enjoyed performing at 4th of July concerts at the Methodist church, and at the Rowley Masonic Home, accompanying/encouraging their rhythm band. She loved accompanying band students at their competitions. I visited her in February, a month after she was diagnosed as terminal, and witnessed her last performances accompanying students. She truly loved encouraging young people’s efforts in musical performance, whether they were competing for a I rating or learning to sing in tune. She loved bringing people joy, and also solace, through music. Once again, my siblings and I are deeply appreciative of the Perry community. Kathy Hurd Wallcave

  2. Kate played for my wedding, the funerals of my parents, and many other church, school, family and community affairs that myself and my family were involved with over the years. Had I know of this cemetery walk and Kate being memorialized, I would have tried to attend. I’m sure she is enjoying her eternal rest with the music of the angels!

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