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Alumni Band Honors Floren Thompson Jr.
This year marks the 22nd anniversary of the founding of the ENMU Alumni Band. The ensemble was founded in 1988 to allow alumni the opportunity to make music together following graduation, enhance their friendships with one another, preserve their bond to the institution and recognize the significant impact of their mentor and director, Floren Thompson Jr., director of bands emeritus.
The reunions actually began as a concert and retirement roast for Floren Thompson Jr., who served as ENMU director of bands for over 30 years, according to Van Ragsdale (BME68 MA72), past president of the ENMU Alumni Band.
“We had so much fun seeing old friends and making new ones, that we decided to continue meeting every two years. Even after Mr. Thompson’s death in 2002, we have continued the reunions. ENMU is fortunate to now have the talents of Director of Bands Dustin Seifert, who is continuing the strong band tradition that Mr. Thompson developed,” said Ragsdale.
“We also try, as alumni, to support the band department and ENMU financially through scholarships and the music department renovation project. We reached our goal by raising enough money through the Alumni Band to have the new band hall named after Mr. Thompson.”
According to Jane Henry, secretary of the Alumni Band Board of Directors, “It’s a lot of fun to rehearse under the capable direction of Dustin Seifert for two days and present a concert. We have former ENMU band students coming from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and New Mexico,” she said.
If you are a graduate from ENMU, you have the opportunity to continue performing and remain involved with music by participating in the Alumni Band. If interested, you may register online at http://fine-arts.enmu.edu/music/instrumental/bands/alumni/register.shtml or contact Dustin Seifert, chair, Music Department/instructor of music/director of bands, ENMU Station 16, Portales, NM 88130; 575-562-2735; or dustin.seifert@enmu.edu.
