4 minute read
A Legacy Lives On
Donation of instruments helps Geary, Oklahoma, band program rise from the ashes
Sometime after 10:00 p.m. on March 22, a fire broke out in the gymnasium of Geary High School in rural Geary, Oklahoma. While much of the school was spared, some classrooms were destroyed along with the gym.
The sleepy, no stoplight town located about 50 miles west of Oklahoma City registered a population of 994 in 2020. Enrollment at the high school hovers around 75 students and nearly 63% of those students are economically disadvantaged. It’s the type of place where a young music school graduate might hope to make a direct impact on the 15 to 20 students in the band program. That’s what Kera Wallis envisioned when she accepted the position of middle/high school band director in January 2025.
Just two months later, the Geary band room and all its instruments went up in flames.
“Almost immediately, the music community across the state of Oklahoma rallied around Ms. Wallis, her students, the school and the band program to hold fundraisers and donate instruments,” says Kathleen Jung (Gamma Gamma, Oklahoma Alumni), president of the Oklahoma Alumni chapter and music teacher at Elk City Elementary. “The Oklahoma Alumni chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon also stepped in to help.”
Each year, Oklahoma Alumni hosts a Sweet Serenade Dessert Show. The program features performances by chapter members, their students and Collegiate scholarship finalists. At the conclusion of the event, the chapter awards scholarships and all attendees enjoy homemade desserts. Attendees offer monetary donations or nonperishable food items for admission. Food items are donated to local food banks or town blessing boxes where chapter member live and work.
“Typically, monetary donations are utilized to assist in the chapter’s grant and scholarship efforts,” Jung says. “However, chapter leadership decided that donations collected for this year’s Sweet Serenade should benefit Ms. Wallis and the Geary band program.”
The event, held on March 29 — mere days after the devastating fire — raised $525 toward the rebuilding of the Geary band program. The tragedy touched the heartstrings of many chapter members, but none more than Jung, whose personal connections made the effort to support Wallis and her band quite poignant.
“I’ve taught music for 12 years,” Jung says. “In fall 2024, I accepted my first student teacher from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. That student teacher was Ms. Kera Wallis. But that’s not where my connection stops.”
Jung’s late husband, Dillon Jung was the band director at Geary during the 2015-2016 school year. It was his first band director position after graduating college. He was working there when the couple wed on November 21, 2015.
“Dillon was extremely passionate about band and teaching music,” Jung says. “He would scour social media posts and pawn shops for instruments he could collect, fix up and use to demonstrate proper technique for his students. He collected a flute, trumpet and trombone. He used my beginner clarinet and he was a saxophone player.”
After Dillon’s death on September 5, 2021, those instruments sat unused in Jung’s house for years.
“Initially, I couldn’t bear to part with them,” Jung says. “They were part of Dillon and his legacy in the band world. I always told myself that I would donate them to a deserving band program when the time was right. When the call for donated instruments to help Geary was shared throughout the music community in our state, I knew what needed to happen.”
Jung donated four of the instruments — flute, clarinet, trumpet and trombone — and chose to keep Dillon’s saxophone. Other Oklahoma Alumni chapter members also donated instruments from their families.
“The Geary band is alive and well because of people in the community,” Wallis says. “I am extremely grateful and appreciative of the help I received from across the state. We will continue to be strong because of people and organizations like Mu Phi Epsilon. The Pride of Geary continues, thanks to you.”
For Jung, the full circle moment not only affirms the closeknit music community in Oklahoma, but honors Dillon’s memory and love of band.
“It was too coincidental that my first student teacher was hired for her first job at Dillon’s first band program,” Jung says. “Dillon loved every student he taught and was always willing to help anyone in need. He would not have hesitated for one second to help Ms. Wallis, her students and the school. He would be happy that the instruments he spent time, money and energy finding, fixing up and playing for his students were being put to good use and still being used to educate music students in Oklahoma.”
