On April 11, 2014 at 11:05am, the principal told me he would not scheduled me for band class the next year. At 11:05 and 30 seconds I decided to retire. I was not going to come in to this building next year and turn right to teach in another classroom. This was my classroom. I was not going to leave my kids, and my room to someone else.

So, I got to have a last concert. It was much the same as the 41 school concerts I had participated in before. But this one was different. It was the last one.

The picture above is two shots badly stiched together, but it has all the kids (and adults) who showed up on stage at the end of the performance. Every one of them is a story. They are now in their 20s and 30s. Kids from my very first class are in their 40s.

In 1993, when I became a teacher I didn't own a suit. My last suit was purchased in 1964 at Robert's Mens Wear in Mineola (still there today by the way). It was a green, 3 piece suit with cuffed pants and a reversible vest. Really skinny black tie that Robert picked out for me.

My first year teaching, my dad gave me 4 suits of his. I wore a suit 4 times a year, two concerts in winter, two in the spring. By 2014, all the suits were pretty much done. The grey suit I am wearing in the picture above is the last one that was presentable to the public. Me being me, I told the audience that I had to retire because I didn't want to buy a new suit.

The second greatest thing about being a teacher is that I taught music. I played music all day - every day. I played music with kids. I had a whole building of adults to play with. I got to teach kids to enjoy music, just as Mr. Clinton had done for me in 1959.