I recently received an email from my cousin informing me of the death of a music teacher we had shared a few years apart (we went to the same high school).
Louis P. McEnderfer was a wonderful teacher, the kind of person who could see the lighter side in any subject. ‘Louie’ to his friends, he was at once engaging and interested in you. He had a puckish, almost wry sense of humor; as an example, one of his favorite stories concerned my cousin. One evening after a football game, he had heard music issuing forth from the boy’s restroom on the third floor. Investigating, he found my cousin and three of his pals sitting on the commodes, playing their instruments. (My cousin insists they were playing Handel’s ‘Water Music’, but I digress.)
Confronting the miscreants, Mr. McEnderfer asked just what was going on. Without a pause, my cousin reportedly replied “Just some chamber music.” With no possible response to that quip, Mac simply laughed, and went on about his business. But he did tell that story at least a couple of times a year for the rest of his teaching career, always with himself as the butt of the joke.
I took music theory, conducting, and appreciation classes with Mac throughout high school. As a result, I have had a lifelong appreciation and love of classical music and jazz, that has lifted my spirits and enriched my life immeasurably. I’m eternally grateful for that. I’m sad to see that arts funding has declined so much in public schools nowadays. It seems that the beancounters have no idea what they are denying our children.
I’m sure there were many more students like me, whose lives were augmented and enhanced by this wonderful man. What better legacy can someone leave?