George N. Parks, the LEGENDARY band director from the University of Massachusetts passed away, suddenly, after an exhibition in Ohio last week. I am deeply saddened, as are the thousands of students, and adults, he touched in his 33 years of teaching at the University.
I won’t pretend by saying I knew him well, but we did have a few spirited discussions about competitive drum corps and we had common peeps, oddly, both also named George (Bonfiglio and Zingali). I knew him also as a student in the band, and his impact is everlasting.
To put it simply-he cared. He cared about kids, his students, his colleagues, his university. That care was reflected in the way he spoke to you, and about you. It was reflected in the way he made you strive to be the best you could be, and made you want to work harder each day, because he believed in you. He had wit, and witticisms, and taught you marching and music and lessons for life.
Farewell Mr. Parks.
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