In memory of Jeff Cumpston
My high school conductor, Jeff Cumpston, passed away. He was killed by a motorcyclist. That's about all I know... all the details haven't yet been released.
(More photos of Jeff)
I don't know what to make of this. I actually went online to confirm it because I just couldn't believe it when I heard the news. I'm really distraught. Jeff was such an incredibly influential figure in my life. He brought music into my world. Without it, I would not be who I am. I probably wouldn't be a dancer.
The news broke to me in the midst of the Seattle Lindy Exchange (a weekend for swing and blues dancing). In a time of joy and love and music, I was informed that the man that brought music to my life just left this earth. It completely removed the wind from my sails. Suddenly the joy and warmth that I saw among my friends felt so inappropriate.
I sat around, trying to make sense of it all. The incongruous news struck me so hard I didn’t know what to do with myself: how should I grieve? how should I honor his life? A friend came over to console me and I told her what happened. She said that whatever I decide, be it to go out and celebrate his life or stay inside to grieve and take care of myself, I would be honoring his memory. It was with a heavy heart that I went out that night to celebrate Jeff’s life through music and dance.
The band that night - a motley gathering of talented Seattle musicians jamming and playing great swing tunes - felt particularly inspired. I was cheered to realize that Jeff will live on in all of us, live on in the music he shared with us. In reaching out to us and touching our lives, he has become eternal.
My prayers are with Terry, Mary, and Bryce, and with all those grieving the loss of a great man. I pray that we all receive the strength to persist through these trying times.
It's strange how the same thing happened when my grandfather passed away. God took him into his arms right when I was attending a late-night youth group worship service. There was music and singing and joy and then I saw my mom crying and she told me Pop Pop had died.
At least God ensures that you will be ready for when someone is taken from you...
'
There's so much to be said about Cumpston and how he affected me. It pains me so much that I never said it to his face.
Jeff,
You taught me to work hard, to believe in myself, and to value diligence. You taught me to listen to music, to find the songs that life gives you, to hear the melodies gently whispered by the sun and the wind and the trees and the people in life. You taught me to find the music in myself, to give it a voice. You showed me strength of character and the importance of integrity. You provided me with a home at school, a place where I could be safe from the terrors of high school. In that band room I felt like I could actually make it through. You provided a space for me to grow and mature to the man I am now. I would not be who I am without you.
A poem I borrowed from Sarah S. that I think says it perfectly...
O Captain My Captain
~Walt Whitman
O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.