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IGMSA Cloyd Meyers Memorial Award

This morning, at the Illinois Grade School Music Association’s State Meeting, the IGSMA presented Mr. De Stefano with the Cloyd Meyers Memorial Award!!! The Cloyd Meyers Award is the highest distinction that the IGSMA gives to individuals and now McCracken Middle School boasts two members on the short but distinguished list of award winners (Beth Lehner 2007).

Mr. De Stefano is the only person to have been awarded both of IGSMA’s individual honors: The Barbara Buehlman Young Conductor Award (2004) and the Cloyd Meyers Memorial Award (2011). Congratulations Mr. De Stefano!!!

PAST RECIPIENTS:
1992 Gary Hillquist
1993 Barbara Buehlman
1994 Jon Larson
1995 W.C. Edwards
1996 Margene Pappas
1997 Robert E. Jorgensen
1998 James Weir
1999 Don Langellier
2000 Judy Hanson
2001 Harold Hokenson
2002 Wesley Russell
2003 Thomas Goodwin
2004 Lisa Kiener-Barnett
2005 Edward Winkler
2006 Mike Mathews
2007 Beth Lehner
2008 Edward Jones
2009 Pam Edwards
2010 Don Crews

ILLINOIS GRADE SCHOOL MUSIC ASSOCIATION
Cloyd Myers Memorial Award

The Cloyd Myers Memorial Award shall be presented annually to a person who has demonstrated educational excellence in IGSMA activities such as:

    • A director whose students consistently excel in IGSMA events.
    • An adjudicator who consistently produces excellent comments and suggestions for improvement.
    • An Executive Board member who consistently fulfills his or her duties and strives for IGSMA organizational improvement.

Logistics
1) The award shall be presented at the State meeting.
2) A selection committee will be appointed annually by the President, which shall include the past two previous Award recipients. The nomination of the committee shall be reported to the President on or before June 1 of each year.
3) The award shall consist of a plaque. The Vice President shall be responsible for the purchase and engraving of the plaque.
4) The design of the award shall be approved by the Executive Board.

C. CLOYD MYERS
C. Cloyd Myers devoted many years of his active career to the Illinois Grade School Music Association. A graduate of Manchester College, North Manchester, IN, he received his Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan.

Having taught instrumental music in Osceola, Iowa, Mr. Myers began teaching in Sterling, IL, in 1939. It was during his first year of teaching there that the Illinois Grade School Band Association was formed. The entire state was divided into five districts. Cloyd Myers was appointed Chairman of the Northwest Division and elected Vice President in 1949. At the fall meeting of the Association held at the Kaskaskia Hotel in LaSalle in 1957 he was elected President. He was inducted as a charter member of the Band Masters Hall of Fame at Northwestern University in 1984.

In 1988 Mr. Myers was named President Emeritus of the Illinois Grade School Music Association and given a lifetime membership to the Executive Board. A plaque was presented honoring his 50 years service to the Association.

Mr. Myers was a World War II Navy veteran. He conducted the Sterling Municipal Band for 25 years. He was a member of the American School Band Directors Association, the Sterling Noon Rotary Club, the Sterling Elks Club, the Rock River Country Club, and a Paul Harris Fellow. Following his retirement in 1975 he directed the Singing Strings Ensemble. Mr. Myers passed away on June 30, 1991.