It Happened in Crawford County: Greg Shifley ready to enjoy retirement
Greg Shifley is a son of Herbert, a 1939 Galion High School graduate who served in the South Pacific during WWII, and Evelyn Foos Shifley. Greg’s siblings are Drew Shifley and Amy Watts.
Greg started school at Leesville Elementary and graduated in the top 30% of his class from Colonel Crawford in 1979. He enjoyed music and art, but didn’t consider art to be a great profession. During art class, he designed and built an outdoor steel sculpture of an eagle that stood outside Colonel Crawford School for many years.
Greg enrolled at Ohio University as a tuba and music education major. He played the tuba in the OU Marching 110 and was in the wind ensemble four years. He also was in a tuba quartet for a couple years. He loved college at Athens and had everything he needed at the university except money. He graduated cum laude, saying college was good for him.
Greg was working at the Pizza Hut in Athens, left work, and drove to Bucyrus in August 1985. He found himself marching in the middle school band in the Thursday night Bratwurst Parade, just a day-and-a-half after leaving Pizza Hut. It rained and the band members were soaked. Welcome to the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival.
Later, Greg learned that having middle school students in the parade during inclement weather was not a good idea. Children of that age aren’t ready for that kind of experience; it’s not really fun.
Music and band can change lives
Greg explained to the parents that band was an experience that would change the entire families' lives. They’ve chosen to maintain a musician in the household and everything that goes with it. It’s a commitment of participation, including football games and other performances.
Students start in the fifth grade with individual classes of like instruments, such as brass, woodwind and percussion. They can try one or all of the instruments to see which one interests them. They actually play the instrument and rule out the ones they can’t get a sound on − choosing the instrument that is right for them. Sometimes people donate instruments for students who can’t afford one. They never turn anyone away from band.
Greg teaches students one new thing at a time, such as how to hold the instrument and the proper way to sit. He never gives up on a them. Sometimes the child starts out slow and then turns out to be a strong musician. For example, some of Greg’s former students are now music teachers.
The high school band director assists Greg at the middle school in teaching and training new musicians. Greg has also assisted the high school band director for about 17 years. He has written all the halftime show announcements at the football games and the actual pregame shows and choreography as needed.
Band on the run: Disney, Detroit, Chicago
In 1995, the Bucyrus High School band got a superior rating in the state contest. The band made two trips to Disney World in Florida, played in the Detroit’s J. L. Hudson Thanksgiving Parade, Chicago’s Thanksgiving Parade twice, and they traveled and played in music festivals in Gatlinburg and Toronto. They also performed in the Gator Bowl in Florida and the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
Greg says he is really good at instrument repair, especially the challenge of fixing it seconds prior to getting on the field to play. The student’s "gloved hands" are his table for holding pieces and parts out for him to grab the right thing to fix a broken instrument. It may be very cold or windy to handle fragile pieces — or using a mini blow torch to heat up a repair on metal using glue.
Most brass breakages can usually be taped temporarily. Susie Stadler’s cymbal strap broke at a game when she was a freshman. Greg "temporarily" fixed it with a piece of clothesline, and she used it through her senior year. The students nicknamed Greg "Shigyver" from the TV show "MacGyver," saying Greg could make a plastic explosive out of grass and dirt.
With 39 years teaching and working with different generations of families, he’s forcing himself to retire, allowing his state teaching license to expire. The thing he’ll miss the most about teaching is seeing over 100 faces daily and enjoying all the amazing personalities, knowing once he retires, his world will get a lot smaller.
Greg has purchased his own tuba and plays in the Marion Concert Band, going from a director back to a band member. Greg and his wife Ellen live on three acres with fruit trees, animals and beehives — a place that Greg views as his pioneer place. Their sons Jeri, Adric, Tegan and Jackson and grandchildren will also be able to share more time together with Greg’s retirement.
Go online for more of Mary Fox’s stories and photos on bucyrustelegraphforum.com. If you are interested in sharing a story, write Mary Fox, 931 Marion Road, Bucyrus, OH 44820 or email littlefoxfactory@columbus.rr.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Bucyrus band director Greg Shifley to retire after 39 years
