A long, long time ago …
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
I love music. Maybe not all types, but through my 62 years my tastes have evolved. In the late 60s throughout the mid 1970s, my musical interests followed the lead of my three older sisters – soft rock and pop. The Eagles, Elton John and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Add to that list Jim Croce, Fleetwood Mac and America. When I entered high School in 1978, it was Kansas, REO Speed Wagon, the Rolling Stones and Foreigner. I never cared for much disco or groups like the Bee Gee’s.
When I entered college, there was an epic shift to Hank Williams Jr, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Clint Black. It was during this time I attended many concerts with my future bride crossing multiple genres … country, rock and I am ashamed to say, “Air Supply” … whatever that painful experience was, in Joplin’s Memorial Hall in about 1984.
My interests continue to expand today to include some classical music I found through film productions: the theme to Band of Brothers, Waltz of the Goliaths (NFL Films), and the String Quintet in C Major’, D.956: Adagio by Schubert (from the HBO movie Conspiracy.) My list goes on and on.
Music paints many pictures in our memories. We listened to the AM radio on family vacations in the station wagon … perhaps WHB 71 out of Kansas City. It was the best station! Or, in high school, listening to our favorite 8-tracks while cruising Austin … side vents open, windows down … maybe it was Journey with my good friend Jeff Turner. Or the sound of the old Nevada High School Gymnasium on a basketball game night, watching as a freshman as a member of the famed Brother’s Pig as the NHS Stage Band played jazz tunes under the direction of Mr. Jim Shannon, followed by the National Anthem and then the NHS fight song just before tipoff with the entire crowd standing, clapping and smiling. Many different styles as the mind wanders back through time.
If you were still growing up in the 1970s, listening to AM Radio, one song that you might hear was “American Pie” by Don McLean. The song stirred emotions, both happy and sad, when it was released in 1971. It was an epic song (close to 9 minutes long) written in tribute to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (JP Richardson) who, along with their pilot, died in an Iowa plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959. McLean referred to the tragic event as “the day the music died …”
But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died …
For many Nevada High School Alumni, it wasn’t a chilly February day in 1959, as McLean sung about for the first time in March of 1971 at Temple University, but this past Monday.
James W. Shannon, 89, of Nevada, Mo., passed away on Monday, March 30, 2026, at Mercy Hospital in Springfield. Jim was born Oct. 29, 1936, in Springfield, Mo., to W. W. Shannon and V. Azalea (Hilsabeck) Shannon. He married the love of his life, Mary Alice Hensley, on June 6, 1958, in Mansfield, Mo.
Jim was a 1954 graduate of Central High School in Springfield. While a high school and college student, Jim played for the Springfield Symphony. (Writer’s note: he was known to be an excellent trombonist.)
He attended Southwest Missouri State (SMS) graduating with a B.S. in Music Education and a minor in Business. In addition, during the early years, Jim served in the U.S. Naval Reserve for eight years. Jim served as vocal & instrumental director for one year at Stockton, Mo., before going to Dallas where he received his Masters in Music Education from Southern Methodist University. Jim returned to southwest Missouri where he served as vocal and instrumental director for Monett and band director for Nevada R-5 school districts from 1960–1989. (from obituary, Ferry Funeral Home)
Jim Shannon was a master teacher, as is his wife Mary Alice Shannon, to three decades of Nevada students. They represent the very first two inductees into the Nevada High School Fine Arts Hall of Fame, an honor they received in 2021. After retirement they remained steadfast supporters of the school and its students. My daughter, Ashley McKinley Kersey, excelled in band, both in high school and in college. She was a proud member of the Nevada High School Tiger Pride Marching Band and the University of Arkansas Razorback Marching Band. It occupied eight happy and rewarding years of her life. Although she never had either Mr. or Mrs. Shannon as teachers, they were always there with their kind words of support and encouragement for her. It meant a lot to Ashley … and her father.
At its pinnacle, the Nevada Tiger Marching Band reached 165 members under the direction of Mr. Shannon. They received countless honors and marched in the 1976 Cotton Bowl Parade in Dallas. Arkansas defeated Georgia 31-10 that day 50 years ago. My dad John McKinley, a good friend of Jim’s, served as a chaperone on that trip.
Ron Schulze, a 1976 graduate of Nevada High School, submitted the following reflection of Mr. Shannon for my 2017 book, Inspire-Tales and Tributes to Teachers. Students Family & Friends:
“When I left home at the age of 16, after not seeing eye to eye with my father, there was one person who guided me to continued success: Mr. Shannon, Jim Shannon or ‘JS’, as some called him. As my ‘somewhat’ now father figure, he taught, understood and – with his soft-spoken but clearly heard way – guided me to stay in school and understand the meaning of hard work, honesty, dedication and the sacrifices one can give to make a difference.”
“I have the best memories from my 1st hour class, which got me to school every day…although sometimes tardy. This class became my family, and I was fortunate enough to participate in marching band, concert band, jazz band at basketball games and march in many parades, like KU, Joplin, Bolivar and Springfield. Two highlights of my years at NHS were going with the band to the Indy 500 in 1974 and the Cotton Bowl in 1976. I played the trumpet in band and made some of the best friends in that 1st hour class.
Mr. Shannon was always kind and generous to his kids (students) no matter who they were or what they had been through in life. He was then…and still is today…my hero of yesteryear. Thank you so much, Mr. Shannon! I would NOT have stayed in school if it had not been for YOU!”