Return to Lowell Mason Fellows by Year
2007 Lowell Mason Fellows
Charles H. Benner Past President, MENC (1974-1976); Past President Ohio MEA, North Central Division – Designated by Mark Hensler, President of Ohio Music Educators Association
Dr. Benner’s service to music education encompasses elected positions beginning in 1950 when he was elected to a two-year term as Ohio Music Educators Association’s District 12 President, as a region chair, and later as state president of the association. He then went on to serve as president of the Ohio Music Education Association, president of the MENC North Central Division, and later as MENC president. During his MENC presidency, he oversaw MENC during its transition from being an associated organization of the National Education Association sharing a building with the NEA in Washington, DC, to becoming a completely self-supporting organization, moving into its own building in Reston, Virginia. He also served on the General Music Project Committee responsible for the publication Music in General Education. Dr. Benner currently serves as professor emeritus of music education at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Prior to his appointment at Cincinnati in 1968, he was a member of the faculty of the School of Music at The Ohio State University in Columbus for eleven years. Over his distinguished career he has taught instrumental and elementary music in various Ohio public schools.
David Circle MENC Past President (2004-2006), Past President of SW Division and Kansas MEA – Designated by the National Executive Board
David Circle is the music-coordinating teacher for the Blue Valley (Kansas) School District. He received his B.M.E. from Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, and his doctorate from Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to moving to Blue Valley, he was director of fine arts in the Shawnee Mission (Kansas) School District. In addition to his administrative experience, Circle has taught at the elementary, junior high and high school levels, been assistant professor in the Burris Lab School at Ball State University, and been conductor of the Kansas City Youth Symphony. He is a past president of the Southwestern Division of MENC and the Kansas Music Educators Association (KMEA), and was inducted into the KMEA Hall of Fame.
William S. Marsden President & CEO of DeMoulin Bros. & Co. – Designated by Steven Trull, DeMoulin Bros.
Bill Marsden is the President and CEO of DeMoulin Brothers & Company and has been for the past 12 years. He has over 40 years experience in sales, marketing, and general management. Prior to his position at DeMoulin Brothers, he was President at the ConAgraHome Brands Division. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Merrimack College in Massachusetts. Since 1995, Mr. Marsden has continued to offer an extensive line of uniforms and accessory products to high schools, universities, military bands, and choral organizations worldwide. Through his leadership, DeMoulin has risen to the top position among uniform manufacturers serving the school markets. Mr. Marsden continues to support numerous national music organizations through scholarship opportunities and more.
Edgar Q. Rooker Retired Band Director, Past President of the American School Band Directors Association – Designated by NCMEA Band Section
Ed Rooker is a native of Murfreesboro, TN. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Vanderbilt University and his Master of Music degree from Appalachian State University. His professional experience includes performances as clarinetist with the U.S. Third Army Band, the Atlantic Community Orchestra, the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, and twenty-eight years with the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra. In 1991, after teaching for thirty-five years, he retired from public school service. Mr. Rooker has served the band section of NCMEA as state president and was given their Award of Excellence in 1991. In 1998 he received the Excellence in Teaching of Music Award from the North Carolina School for the Arts. He has also served as national president of the American School Band Directors Association, and, in the summer of 2002, ASBDA presented Mr. Rooker the Edwin Franko Goldman Award. In the fall of 2003, he was inducted into the North Carolina Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame. Mr. Rooker remains active as an adjudicator, clinician, and mentor throughout the United States.
John M. Stoner Jr. President and CEO of Conn-Selmer, Inc. – Designated by Tim Lautzenheiser
John M. Stoner, Jr. is the president of Conn-Selmer, Inc., a division of Steinway Musical Instruments. Since joining the company in 2002, John has led Conn-Selmer in providing the finest brass, woodwind, percussion and string instruments for everyone from the finest professional players to beginning students and hobbyists. With 27 years of experience in cons umer hard goods, John has been in sales, marketing and general management roles, most recently as president of Ames True Temper. John was directly responsible for integrating Ames, a $250 million business and True Temper, a $125 million business that involved rationalization of manufacturing, sales, marketing and distribution. As a parent, John has experienced the benefits of music education through his daughter’s school music program. Coupling this experience with his vast business knowledge has resulted in the growth of Conn-Selmer and a vision of every individual playing a musical instrument. In John’s own words, “if more people bought what we have to sell, the world would be a better place.” During John Stoner’s career at Conn-Selmer, he has navigated the company through a dramatic shift in competitive manufacturing which has left the Company as the only major manufacturer of musical instruments in the United States. His efforts to provide instrument access to individuals at every economic level have helped to expand music performance opportunities. Through a series of acquisitions and organizational moves, John has placed the Conn-Selmer squarely in the middle of worldwide competition by controlling costs, improving quality and providing better availability of the Company’s products.
Steven G. Trull Vice President of Marketing and Sales, DeMoulin Bros. – Designated by Bob Buckner, Western Carolina University
Mr. Trull is a 1974 graduate of Western Carolina University. His first teaching position was at Hayesville High School in Hayesville, NC. There he established award winning concert and marching bands before joining Bob Buckner as co-director of the Sylva Webster Golden Eagle Band located in Sylva, NC. In 1980 he started his own company Appalachian Band Accessories, and continued to serve as a clinician and adjudicator for concert and marching events on the east coast. In 1982 he joined a uniform manufacturing concern in southwest Missouri and began the work of building a national sales organization for that company over the ensuing four years. In 1988 he joined the management team at DeMoulin Brothers & Company in Greenville, IL. He currently serves as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, overseeing the sales operations for all products and brands currently offered by DeMoulin. Mr. Trull has authored a number of articles relevant to the music industry for numerous publications over the past 20 years. He serves as industry representative for the country’s largest band organization The National Band Association. There he continues to meet with and counsel other music representatives on both the high school and university levels, concerning matters affecting music educators today. In recent years he has spearheaded sponsorships between DeMoulin Brothers and Drum Corps International as well as with the Music Educator’s National Association and Sportslink to produce the nation’s first All American Marching Band which has added considerable interest to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He currently resides in Greenville, Illinois with his wife of 34 years. They have two grown children.
Davey Yarborough Entertainer and Educator – Designated by Tom Lee, American Federation of Musicians
Davey Yarborough is a native of Washington, DC who has been wowing audiences for twenty years. He is a fine flautist and saxophonist as well as a distinguished composer, arranger, bandleader, and teacher. After formal training from UDC and Howard, he studied with flute master, Frank Weiss, and saxophone with the great Sonny Stitt. These intensive and challenging have served him well not only as a performer but as a composer and teacher. Throughout his career he has performed with some of the greatest stars in the jazz constellation: Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, Clark Terry, Jimmy Weatherspoon, and Joe Williams. In addition top his own quartet, he has appeared in several collaborations including “Eternal Equinox” with Joe Harris, Hilton Felton, and Nasar Abadey, as well as “Covington-Seals-Yarborough” w/ Charles Covington, Richard Seals, and Davey. His versatility as a performer, composer and arranger propelled him to such interesting projects as creating and performing the background music for “The Cosby Show,” writing the musical soundtrack for the movie “Uptown Angel,” and writing and arranging a musical tribute to Sonny Stitt and John Malachi. Besides playing at clubs and concert halls, Yarborough has also played at major jazz festivals including the East Coast Jazz Festival and the Blues/Jazz festival of San Remo, Italy. Yarborough is helping to shape a whole new generation of exciting jazz performers through his dedicated and inspiring work as a distinguished teacher at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts in Washington, DC. He not only teaches saxophone but also serves as the Coordinator for Jazz Studies and directs the Jazz Orchestra.
