Salvation Army Houston, Texas, Gulf Coast Area Band History of Dan Ross is a brief account of my Salvation Army history in Houston, Texas, where I attended the Salvation Army Houston Temple Corps and I led the Salvation Army Texas Gulf Coast Area Band. The band and timbrels were very enjoyable.
We left Seattle and moved to Houston, Texas, so I could attend grad school. It was difficult to leave the kids behind that we had shepherd duty over for three years. After we had been in Houston for awhile, J.D. Hopps sent us this photo of him leading the Young People's Band we had formed at the Seattle Temple Corps. Most corps in the United States would have given their eye teeth to have a band like this in ANY capacity in their corps. J.D. Hopps was the perfect leader for this band. When J.D. was 14 years old, he was old enough to become a Senior Soldier in the Salvation Army. That meant he was finally old enough to play in a Senior Band. He played in the Senior Band in Joliet, Illinois. The best indicator of the level of musicianship attained by J.D. Hopps is that at the age of 14, he not only became a Senior Soldier in the Joliet, Illinois Corps and their Senior band, but he was installed in the mighty Chicago Staff Band playing Solo Horn. AT THE AGE OF 14!! He became one of the first instructors when the Central Territory Music Institute (CMI) was created. At some time, J.D. Hopps entered the Salvation Army School for Officers Training in the Central Territory. After J.D. became a member of the Chicago Staff Band playing solo horn, he ended up attending the Joliet Township High School. His first year there, he played French Horn in the school orchestra because he thought he would not be good enough to get into the High School band. However, when he went for an audition, the band director found out he played in the Joliet Salvation Army Band and the Chicago Staff Band and told him he would be added to the Joliet Township High School Band band with no audition. Here's why J.D. was doubtful about getting into the band: In 1913 three Rotarians--Al Oldhaver, Herb Spencer, and Art Montzheimer, served on the board of Joliet Township High School. Joliet Rotary purchased the instruments and uniforms for the start of the high school marching band from Rotarian George Wiswell's Music Store. The High School Band went on to become State Champions in 1924, 1925, and 1926. They won National Championships in 1926, 1927, and 1928, and then received permanent possession of the cup. In 1929, they were a guest band at Denver, because they could not participate after three successive victories. In 1930, they lost by one point to Senn High from Flint, Michigan. They won again in 1931 and then won all regional contests up to 1964 when the high school split into three schools. Mr. McAllister was a personal friend of John Philip Sousa, and Sousa directed the band in concert on several occasions. It was the only high school band given permission to play his music. The band played for every departing group of servicemen from Joliet for both world wars and Korea. Mr. McAllister was especially proud of this record, and to him it was one of the band's most important achievements. The band has played for every president since Woodrow Wilson, with the exception of President Harry Truman. On January 29, 1953, it led the Illinois section of President Eisenhower's inaugural parade and received the highest number of points of any musical group in the entire parade. It also received a standing salute from President Eisenhower when it passed the reviewing stand. Taken from: http://www.jolietrotary.com/saved_joliet.htm While J.D. Hopps was in that band, in addition to winning every contest the band was ever in, the band was invited to play at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. John Philip Sousa had died about four years before J.D. got into the High School band and Edwin Franko Goldman took Sousa's place as the most popular band director in the United States. He was a good friend of The Salvation Army and had close relations with the New York Staff Band of the Salvation Army and had also been guest conductor of the Chicago Staff Band on several occasions. Goldman was based in New York City and he found out that J.D. Hopps was arriving in New York City with the High School Band. He invited J.D. to his office and chatted with him for an hour or so. The Joliet Township High School Band played four concerts in Radio City Music Hall on that trip. They had to memorize all of their music because the producers of the show would not allow any music stands on the stage. Durign these concerts, the band played "The Stars and Stripes Forecer" to accompany the Rockettes in one of their high kicking routines. In the mid 50s, J.D. moved west and ended up in Seattle, Washington. Several years after coming to Seattle, J.D. took up the duty of training children in music at the Salvation Army music camps at Camp Arnold. For years he taught there. The Central Territory instigated the "Old Timers Band" at the CMI camps and invited J.D. Hopps to play in the band with other past members of the Chicago Staff Band and the prior CMI instructors. Until about four years ago, J.D. went to Chicago frequently to play in the Old Timers Band. They played the toughest music the Salvation Army had to offer and J.D. would bring back tape recordings of their performances. He would play them for me and I was always amazed at the quality of the Alto Horn sections of these bands. At age 79, he stopped attending the CMI band camps and the Old Timers Band. Since I have known J.D. Hopps, he has either been the best Brass instrumentalist in the Northwest Division or in the top three. There literally has never been a better alto horn player in this division in all of that time up to this very day. J.D. Hopps was, and still is, one of the best musicians in the Northwest Division of The Salvation Army. |
Visit Salvationist.org. Register to find old friends. Tell which Salvation Army corps you have attended in the past and now. Your friends will be able to find you. We've found friends we hadn't seen in thirty years within minutes after registering. |
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Tell your Salvation Army friends about this website. Chapter Ten about our Seattle Temple Corps Experience is going to be very interesting, but you have to read every chapter in order to understand Chapter 10. You won't be disappointed. |
Dan Ross Bonna Ross Jordana Ross Dan
& Bonna Ross Dan and Bonna Ross drdan71, drdan71@aol.com cornucopiagenealogica
09/30/03
NFL,
Salvation Army dedicates new football field for youngsters
About 100 kids whooped and hollered and ran around
in Tuesday afternoon's chill, marking the official dedication
of a football field at the Salvation Army in Pasadena. Also on
hand were dignitaries from the Salvation Army, the city of Pasadena
and the National Football League -- including former Washington
Redskins star and Houston native Darrell Green.
Christianity Today, Week of July 9
White House to Salvation Army: No Soup for You! Plus: Tammy Faye
at a gay pride rally, Wal-Mart and church duke it out, and other
stories from media around the world.
Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 7/11/01 White House won't go to
bat for religious organizations against local laws If Bush is
trying to rally support for his faith-based initiative, maybe
this isn't the best way to do it. In a short statement released
yesterday, press secretary Ari Fletcher said, "The White
House will not pursue the [Office of Management and Budget] regulation
proposed by the Salvation Army and reported today." That
regulation, as Weblog noted yesterday, would have protected churches
and faith-based organizations that receive federal funds from
having to hire workers who disagree with their religious teachings.
The specific controversy in this case has been whether the Salvation
Army,Äîa church that already receives $330 million
annually from the federal government,Äîwould be forced
to hire homosexuals. Federal regulations going back to the 1964
Civil Rights Act allow religious organizations to hire only employees
who share their religious commitments, but the issue gets a lot
trickier when municipal governments start mandating that charities
adhere to local anti-discrimination laws. As Salvation Army spokesman
David Fuscus explains to the Chicago Tribune, "What's happening
now is that when you get communities insisting that because [a
group] is using federal dollars to fund homeless shelters or what
have you, that they cannot hire ministers in the way they want
to hire ministers, what happens is the church walks away from
those contracts and the people who are hurt are the people who
are on the street."