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Music Boosters induct newest members of Owatonna Music Hall of Fame

OHS, Hall of fame, music, owatonna, mn
By
Karen M. Jorgensen, Contributing Writer

After a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Owatonna Music Boosters recently inducted three new Hall of Fame classes. 

The first honorees were inducted in 2019. While the classes of 2020 and 2021 were chosen, the official programs were postponed.

Those two classes, along with the Class of 2022, were recognized last Tuesday night during a reception at Owatonna High School (OHS) and introduced at the annual Pops Concert. They include:

 

Class of 2020

Carol Jensen, a 1963 OHS graduate, played French horn in the band and orchestra and was a member of the choir and Carolers. Since 1975, she has been the conductor of the St. Anthony Orchestra and since 1988 the conductor/coordinator of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Tuba Christmas.

Currently she plays with and/or subs with the Sheldon Theater Brass Band, the Twin Cities Trumpet Ensemble, the Twin Cities Horn Club, the Minneapolis Trombone Choir, the Minnesota State Band and the Roseville Big Band. She is retired from the U.S. Army, where she played with the Women Army Corps Band.

She has also performed, and appeared as a soloist or conducted, with numerous professional and community orchestras and bands and has written solos and ensembles including works for orchestras.

Ray Lacina is from Fullerton, N.D. and has degrees from North Dakota State University and Michigan State University.

He taught band in Waubun, Minn., and chorus in Michigan before coming to Owatonna, where he taught elementary and junior high band for 32 years, retiring in 2002.

He directed the high school stage band, started the junior high jazz band, directed adult church choir, and participated the community band and community orchestra.

He was also co-chair of Arts Week during the Owatonna Sesquicentennial in 2004, served on the Arts Center board, and was active in the Little Theatre of Owatonna, where he played in and directed the LTO pit orchestra and performed on stage. He is still active on the LTO scholarship committee. He was a bugler in the Steele County Honor Guard for over 15 years.

The Meisels can trace their origins of their business back 300 years, all within the same family. Lothar Meisel and his father Kurt are the 8th and 9th generations of violin makers in a family heritage that began in Germany during the 17th century. Lothar escaped from behind the Iron Curtain in early 1949 and emigrated to the U.S. in 1953 and his parents followed in 1954.

Lothar and Kurt met OHS orchestra director Arnold Krueger during a workshop on violin making and repair in Cleveland, Ohio. The meeting led to the Meisel’s opening their workshop in Owatonna where they created violins for more than 50 years. That is also where Lothar met his wife, Pat, who was a music teacher in Albert Lea. She brought instruments to the Meisel workshop for repair.

Laurie Meister, a 1972 graduate of OHS, where she played piano, violin and harp with the orchestra and was a member of the choir and Carolers. She holds a Bachelor of Music, Harp Performance, degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Master of Music, Harp Performance, from Rice University in Houston. She has served on the faculties of the Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Camp in Michigan and the American Festival for the Arts in Houston.

Meister has been guest harpist with the St. Louis Symphony, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. A free-lance musician, she plays as a first-call substitute with the Houston Symphony and principal of the Houston River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and has performed as principal harpist with the Green Bay Symphony, the Brazos Valley Symphony, and the Houston Symphony.

 

Class of 2021

Alonzo Gutterson is likely not a name most Owatonnans are familiar with, but he is described as among the town’s earliest and most influential cultural leaders. He was founder of the Beethoven Musical Association and from 1871 to 1891, this group grew from recitals with a variety of popular and classical music to mounting large scale musicals, operettas and oratorios in Owatonna. At its peak, the group drew performers and audience members from Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Jack Hockenberry was born in Dayton, Ohio, and after high school, attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial design. He worked as an industrial designer for a variety of companies, including the Wenger Corp. in Owatonna.

Hockenberry was a member of the Owatonna Community Band, the Roger Tenney Chorale, Owatonna Jazz Band and the Austin Symphony. In the early 1980s, the Owatonna Public Schools were faced with major budget cuts, including to the music program. John and Nancy Hockenberry became very involved in saving the music program. Hockenberry was the first leader of the Owatonna Music Boosters.

Peter Schleif is currently in his 27th year of teaching vocal music. He has directed school, church and community choirs in Colorado, North Dakota, and Minnesota. His choirs have performed throughout the United States and in Austria, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Finland, and Sweden.

A 1990 graduate of OHS, he was active in band, orchestra, choir, and as a two-sport athlete. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College in Morehead, where he studied with René Clausen, and he did graduate work at the University of Minnesota and St. Mary’s University.

He is currently the director of the Vocal Performance Program at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, and the associate conductor of I Cantanti, a community choir based in Northfield, as well as the adult choir director at Bethel Lutheran Church.

 

Class of 2022

John Holland is a graduate of New Ulm High School, attended the University of Minnesota and graduated from Mankato State University with an education degree in instrumental music. He began teaching in Owatonna in 1969 and during his tenure worked with elementary, junior high and senior high students.

Holland played for 25 years in the Steele Brass Quintet at church services, weddings, and other local events. He directed the Owatonna Community Band for 20-plus years including many “7 at 7” concerts in Central Park, the opening ceremonies for the Steele County Fair, and other community events.

Judy Thon Jones’ love of music began with her parents Jim and Betty Thon, owners of the Thon Company. She started her music education in Owatonna with piano lessons with Portia Johnson and continued with violin lessons with Arnold Krueger, Pat Meisel and Arnold Krueger Jr. Roger Tenney encouraged her love and appreciation for singing and choral music, and Faith Risser was an inspiration for singing in both school and church.

Jones graduated from OHS in 1983 and participated in orchestra, dinner ensemble, concert choir, Carolers, Big Nine Orchestra and Choir, and All State Orchestra. She has a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from St. Olaf College.

After graduation she moved back to Owatonna and taught private violin lessons. She played piano and organ at the Associated Church from 1987 to 2020, played first violin with the Minnesota Opera Orchestra from 1995 to 2015 and was concertmaster with the Rochester Orchestra from 1993 to 2001.

She has played in various other professional ensembles including the Minneapolis Pops, Minnesota Sinfonia, Vocal Essence, and Minneapolis Chamber Symphony/Philomusica. Other chamber music groups included the Owatonna String Quartet with Mark Gitch, Jen Bellefeuille/John Anderson, Lisa Revier, and the Rosewood String Quartet.

The Thon Company’s roots in Owatonna date back to 1881. In 1951, Jim and Betty Thon acquired the business. They operated multiple retail businesses, but Jim’s passion was always music. He had been a music student of Harry Wenger and assisted him in building some early music prototypes in Wenger’s garage.

Jim directed music for Little Theatre productions, played in the Elks Band and was an original member of the Music Boosters. When Gail Lipelt advertised in 1972 that he wanted to sell Lipelt’s Music Shop, Jim left his breakfast unfinished to purchase the business.

Music with Thon was a full line music store. The inventory included pianos, organs, string and band instruments, guitars, music books, sheet music, harmonicas, records, cassettes, and stereos. Music lessons and instrument repairs were available, and Dave Folland began his violin-making career there.

Music with Thon provided a beginning band and orchestral instrument rental program with the schools. They also sponsored a monthly newspaper article and annual banquet honoring the “Outstanding Youth Musician” recipients. Music with Thon was sold in 1990 to Jerry and Janet Besser who operate it today as Tone Music.

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