“For more than six decades, Jay Decker influenced Wichita through music,” writes Beccy Tanner in Tuesday’s (8/8) Wichita Eagle (Kansas). “Dr. Decker died July 31…. He was born May 20, 1935, in Sioux City, Iowa…. As a child, Jay Decker played the piano, then the trumpet. But in seventh grade, he became a cellist…. He went to Wichita University—now Wichita State University—and became a music education major and played cello in the Wichita Symphony… He also earned degrees from the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. There, he founded the Springfield Youth Symphony and was director of orchestras at the University of Missouri-Kansas City—and a freelance cellist. He was conductor of the Kansas City Civic Ballet. In 1971, he returned to Wichita where he became director of orchestras at Wichita State and was named music director of the Wichita State. He also became associate conductor of the Wichita Symphony and served as conductor of the Wichita Symphony Youth Symphony from 1972 until 1986, and was active as a guest conductor of the WSO for Young People’s Concerts, holiday concerts, Ballet Wichita’s ‘Nutcracker’ and Riverfest Twilight Pops until 2015…. In 1998 … he conducted his final symphony concert as associate conductor for the Wichita Symphony.”
Posted August 9, 2017
