American Legion Jr. Drum & Bugle
Corps, part 3
I. What Happened After the 1939 Contest?
1939
After winning the state championships
in 1936, 37, & 38, the director, Bob Dean, resigned
Dallas
Donaly, their state champion drummer, became the new director.
He led
them in the 1939 contest where they came in 3rd. Dallas was again named the
champion drummer
October – Dallas Donaly resigned as director of
the Kearney Legion Junior drum corps
He had
graduated from Kearney High the previous May & now was attending Kearney
Teachers College
He resigned as director because school work prevented him from devoting the
time necessary to the corps
Arthur Harrell agreed to take over leadership of
the corps.
He was the instrumental music supervisor for the Kearney schools, director
of the Kearney High and city bands
Also that year the Kearney Fire Department Drum
and Bugle Corp, had not been active for two years
They
voted to turn their drums and bugles, a dozen each, over to the Kearney
Junior drum and bugle corps.
The
understanding was if the junior corps ever disbanded, the instruments would
be returned to the fire depart.
1940
Arthur Harrell, the music
teacher, was director again; Dewayne Wolf was the drum major
August - Fire department
reorganized their drum and bugle corps for their state convention so the
Fire Department instruments used by Legion corps probably used by both
groups
Apparently the Kearney corps did not do well at the American Legion state
convention.
Holdrege won but no mention was made of Kearney
1941
Now the American Legion had both a senior and junior drum and bugle corps
They performed together frequently during that summer
No mention is made of either group entering the annual contest
Then World War II began
and the drum and bugle corps disappeared
I was curious about the two men who had directed
the Corps
II. Bob Dean
Born Aug. 4, 1916 in Kearney
Started a boys’ band
when he was 11, probably summer 1928; practiced on his front porch
Sept. 1933, having just turned 17, he took
leadership of the newly formed American Legion Jr. Drum & Bugle Corps
He
probably was a senior in high school
After graduation Bob attended Kearney State
Teachers College
Besides leading the Corps, which practiced year
round, Bob
1. played in the school orchestra
2.
directed the Kearney Municipal Band
3. had
his own dance band
Resigned as drum & bugle corps leader because he
had graduated from college in May 1938 and accepted a teaching job in Wells,
Nevada
1939-1941 – Wells Nevada, music supervisor in music department where his
orchestra and several small groups rated high in state contests.
Married Dorothea Weeks Aug
17, 1941
Served
in the Army during WWII
When he returned, Bob got a masters degree
from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
24 years as band director at Spencer, IA
9 years as band director at Mason City, IA
14 years as professor of music at University of
Northern Iowa
Died Sept 29, 1994 in Cedar Falls, Iowa; he was 78 years old
III. Samuel Dallas
Donaly
Born in Kearney April 3, 1921, son of a barber, Samuel Donaly
1939 – graduated from high
school
1939-40
& 1940-41- Attended Kearney State Teachers Collage
Was
business manager for the school paper, the Antelope
Was a
member of the college symphony orchestra in the percussion section
Was a
member of Laddie Lysinger’s orchestra (a classmate)
Spring 1941 – left school;
went to work at Fort Kearney State Bank
July 12, 1942 – Married Ruth Jane Olson of
Hollinger, NE [an unincorporated community in Furnas County]
She had
graduated from Beaver City high school
May 1942 graduated from Kearney State Teachers college.
July 18, 1942 – Reported
for duty at Fort Logan, Colo.
Donaly
was stationed at Ft. Warren, Cheyenne, Wyoming (where he was assigned to
train a group of WAACs for a
drum corps) and then at Grand Island before going to Europe for his last 10
months of service
Feb. 1946 – Discharged, returned to Kearney and
his job at the Fort Kearney National bank as a teller.
C. M
Stenberg, teller in the Fort Kearney National bank, went to Crofton to serve
as cashier in a new bank. He
had came to Kearney a little more than three years earlier.
Donaly immediately became
active in the American Legion
He
worked at reorganizing the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps.
Was
elected president of the Kearney Legion drum corps board
Board voted to sponsor a senior corps and decided to withhold any action on
junior corps until a later date when
equipment again became available.
1949 – organized the Sam
Donaly orchestra which played at least through 1955
July 1954 – Final Concert
of Summer Season At Park Sunday
Dance
band musicians were featured. Dallas Donaly played drums
Dec 1955 – Still had his
orchestra
1960 –
Donaly Samuel D JR (Ruth J) Asst Cashier First National Bank r2214 5th Ave
(city directory entry)
Then, sometime after that Dallas apparently left
Kearney
He and
his wife divorced; in 1965 he remarried
Died Feb. 13, 1981 in Norton, Kansas, age 60;
buried in Kearney Cemetery by his parents
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