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Band honors alumnus with memorial concert
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Written by Kimberly Terrazas, Editor-in-Chief
A bag of brightly colored lollipops hung from alumnus Matthew Parrish’s wheelchair. He passed out candy one-by-one to the friends he had met during his four years in band. Parrish suffered with muscular dystrophy for his entire life and just last year, Parrish graduated after eight years of high school at the age of 22. And just four days after his graduation, Parrish passed away with cardiac complications.
After his sudden death, his family decided to donate his graduation money to the band. The organization then decided to turn the donation into a scholarship in Parrish’s name to help students pay for additional music lessons that may not be able to afford it and created Music for Matthew, a concert and fundraiser to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).
“He always had one place in the band hall where he was. It was his one spot. So it was kind of tough and odd to walk in and see that Matthew wasn’t there,” Band Director Mr. Todd Toney said.
Parrish had loved music since he was a child and treasured the drum set he received one Christmas. But when Parrish first joined the band after the Special Education department suggested it, it was difficult to find an instrument that he could comfortably hold. Eventually he found a good fit in the shaker and was given a seat in the percussion section next to the drum majors.
“There were a number of kids that would take care of him,” Mr. Toney said. “The percussion section did a really good job making sure he had his instruments and had his [uniform] on.”
A major reason why Parrish was able to participate in band was with the communal efforts of the Band and Special Education departments and the support of his parents.
“Anything that Matthew wanted to do, his parents were right there,” Life Skills teacher Caryn Teeling said. “They helped be an advocate for what he wanted to do.”
Being a part of the band helped Parrish make friends and allowed him to be more sociable.
“He wanted people to go up and say ‘Hi’ every morning,” junior Courtney Allen said. “More people enjoyed his company, so he had plenty of friends.”
Being a part of the band became really important to Parrish. He always made an effort to make it to all of the football games even though it was sometimes a struggle to make it to the away games because of his need of special transportation. Parrish’s family supported him any way they could and helped make sure that his disabilities did not interfere with the band in any way.
“[Being in the band] was extremely important,” Sharon Parrish said. “He really enjoyed the camaraderie and going to the football games and playing. He is an inspiration to a lot of the band members.”
Music for Matthew will be held on March 3 at the Richardson Civic Center to raise money for both the scholarship fund and for MDA. The fundraiser will include a concert made up of professional bands and a silent auction. The event will be hosted by ’96 graduate and KSCS DJ Allan Peck.
“It really touched all of us, because he meant a lot to us and other students,” Ms. Teeling said. “It was nice that the parents decided to give [money to] where he wanted to be.”
Many students connected with Parrish while he was in band and believed he played an important role there.
“He was more than a person on the sideline,” 2010 graduate Kyle Moore said. “He was a major impact to us all.”
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March 4th, 2011 at 7:07 am
Moving story! You did a wonderful job reporting.