Wallingford-Swarthmore mourns beloved music teacher
Jack Hontz led program for more than three decades
NETHER PROVIDENCE » Tributes began pouring in Friday as soon as word spread that Jack Hontz, the longtime inspirational founder and director of Strath Haven High School’s marching band, had died.
Hontz, who was also supervisor of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District’s K-12 music program, passed away sud- denly Friday afternoon after suffering a heart attack.
“Despite our collective grief over a such a tremendous loss, we have a sense of gratitude for being part of a school community that included a man who was so generous of his time and talents, so compassionate in his leadership of students and staff, and so dedicated and warm in supporting our entire student body,” said MaryJo Yannacone, the high school’s principal, wrote in a note to the community Friday night.
“Jack served a vital role at Strath Haven High School and indeed, across the Wallingford-Swarthmore community. He was a mentor, friend, colleague and inspiration to us all, and in him, we witnessed the very best a person can be.”
Yannacone said the district’s Summer Band and String School, which began last Tuesday, would go on because Hontz would have wanted the students to “continue to learn and develop a love for music.”
To help those struggling with the loss, the district was making counselors available at the school for four hours Saturday.
With one of the largest high school marching bands in the region, if not the country, Hontz touched countless lives during his roughly 35 years with the district. That included Friday night football games, when the 400-plus member band took the field, its enormity and crisp coordination wowing those looking on.
“For 13 years straight I sat in the stands and watched this wonderful man enact his vision. He created a safe place inside a pressurized, competitive school where everyone could be included and participate in making something way bigger than the sum of its parts,” parent Jil Liiu wrote on a social media site.
She observed that Hontz “mentored, challenged, inspired, and yelled at all three of my children in different ways. He did this with everyone, and he did something that is so rare. He made the marching band be cool, and the people in it were the coolest. Peace to him, peace to his family, and a gaping hole is left for all of us that can never be quite filled.”
Another parent, Debra Vierra Becht, wrote that she had a hard time imagining the school “without this bigger-than-life, hugeheart, wonderful man. He was such an important influence in my daughter’s life and encouraged her when she decided to take up the drums.
“It’s so important for teens to be believed in and he was that person. He was a force of nature and included everyone no matter their ability in his band family. My heart hurts for his family, the students and our community.”
Hontz came to the district in 1982, fresh out of the music program at West Chester University, with the assigned mission
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