The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Staff, students remember beloved band director
WINSTED — The Gilbert School Principal Susan Sojka waxed poetic when asked about Edward F. Keeley, 89, the high school’s former band leader who died Feb. 24.
“Henry Adams wrote, ‘A teacher affects eternity; He can never tell where his influence stops.’ Although I did not know him, Mr. Keeley was responsible for influencing and instilling a love of music and life to so many of our alumni, their children and grandchildren,” Sojka said. “His effect on others was like dropping a pebble in the sea; you never truly know where the ripple ends.”
According to his obituary from his family on Legacy.com, Keeley, 89,
who was living in Manchester at the time of his death, founded The Gilbert School band program as an instrumental music teacher and conductor of bands for 24 years.
While in Winsted, Keeley organized the Laurel City Summer Band with concerts in the park each summer. Keeley also created The Gilbert School Summer Music Program for students from Winsted and surrounding towns. He conducted the Pleasant Valley Players musical theater orchestra for many years, and was a faculty member at the University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School.
“He was an institution and inspired many students. His bands numbered over 100 students. He took them from Disney World to Washington, D.C., and Boston,” said Gilbert School Superintendent Anthony Serio.
Astrid Robitaille, a William L. Gilbert trustee, said, “Ask any Gilbert alumni that was in The Gilbert School Band to share some of their fondest memories of high school, and chances are Mr. Keeley will figure prominently in all of them. The daily hour spent in the band room rehearsing difficult pieces, Mr. Keeley before us, wielding his quick wit as expertly as his baton, resulted in many top adjudications and awards throughout his years as band director.”
As Serio mentioned, Keeley organized yearly band trips, shepherding his group of 100-plus high school musicians along with a “cheering section” of parent chaperones, to locations from London, England, to San Diego, Calif., to Orlando, Fla.
Robitaille said that after his retirement, Keeley organized The Alumni Band, open to anyone who had played an instrument at Gilbert, as well as their family members. The band performed at the school’s annual Homecoming and Alumni Weekend.
“At these alumni gatherings as we tuned up our rusty horns and reminisced, we discovered that the love of music he instilled in us was still there, and in many instances had been passed on to our children, as through the years many professional musicians grew from among the ranks of the Gilbert Band,” Robitaille said. “The impact Mr. Keeley had on thousands of Winsted and Hartland students is impossible to measure, and I know I speak for so many of us when I say how very grateful we are to have had the opportunity to learn from him.”
A number of former students posted on Legacy.com. April Tofeldt called Keeley “A true legend and a wonderful man. He always brought out the best in all of us. I’m proud to have been a part of his second family, The Gilbert School Band. I will never forget him.”
Carolyn Rogers wrote, “Mr. Keeley was a perfectionist in a way that drove us to want to perform and perform very well. We were ready for every event, field show, adjudication, states, and trips. ‘Get rid of the gum, two feet on the floor, backs off your chair,’ he would say. He filled a room with music. He loved his craft and knew how to push his students to be their best.”
Peter Hohmeister said, “Such wonderful Gilbert High School band memories of Mr. Keeley. As a band director myself (now retired) and a professional musician, I was so lucky to have been exposed to Ed’s excellence and passion during my formative years. A life well lived.”
According to Legacy.com, Keeley was married to the late Lorraine Bonin Keeley and was born in Manchester, N.H., in 1932. He attended local schools in Manchester and graduated from St. Anselm’s College in 1953. He served with the 336th United States Army Band during the Korean War.
After his military service, he did his graduate work in music education at the University of New Hampshire, after which he began his teaching career as supervisor of music and director of choirs and bands in Newport, N.H., for five years. He then moved to Madison, New Jersey as band director at the junior high school there, and was assistant conductor of the Madison High School Band for two years. From there, he moved to Winsted and began his tenure at The Gilbert School.
In his retirement years, according to his family, Keeley developed an interest in cooking. His Tuesday night dinners became something his family looked forward to every week. He was an avid gardener who loved to grow his own vegetables and design flower gardens. Besides spending time with his family, he enjoyed playing golf, attending Hartford Symphony concerts, and was a fan of the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team.
According to Legacy.com, as a teacher, Keeley “touched the lives of so many students” and enjoyed the relationship he kept with many of them over the years. He said, “This supportive and loving family and the powerful relationship with so many of my student alumni is more than one should expect in a lifetime.”
Keeley had two daughters: Deborah, who predeceased him in 2013, and Carolyn Maas (and her husband Thomas) of Manchester, and several grandchildren. He is also survived by a sister, Rejeanne, and was predeceased by his sister, Rose.
A celebration of Keeley’s life will be held at a future date as determined by the family.