53 years of legacy: Hallsville Band Director enters 53rd year of teaching

HALLSVILLE, Texas (KLTV) - Knowing the Hallsville Bobcat Band means knowing their leader.

Entering her 53rd year working for Hallsville, Sherri Morgan’s love for the band began back when she was only 12, so a total of 60 years of her life have been devoted to the Bobcat Band.

“This is not my job when I come up here, this is my life,” Morgan said.

53 years of music...of marching... with Sherri Morgan leading the charge.

“One of the constants in Hallsville,” Andrew Comer, former student of Morgan’s and current Hallsville assistant junior high band director, said. “Everybody knows Sherri Morgan. This town is a band community for a reason. And it’s not because of how well we play, how well we march or what we look like of Friday nights. But it’s because of the impact she provides to this town.”

“I decided in the 8th grade that I wanted to be a band director,’ Morgan said.

Joining the Bobcat Band in the fifth grade, graduating from Hallsville in 1970, Morgan’s musical roots run deep.

As a percussionist, she broke her first barrier.

“People would say: Look! That’s a girl drummer! Because there weren’t very many girl drummers,” Morgan said.

After college, she returned to Hallsville and broke another one.

“There weren’t very many girl band directors at the time. People said: ‘Oh a woman band director? They can’t discipline, they can’t do all this stuff,’” Morgan said.

And over the past five decades, she’s proved them wrong.

“I feel like God puts you where he wants you to be. He placed me here. At first, I was the momma. Now I’m the grandma!” Morgan said.

Speaking of family, she’s taught her own children, who also grew up to work in music education. Now she’s teaching her youngest grandson.

“My kids grew up in the band hall!” Morgan said.

“I gotta make sure I’m doing good in my classes or they’re gonna send me to her office,” Morgan’s grandson, Asher Johnson, joked.

“She’s shown me what it means to never quit. I aspire to be like that. She’s given me something to look up to,” Johnson said.

Her leadership has turned students into family, too.

“Whether it’s a home or school situation, she’s always encouraging and helpful,” band member Abby Gillaspie said.

43 of her former students not only became band directors, but some came back to teach alongside Morgan.

“When I first moved here from Arkansas, I was so scared. It was so much bigger than my junior high at home. Mrs. Morgan already knew my name and that made me feel safe and known,” Comer said, “That’s a big reason why I made the decision to stick with (Hallsville band).”

“We’ve got Hallsville-made band directors all over the area — in fact, some have already retired! I’m still here. Still growing,” Morgan said.

“Her legacy is more about the people who have come through in those 53 years. I think she said it was hundreds, but, I promise, it’s thousands,” Shannon Johnson, Morgan’s daughter said.

Sherri hopes her legacy continues growing by the students who take it over.

“When I finally walk out that door and say, ‘Bye!’ I know they’re in good hands. It’s part of their heart like it has been in mine all these years,” Morgan said.

Just like Morgan, all of her kids also played percussion in band, and that tradition now moves on to her grandchildren.

She currently has no set retirement plans, but says maybe the 55th year will be the one.