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A picture of Ron Pettus.

Ron Pettus

Baritone & Tenor Saxophone
Member 1986-2018
Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Ron Pettus was an important organizer for the band, especially for the legal side of things: charter, bylaws, incorporating with the state of MO and acquiring not-for-profit status. But his influence was often behind the scenes. He saw things that needed to be done and just went and did them.

Ron organized our first (and only) fund raiser, the Bob Bucks campaign, to purchase timpani. And we didn’t have to sell anything or put on a bingo game! He was a key organizer and fundraiser for Community Band Weekend. He was on the board and served as Band president in 1998 and 1999.

Even with all of that, Ron’s most lasting contribution to the Band is probably in our culture. Ron’s sense of humor, dry and somewhat sly, was evident across multiple venues. He was the original author of the “mostly weekly” “Almost Official Band Notes” that kept the band informed of what was going on, and where to be as we started to play concerts regularly. And he did it with his trademark humor and wit, thus setting the tone of the band’s culture.

Ron’ humor was most evident in his creation of Wolfgang von Crescendo and our band mythology / history. Who is Wolfgang you ask? Ron introduced the character as the anonymous Editor in Chief of those original Band Notes as “the nefarious Wolfgang with a murky past and an even more opaque present.” Wolfgang seemed to know and comment on every foible and picadillo of the band through the original run of Band Notes in 1987, as the ‘author’ of the Band History in our Fact & Fiction section of the website, and through the second run of Band Notes in the mid-1990s. This started our tradition of creating other mythological contributors like Ima Nosebrat and Ollie Langhorst.

Other instances of Ron using his humor to serve the band have made it into band lore, including “Almost Official” band hero awards, where he and his wife Joyce handmade individual awards to commemorate what members had done over the previous year – think a 3-D version of a high school yearbook awards section, done in foam board and pipe cleaners! And, as the emcee for numerous Ensemble Concerts and a Spring Concert or two, he kept the programs moving along while eliciting belly laughs from the audience with wry commentary about the band.

Ron was an accomplished musician. His first instrument with the band was tenor sax. But he saw a need for the low tones and switched to baritone sax. In fact, he was the Bari Sax section for a number of years. He played in many different ensembles for our annual Ensemble Concert, including the Sax Operators, Dixie Rhythm Kings and an AHCB Big Band. He was a life-long pianist and taught himself how to play trombone towards the end of his life.

As one of our founding members, for his humor and wit, and all he did behind the scenes, we welcome Ron to the 2024 class of our Hall of Fame. Ron retired from the band several years ago for health reasons. Unfortunately, he passed away in early 2025, but we were able to present his award to him in the last weeks of his life. His son Jason, who witnessed the presentation, commented:

“I believe that out of all the honors that came his way during his long life, this is the one he was proudest of.”

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