DePriest duo bids adieu

MT. PLEASANT—Jim and Marlene DePriest will retire at the end of the 2022-23 school year after over 30 years with the Mt. Pleasant Community Schools Music Program.

For the last 40 years Jim has worked as a high school band director.

“Jim gets to the school by 4 am each day to get to work,” said long-time music program volunteer and photographer Dave Schneider. “I know there are days when both don’t get home till late in the evening, especially when the music department is preparing for special events like dessert theater, All-State auditions, show choir rehearsals, plays and musicals.”

“My first nine years, I was in smaller programs,” Jim said. “I taught fifth grade through high school, at one school, which is typical of most small programs.”

While he got his start in smaller schools places like Stewart, near West Des Moines, West Burlington, and Burlington, Jim always had his eyes on a position with Mt. Pleasant Schools.

As Iowa Wesleyan graduates, Marlene and Jim were already familiar with the Mt. Pleasant community.

“I actually applied for this job [at Mt. Pleasant High School] when I graduated,” Jim said. “This was the first application I ever put in, but I didn’t have enough experience.”

According to DePriest, experience was really necessary to hold the position of High School Band Director in Mt. Pleasant.

“So, when it opened nine years later, I went after it,” he said.

Even with nine years of experience, DePriest found the expectations of a larger school were significantly greater.

“Everywhere I’ve been, there is something to be learned,” Jim said. “I have learned something new every day and every year.”

“I’ve never gotten to a point where I could say ‘I know it all now,’ because you just won’t,” he said. “This evolves. Things change, and you have to keep up with it. As a teacher, you have to evolve with the new generations.”

Jim, however, is persistent to redirect the focus from himself to his wife, Marlene, and the students with whom, he enjoys working.

“We laugh all the time, yet, at the same time, we can be serious,” Jim said. “The music is such a small part of it. It is being a part of their lives that is really pretty special. And I know that’s true for Marlene, too, for both of us.”

“There would be no me without, Marlene,” he said “We have been together in all of it.”

According to Jim, Marlene has been by his side the whole duration of his career.

“She literally was helping me at Stewart [his first position],” he said. “She was a couple of years behind me in school, but she would come over and help me with parades and things like that.”

“Yeah, without Marlene, there’s no way I could have done all the things that we’ve done here,” he said with a smile and thoughtful look.

Marlene additionally worked with Jim at Notre Dame and joined him at Mt. Pleasant only a year after he accepted this position.

Even before taking on an official position with the school district, Marlene began her work with the marching band color guard. She is the head of the vocal music department, and she and Jim work tirelessly with the high school’s theater department.

The distinctions between vocal and instrument are minimal for the DePriest’s and music staff at Mt. Pleasant, however.

“We've really tried to embrace is that you are in the music room,” Jim said. “You're not in the band room. And there is no choir room, at least for Marlene and I and for our entire staff.”

“This has always been a music department,” he said. “We're very unified from fifth grade elementary on up, and just have an amazing staff here at Mt. Pleasant, our music department all seems very cohesive.”

“Jim always runs the sound equipment for the elementary and middle school music concerts,” Schneider said.

“They both work tirelessly for the school district and the community,” Schneider said. “They make every student feel special and encourage them to move beyond their comfort zone.”

The DePriest have an easily apparent love for their community and country.

“They play a big role in setting up the sound system and chairs for the Memorial Day Service and provide music for that,” Schneider said. “Jim is very patriotic and encourages all the band students to play at that Memorial Day event.”

“Another patriotic thing he does is having the band play the National Anthem, often around the flag pole, on 9/ll in remembrance of Sept 11, 2001,” Schneider said. “He always gives a brief inspirational talk about what transpired on the marching band’s field when they were told our nation was under attack. Ironically, the band was playing America the Beautiful, when they found out the Twin Towers had been hit. That song was part of that fall’s marching band show about the Civil War.”

While the DePriest will embark on a new journey at the end of the school year, as always, they will do it together.

“It’s time,” Marlene said. “Yes, It’s very bittersweet, but it is good.”

“There was a band program long before I got here,” Jim said. “There was a choir program long before Marlene got here. There will be one long after we're gone.”

For Jim and Marlene, they see themselves as merely caretakers of the music program.

“The program belongs to the community.” Jim said. “We just happened to be the current caretakers.”

With the commitment and humility of the DePriest, it is no wonder they are beloved by the Mt. Pleasant Community, and in a sign of gratitude, the two will act as the Grand Marshals for the annual Holiday Parade Dec. 1.

“We can’t think of anyone more deserving than Mr. and Mrs. D to serve as the Grand Marshals. But of course, they only agreed if we let the students march with them. So, the DePriests and their students will be leading the parade this year,” said Mount Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance Executive Vice President Kristi Perry.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com