Saying Good-bye to John David Moore

This is an old picture (2013) of me and John David, but it is the way I always want to remember him. The day before yesterday I learned that he had died, and it has taken me a while to fully accept it.

John David, who was a member of the Eastern Illinois University English Department, shared an office with Michael during their first years in town.

He was an erudite and brilliant person who had many literary interests, but I believe he was hired to teach children's literature. He preferred to teach Victorian children's literature, much to the suprise of the students, who might have signed up for his classes in order to read "easy" books.

When he started work at EIU he thought of himself as a person who was once a pianist, but eventually he bought a piano, and found his way back to music. After a short time he became the pianist of the Eastern Trio, and toured around the state with the group playing concerts. When the music department no longer supported the Eastern Trio, John David was left without a musical outlet.

In the early 2000s I was still a "child" violinist and violist. I found myself talking with John David during a parade one Fourth of July, and we decided to read some music together.

We started right away with serious repertoire, and played our first concert together in 2002 or 2003 (I can't seem to find the program).

But I do have programs for many of the thirty-some-odd concerts concerts we played between 2005 and 2018.

We rehearsed every week, and sometimes twice a week when we were preparing a concert. And we read through as much obscure music as John David could find by way of interlibrary loan. It was with John David that I first "met" a great many excellent composers of the past who have been neglected, including Amanda Maier.

It will take a long time for me to sift through the huge treasure chest of musical memories I have had with him. He was like a brother to me. And he was a good friend.

I have posted about our musical adventures over the years. You can read all those posts here. And you can read Michael's post about John David here.