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Images from 1953-1954, includeing the first Michigan State Rose Bowl Trip!

Images from 1954-1955

For Highilights of each period of Stover's life, click on one of the links in the Navigation menu above!

CHARLES OSCAR STOVER

Charles Oscar Stover started his teaching career as a Junior High vocal teacher in the Coffeyville, Kansas, public schools in 1935. In 1942, he moved to Kansas Teacher's College of Pittsburg as band director and instructor of brass instruments. He served 2 1/2 years as a bandsman in the U.S. Army and then returned to Pittsburg to resume his duties. He accepted the position of Supervisor of Music of the Coffeyville Schools in 1947. He was also the Junior College band director and taught other classes in music. In the summer of 1952, he was given a leave of absence to complete his Doctorate at Michigan State University. In the spring of 1953, he was hired as an instructor of brass instruments there. In the fall of that year, he was made full-time assistant director of bands to Mr. Leonard Falcone and percussion instructor. He served in that capacity and as summer Youth Music Director until the fall of 1960 when he accepted the chairmanship of the music department at Northwestern State College in Alva, Oklahoma. He served in this capacity until his retirement in 1976. He continued to do part-time teaching until the spring of 1982. He continued to judge festivals and give clinics until his death in 1989. 

Mr. Stover was a a long-time member of MENC, the National Band Association, Oklahoma Bandmasters Association, Oklahoma Music Educators Association, College Band Directors National Association, Rotary International (Paul Harris Fellow), and Phi Beta Mu (Oklahoma State President for two years). He was on the Board of Advisors for Slingerland Drum Company for 12 years; he received a presidential appointment to the Board of Advisors for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He was listed in the "Who's Who in the South and Southwest" and in the "World Who's Who of Musicians." He was elected to the Oklahoma Bandmasters "Hall of Fame" in 1974. He has served as clinician and adjudicator in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Montana and Oklahoma.

About the Archives

Oscar Stover kept scrapbooks throughout his life, along with recordings of performances and numerous memorabilia from his career. He and his wife, Catherine, had no children. After accepting an offer to serve as Director of Bands at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in 2013, I initiated a general cleanup of the department, perhaps the first in over 30 years. As we dug through the boxes, Mr. Stover's personal effects were located and gradually reassembled. The find is nothing short of a miracle! The archives hold a portion of the history of the band program at Coffeyville High School (Kansas), Coffeyville Junior College, the band of the 13th U.S. Army Airborne Division (World War II), Michigan State University and Northwestern Oklahoma State University (Northwestern State College in Stover's Day). Numerous photographs and programs have been digitally scanned and uploaded as YouTube movies. In some cases, live performances from his library have been added to the slide shows.