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Longtime music educator and musician to be honored in October |
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Friday, 14 September 2007 |
Longtime musician and teacher Dick Croudis and Second Summer Production's Tim Daley. Croudis will be honored at a concert in October with proceeds shared between Second Summer and Newport Rotary Club. (Photo by Christopher Roy)
By CHRISTOPHER ROY
Express Staff Writer
At 90 years old, Richard "Dick" Croudis wakes up every morning singing a song. And it is no wonder. The long time Newport resident has been involved with music since he was a teenager living in Maine.
Croudis will be honored at North Country Union High School with a tribute next month that will feature the music he has written over his long life.
"I am 'out of this world,'" he said, referring to the tribute that will feature some of his former students playing and singing as well as fellow Rotarians. "That's quite an honor."
Croudis got his interest in music by singing in church. During his high school years, he played in band, took violin and voice lessons. He also joined a Dixieland Band that used to perform up and down the eastern seaboard.
"We would play at all the high school dances, so we never had an opportunity to dance with all the pretty girls," he said.
At first, they were a five piece band, but later became a 12 piece band. At the time, the band charged $75 to play at any function.
In his spare time, he enjoyed going to hear some of the greats such as Glen Miller and Benny Goodman. Croudis graduated from high school in 1935, but remained a member of the band until 1941. That was when he was drafted into World War II. Croudis received his basic training at Fort Bragg, N.C. and was later transferred to Fort Mead, Md, where his unit formed the Graves Registration outfit.
"We took care of all the people who were killed," he recalled
During his service time, Croudis served in North Africa for eight months where temperatures were upwards of 120 degrees.
"We could not do much of anything but sweat," he recalled, "I don't see how we could fight a war that way."
Croudis also spent two and half years in Italy where they built cemeteries. During his service, he was able to obtain a four day pass which he used to tour Rome, Italy.
"It was a beautiful city and was saved by both armies," he said. His final service days were spent in Naples before he returned to the United States on the ship General Richardson.
"There were 10,000 troops on that ship, and many of them were injured," he recalled, noting that they were near the Azores Islands when they got the news that they would be going to Boston instead of New York.
Once he was back in the United States, Croudis was sent to Ft. Devens, Mass.
After being discharged in 1945, Croudis decided to pursue a college education under the GI Bill of Rights and enrolled at Boston University in 1946. After graduation, he moved to Newport to teach music at former Newport High School and later at North Country Union High School.He spent 31 years teaching in the Newport. Some of those years entailed being the head of the music department at North Country. Croudis was also the director for the Northeast Music Festival from 1949-1980 and played a large role in the Newport Rotary Club Music Festival
Retirement came in 1979, but that was short lived, as he was hired to work in the city's two elementary schools. In all, he taught music for 51 years.
During his free time, he was also a member of a a barbershop quartet and the Newport City Band.
In 1990, his wife Lillian suffered a stroke, but he could not afford to keep her in a retirement home so with the assistance of his daughter Catherine and Orleans/ Essex VNA&Hospice, he kept her at home until she passed away three years ago.
"I lived with my wife for 58 years and I didn't even have a chance to say good-bye," he said, with a tear in his eye. "She died in her chair at home."
For advice, Croudis says "Don't let anything stand in your way and do the things you want to do, no matter the cost."
So far as next month's concert, Tim Daley of Second-Summer Productions, promises Croudis' dozen or so songs that he wrote will be featured. They include, Jamming the Blues, I love Vermont, Christmas Time, The Beat of My Heart, In a Persian Market, Heartaches for You, the Newport City 75th Bicentennial March, Vermont 200 and Maidstone Fantasy.
"The piece I wrote, Maidstone Fantasy, was for a band while I was stationed in North Africa," he recalled.
His dream now is to copyright and hear Tony Bennett sing his Christmas song, Christmas time.
The proceeds from the concert will go towards Daley's Second Summer Productions, and to the Newport Rotary Club for the Dick Croudis Music Scholarship Fund.
"This concert is a way to recognize all his musical accomplishments," explained Daley.
Daley said Dr. James Chapman will conduct the Newport Concert Band and the North Country High School Jazz Band in concert and Joy Toll will be conducting the chorus. At the present time, Daley is looking for anyone who is interested in joining the chorus. He can be contacted at 334-7080. Members of the Newport Rotary Club are also expected to perform three songs at the concert.
A review of the music that will be performed at the concert can be found at http://secondsummerproductions.com/
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Last Updated ( Monday, 17 September 2007 )
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