Gerald "Jerry" Kinney

Gerald Marion (Jerry) Kinney was born December 24, 1931 in Herndon, Iowa, the son of Merle L. and Edna M. Kinney, and passed away on February 19, 2020 at MercyOne Hospice in Johnston. A visitation will be held at McLaren’s Funeral Home in West Des Moines on February, 27 2020 from 4 to 7 p.m. A private family entombment will be held at the Resthaven Cemetery Mausoleum.

The first seventeen years of his life were spent on his parents’ farm near Herndon, Iowa. He attended and graduated from Jamaica, Iowa schools, where he participated in music, sports, and other activities. He was a member of the first Iowa All-State Band and received high ratings as a cornet soloist in Iowa High School Music Association and other talent contests. He organized and managed as baseball team of boys 14 years of age and under and coached the school’s junior high basketball teams during his final two years in high school.

He received a Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music Education degrees from Drake University in Des Moines. While there he served as president of the Drake Band and was a member of Phi Mu Alpha, national music; Alpha Tau Omega, social; Pi Kappa Lambda, honorary music; and Omicron Delta Kappa, honorary leadership, fraternities. While attending college, he maintained a private teaching studio in his home, and directed summer band concerts in Yale, Dawson, and Jamaica, Iowa.

After graduation, he began an instrumental music teaching career that lasted for 67 years. It included positions at Wall Lake, Adel, Lake City, Orange City, Red Oak, Ogden, Perry, Pella, Colfax-Mingo, Valley of West Des Moines, Sacred Heart of West Des Moines, Iowa; and Blair, Nebraska. His bands and orchestras received many Superior ratings at contests and festivals. Over 435 of his students were named to All-State Bands and Orchestras. Bands under representative of the state of Iowa; Cotton Bowl Parades (2). Dallas, Texas; Memorial 500 Parades (2), Indianapolis, Indiana; Bicentennial Parades in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Rose Festival and Parade in Portland, Oregon; Dakota Days Festivals (7), Rapid City, South Dakota; Worlds of Fun (2), Kansas City, Missouri; Six Flags Over Mid-America, St. Louis, Missouri; Minneapolis Aquatennial, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Iowa Bandmaster Conventions; Tallcorn Music Festival. Cedar Falls; and numerous parades and festivals in Iowa, including VEISHEA parades, Ames; Drake Relays parades, Des Moines; local festivals and parades in Centerville, Estherville, Pella, Mason City, Algona, Iowa City, Boone, Carroll, Sioux City, Creston, Mount Ayr, etc.

Jerry received the National Federation of High Schools Award as the Outstanding Music Educator in Iowa in 2006; served as President, Secretary, and Historian of the Iowa Bandmasters Association; and as President of the South Central Iowa Bandmasters Association. He was a member of the District Advisory Board of the IHSMA (two terms); and also served for two terms to Governor Robert D. Ray’s Commission of Youth. He was the recipient of IBA’s Karl King Active Award in 1992.

He played in many bands during his lifetime, among them the Des Moines Municipal Band; Perry Municipal Band; Boone Municipal Band; Za-Ga-Zig Shrine Band; Des Moines Consistory Band; and various similar central Iowa groups. He was a registered official with the Iowa High School Boys Athletic Association, basketball and baseball; and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, basketball and softball. He arranged, choreographed, and directed the “Patriotism Pageant” presented at the Girls State Basketball Tournament finals for several years. He originated a precision drill used by marching bands to turn parade corners now known as the “Texas Turn”. He was one of the first directors to utilize a girl’s auxiliary unit as an integral part of the marching band.

He was a member of the American School Band Directors Association, Iowa Bandmasters Association, South Central Iowa Bandmasters Association, Iowa Music Educators Association, Iowa State Education Association, and was a life member of the National Education Association. He belonged to the Masonic Lodge, Scottish Rite Consistory, Za-Ga-Zig Shrine, and attended and directed choirs in several United Methodist Churches.

Jerry was a co-founder of the Iowa Bandmasters Association Retired Director’s group (IBARD); organized and directed the Sacred Heart Sax ‘n’ Brass Band of West Des Moines for 386 concerts, and Recycled Brass of Mingo. At Blair he founded an elite solo and ensemble contest called the “Band Olympics”, patterned after the World Olympics for athletes. The event has spread to other schools and states involving hundreds of high school musicians annually. He coined the title of the “Marchmasters” for Valley, West Des Moines, Marching Band, and began a consecutive string of IHSMA State Marching Contest Division I ratings that has lasted from 1961 to the present day for that school. He served as a judge for 54 years of IHSMA large group and solo and ensemble contests, as well as contests in Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri. He judged the Bill Riley Talent Search television show at the State Fair for 13 years.

He is survived by his wife, Sandra, of West Des Moines; former wife, Joyce, Omaha, Nebraska; sister, Janet (Don) Van Cleave, Palatine, Illinois; brother, Gene (Karen), Perry, Iowa; sons, Philip (Jennifer) and Doug (Dajuan), Ankeny; and David, Des Moines; stepsons, Michael (Echo). Clear Lake, Iowa; Freeman, Norman, Oklahoma; grandsons, Taylor, Benton, and Colin Kinney; granddaughter, Erin Walker, two great grandsons, Cody and Caden Walker; numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews, a host of former students, fellow teachers, and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, and first wife, Beverly.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may include the Iowa Bandmasters Association, the Mingo United Methodist Church, or the Jerry Kinney Endowment Fund, Sacred Heart School.