Richard Allen Berry

Lewis & Gillum Funeral Homes, Inc.

28 Harding Avenue

Jackson, Ohio 45640

Phone: (740)286-2010

Fax: (740)286-5640

Email: lewisgillumfh@gmail.com

Richard Allen Berry, age, 71, passed peacefully into the arms of his Savior on September 19, 2019, at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Baltimore, MD, surrounded by family and medical staff due to an automobile accident in the Baltimore area. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Janet L. (McClure) Berry; sons, Edgar Allen Berry (Peg) and James William Berry (Casey); grandson, Dawson James Berry; granddaughters, Chelsey Hunter (Ian) and Kenzie Streng; great grandson, Axel Hunter; nephew, Matt Weygandt (Melissa); niece, Michelle Kilner (Dan). He is preceded in death by parents, Edgar John Berry and Mildred L. Hershey Berry; brother, Edgar John Berry II; daughter-in-law, Michelle Wickline Berry.

Richard was the second son for Edgar and Mildred Berry who raised both of them in Mansfield, Ohio. At a very young age, Richard was hit with asthma and the doctor recommended he learn to play the trumpet. This started his love for music. In 1966 he graduated from Mansfield Sr. High School where he was involved in all bands and orchestras. His band director was the late Percy Hall and his parents had already started taking him for lessons at Ohio State with Richard Suddendorf. Making the OSU marching band, under the direction of the late Dr. Charles Spohn, locked him into being a teacher. There he studied conducting with the late Dr. Donald McGinnis and was a member of his concert band. While in the marching band he was fortunate enough to see the Buckeyes win a Rose Bowl in 1969 and in the same year, march in the inaugural parade for President Nixon. Before graduation from OSU, he met and fell in with a clarinet player, Jan whom he married on June 6th, 1969. Richard started teaching at Fredericktown H.S. in 1970. The band became so large that it caused a scheduling issue. Here he had the chance to really try everything he learned at OSU. His students competed at contests on all levels. While here, Richard started his MA work at OSU and finished in 1975. It was very hard to leave their home on Knox Lake because he loved to fish. However, “The Music Man” moved on to Orange H.S. in Pepper Pike, OH, in 1974. Here he built this program back up and taught strings, string orchestra, jazz band and had superior ratings for his concert bands, ensembles and soloist. In 1978, Richard took his family, which now included 2 sons and a cat, to Niles H.S. to be the supervisor of music and then, in 1979 Lawrenceburg H.S. in Indiana was home along the Ohio River. An opening at Jeffersonville H.S., located across the Ohio River from Louisville, KY, caused him to move again to this very large high school in 1982. In every community he lived in so far, he was asked to direct a church choir and he was prepared to do so because of the choir class he took with Helen Swank at OSU. He loved his adult church choirs with a passion. At Jeffersonville, he would once again, take a small program and built it up to be the talk of the area. Here he had a full string orchestra, music theory classes, 2 bands and conducted pit orchestras for the spring musicals, including a world premiere of “Fame!” After his oldest son, Ed, chose OSU to major in music and made the marching band on trombone, the family moved to Jackson, Ohio, in 1989, which was just 1.5 hours from campus. Here, Dick felt like he was home. In every school system, he dearly loved his students, but there was something about the hills in southeastern Ohio which reminded him of Mansfield. He started with around 25 students for marching band that fall, and it grew as former students quickly came back. In Jackson, it did not take long before the size of the band became the biggest and one of the best in the area. He was always humbled by the community support which came whenever the band needed more uniforms, more or new equipment, rain coasts, food, support for trips to Disney World, to Chicago parades, to the Kentucky Derby, Athens to play for an OU game and the list goes on and on. Here Richard stayed for 16 years until he retired in 2005 to move to be closer to his doctors at OSU. In every community Richard taught, he made sure a student could join band at any time, the students participated in local and out of state parades and events, and any student could call him at any time if they needed help of any kind. His phone number was always on the chalk boards and they always received the pre-prom speech, “if you need help call! Jan and I will come pick you up and drive you home.” His students have performed at parades across the country, band days at colleges, they have been selected to perform at colleges who did not have a band, Sea World, Disney World, Niagara Falls, Toronto Canada, holiday parades in Chicago, the Kentucky Derby parade, pregame skull sessions at OSU and they have become members of outstanding college and military bands. Richard was a member of Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Beta Mu, OMEA, MENC, a Mason, a Shriner, Tap’s Across America and many others. He also received recognitions from the communities where he taught for his dedicated work both with students and in the communities. His passions outside of teaching, church choirs and family were reading, golfing, fishing and gardening. Maybe now he is doing these things………

A Celebration of Life will be held at Richard’s last teaching position, Jackson High School, 500 Vaughn St., Jackson, Ohio; the celebration will be held on Sunday, October 20th, 2019 at 4:00PM in the gymnasium with family receiving friends immediately prior from 2:00-4:00PM. In lieu of flowers, please consider ”paying forward” by donating to one of Richard’s favorite causes: The Richard Berry Memorial Scholarship, c/o Jackson City Schools Band Boosters, P.O. Box 255, Jackson, OH 45640; ONLINE to – GIVE TO OSU - The TBDBITL Scholarship Fund #607138 or GIVE TO OSU - Courtney Williams Fund in Heart Failure Research #315265. The service will be officiated by Associate Pastor, Janie Karl, from Christ United Methodist Church and directed by the Lewis & Gillum Funeral Home of Jackson, OH. To read more about Richard’s life and visit the online guestbook, go to www.lewisgillum.com.