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TEXAS BANDMASTERS HALL OF FAME
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Dois Pace - Class of 2020
 

Dois Pace has a servant's heart. On the Wall of Fame at Andrews High School, there is a plaque that reads:
Dois Pace
Band Director 1991 - 2006
Talented Musician
Master Teacher
Compassionate Mentor
Loyal Friend
He loved his students, his job, and AHS.
Those who know Dois know that is an accurate assessment.

Dois was born on July 22, 1944, in Big Spring to Shorty and Edna Pace. The Paces moved to Andrews and later to Colorado City where Dois grew up. An only child, he says he was blessed with great parents and a normal, small West Texas town childhood. He played Little League baseball and basketball and was a Boy Scout; he attended the National Jamboree in Valley Forge the summer before his 7th grade year, and he also participated in the Philmont Ranch Scout Camp.

He started band in 5th grade, playing cornet. Dwight Tomb (Hall of Fame honoree) arrived as the new band director during Dois's seventh-grade year. The next year another
young band director named Warren Thaxton (Hall of Fame honoree) came to be the junior high school director. Those two gentlemen ignited a passion that changed his life.

In high school, Dois participated in a number of activities besides band. As a CHS Wolf Band member, he was a member of the all-district and all-region bands, earned several solo and ensemble medals, and his senior year, was president of the band and received the "Most Valuable Boy" Award and the John Phillip Sousa Award.

Dois became a music major at West Texas State College in the fall of 1962. He played trumpet in the marching and concert bands and double bass in the orchestra. He studied trumpet with Gerald Hemphill and Dave Ritter, double bass with Dr. Ted Madsen, and conducting with Dr. Gary Garner (Hall of Fame honoree); Dr. Ted Craeger and Dr. Garner were his band directors. He was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Kappa Kappa Psi, for which he served as president his junior year. The Buffalo Band awarded him the Band Spirit Award his senior year. He student taught in Hereford, Texas, with Clyde Wilson and Ben Gollehon (Hall of Fame honorees). Dois received his Bachelor of Music Education B.M.E. in the spring of 1966. In 1969, he received his Master of Education M.E. from Southwestern State College in Weatherford, Oklahoma.

After graduation, Dois was hired by Jerry Bartley to be the junior high director in Lamesa. Dois's band received a sweepstakes, which then also included marching. With that sweepstakes, he knew exactly what he would do the rest of his life.

He remembers his first contest because he was so nervous, he thought he might faint. When the students filed off the bus, a tenor sax player named Lois said to Dois, "Don't you worry, Mr. Pace. I got
THE CON-fi-DENCE!" For over fifty years now, that has been one of Dois's favorite quotes, and he has told the story many times.

The next year Dois moved to Altus, Oklahoma, to work with his good friend Jeff Doughten (Hall of Fame honoree) as the director of Northeast Junior High School. Three years later, he moved to Woodward, Oklahoma, to be the head director. Under his direction, the Woodward High School Boomer Band went to both the state marching and state concert contests both years he was there.

In 1972, Dois returned to Texas when Bill Bradley (Hall of Fame honoree) offered him a job as director at Goliad Junior High School in Big Spring. He enjoyed five years working with Bill, Gene Curry, Steve Waggoner, and Jerry Gowler. One of his favorite memories of Big Spring was conducting the pit at Bill Bradley's famous Campus Revue each spring.

In 1977, Dois moved to San Angelo where he spent two years at Lee Junior High School, and in 1979, Bob Bryant (Hall of Fame honoree) asked Dois to return to Lamesa to be the junior high director. When Bob moved to Katy four years later, Dois became the head director, taking the band to state marching contest and consistently earning Division I ratings.

While in Lamesa, Dois spearheaded a group of Lamesa citizens who raised funds, bought and remodeled a commercial building, and created a legal charter for a community playhouse. He was the first president of that board, and he and his family participated in many productions. Dois coordinated and conducted music, worked as lighting and sound tech, and even acted. His most notable role was of Captain Von Trapp in the playhouse production of
The Sound of Music. The playhouse remains an important fixture in the life of the city of Lamesa.

In 1991, Dois moved to Andrews. As the assistant director at Andrews High School, he established the first jazz band program in the history of the school. The program grew until there were two bands, which both received First Division ratings at the Texas Tech Jazz Festival. A number of his students were honored with "Outstanding Soloist" awards.

In 2000, Dois took the reins as head director. Under his direction, the Mighty Mustang Band received its first Sweepstakes in fourteen years. The band participated in five spring
band festivals, both in Texas and out of state. The Andrews band received "Outstanding Band" at four of those competitions, and many of his soloists were recognized at all of them. In the spring of 2006, the band played a concert of patriotic music at the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, D.C.

While at AHS, Dois helped Principal Mike Rhodes and Head Choir Director Robert Stovall establish a top-notch Veterans' Day program. This program has become a major tradition for not only the high school, but also the entire community. The quality of the original programs that these three men organized has remained in place twenty years after the first program, and a number of schools have modeled their programs after the Andrews program.

Dois's bands were always well rehearsed and well prepared, but the 2005 spring Region VI UIL contest is a case in point. In the warm-up room, the percussion section leader told Dois he had left the percussion music on the bus, which had left the contest site. The entire section assured him they could perform without music. Dois says to his knowledge, the percussionists missed only one eighth note. Their program that included the percussion-heavy "Pablo" earned First Division ratings from all three judges.

Dois has always believed the most important classes of any band director's day are the beginners. Dois has been a proponent of excellence in the teaching of those classes, and he has mentored many young band directors to understand that concept and to become
great beginner teachers. He believes a winning band program happens only when there is effective teaching at its lowest level. He taught many all-state students. One of his greatest satisfaction was starting 5th or 6th graders and then watching them turn into accomplished players. Many of his students followed his lead and became band directors.

Dois announced his retirement in the spring of 2006. At several retirement events, he said, "For forty years, I have been in love with my job. Don't misunderstand---I haven't always liked everything I had to do, and I haven't always liked situations that happened,
but I can honestly say that there was never a day in forty years that I did not want to go to the band hall." His professional affiliations include TMEA, TBA, Phi Beta Mu, and TMAA.

Throughout his career, Dois was involved in all facets of quality band directing. He did numberless clinics, hosted contests, served as region chairman, served on committees, served as All-Region clinician/conductor, taught at many band camps, including thirty-one years at Angelo State University. During retirement, Dois continues to be a vital part of band in West Texas. He consistently works with several Region VI bands in various capacities, and he is the "go to guy" for many directors. His face and name are known to many students all over West Texas, but there is a postscript.

For thirteen years of retirement, Dois never considered having his own band again until late July of 2019. Water Valley ISD contacted Dois to take its band program for one year. His twenty-three high school students made three Division I ratings at marching contest and qualified for and participated in the state marching contest. In the spring, they received six Division I ratings and took home a sweepstakes trophy. The year was a fitting postscript to a very satisfying career. Dois will always cherish the time he spent with the outstanding students in Water Valley.

Dois wants to express his gratitude to his family (he taught all three of his children), all the students, band parents, administrators, his mentors, and friends for the support and good advice they have given him through the years. His successes would not have been possible without all of them. Dois says that band directing is a great way to make a
life.

Dois, his wife Jo Ann, their three children, and three grandchildren are so grateful to the Hall of Fame committee for this amazing recognition. He is overwhelmed and humbled when he thinks of the master directors with whom he shares this honor.



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