Every morning, the band hall fills with the chattering of friends, the laughter of buddies, and the textbooks of those doing last-minute homework. However, on the morning of Oct. 8, those sounds were silenced as the band learned about the death of Mr. Frank Reed, an assistant band director who specialized in brass.
“I didn’t want to believe it was true,” senior Trey Kibodeaux said. “When it finally hit me about 10 minutes later, I just broke down and cried, forever.”
Kibodeaux believed every moment with Reed was special because he was like a father to him. He performed many professional gigs with Reed as well. Kibodeaux added that each moment they shared was special.
“One of his favorite quotes was there’s two rules in life: ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff,” Kibodeaux said. “That kind of helped me through a lot and made me sit back and realize that things aren’t always as big as they seem.”
Sophomore Karli Cook also considered Mr. Reed a father-figure. She and her family would often eat out after football games and talk with Reed on a daily basis. She had many nicknames for him – Loveable Huggable, Frankie Baby and Dad.
“We lost someone that was a big part of our family,” Cook said. “Losing someone in your family is hard enough, but losing someone that made such an impact is even harder.”
Reed came to North as a private lesson teacher in 1996. Since that time, his position had grown to a 40-hour-a-week adjunct staff member. Additionally, Reed conducted the trumpet choir at every home football game since 2002.
On Oct. 8, the day after they learned of Reed’s death, the band performed at GISD’s Band Fest. Kibodeaux said that he could not lead the trumpets on and off the field and couldn’t even finish playing during Band Fest, considering that it was the first performance without Reed.
“When we got out there, I had the mindset of ‘I have to play for him, because he would want the show to go on.’ So I did it,” Kibodeaux said. “After Band Fest, I sent him a five-page text to his phone telling him how much I missed him already, and how much he meant to me and I wanted to thank him.”
Reed was more than just a teacher to senior Dorien Tate. He was a friend who had a very good sense of humor and was fun to be around. Tate adds that everybody has their time to go, but nobody wanted Reed’s time to be now.
“He had really amazing stories,” Tate said. “He lived a very fulfilling life before he started struggling. He did a lot of things. He traveled a lot, met a lot of people and did a lot of things a lot of people wouldn’t get to do. Listening to those stories were cool.”
In the days since his passing, junior Alicia Strahan says it feels weird, because she no longer sees him in Jazz Band conducting lessons or playing along.
“It feels empty in Jazz Band now,” Strahan said. “He’s not there even during regular rehearsal after school. In one of my sets I turn toward where his car is, and now, it’s not going to be there anymore. He’s not going to be sitting there, just enjoying the show or listening to us play or anything.”
Both Cook and Kibodeaux agree that losing him has brought the band a little closer together, But Cook believes it shouldn’t have happened this way.
“I think at the moment, the band has a mindset that we have to make him proud, and I don’t think that mindset will go away anytime soon,” Kibodeaux said. “And I think everything we do from here on out will be for him.”