Learned from Dave Heath that the grave of our late band director Charles Madden was close to a one of Dave's deceased family members, and Dave mentioned it was rather sad that Mr. Madden's grave was so small. After reading Dave's words, I was moved to begin a fund raising activity where donatikns would be directly applied to the purchasing of anew headstone appropriate for our well-loved teacher. I was living in Kentucky and needed a local friend to do the leg work of contacting the monument company to come up with a design for the headstone and to collect and deposit donations into a bank account devoted to the project, and Diana McNamara graciously served as treasurer. It was agreed that we wanted to use the words of Dan Fogelberg's song THE LEADER OF THE BAND, focusing on words from the chorus: MY LIFE HAS BEEN A POOR ATTEMPT TO IMITATE THE MAN, WD ARE A LIVING LEGACY TO THE LEADER OF THE BAND. Once word got out OF the project, alumni of the band program from years back wholeheartedly embraced it and donations poured in. Just weeks after coming up with the idea, a new headstone was placed on Mr. Madden's grave. The level of esteem the members if the Ranger band felt for this one teacher who touched everyone's life as a band directot, a musician, and a friend. RIP Mr Madden! You are loved and well remembered by the students you taught!