3/28/2013
4:00 PM
Page A1
PRIDE Panhandle People
Behind the crown Pageant director guides girls to be crowned Page 6
W W W. S TA R H E R A L D . C O M
A S TA R - H E R A L D P U B L I C AT I O N
Overcoming obstacles Disability hasn’t kept her down
Saturday, March 30, 2013
19905773.qxp
Family affair
Unified sports
Busy lady
Ziegler’s goal
Family roofing business perseveres through tough times
Couple helps Coyotes grow
Dalton woman says she has best of all worlds
Woman turning inmates into contributing community members
page 3
page 5
page 11
page 16
page 13
Striking the right chord Local trio
preserving WWII-era music
By JOE DUTTON Staff Reporter
In the Brening household, music has brought the family together for more than three generations. Glossy guitars nestle by the couch, a snare drum sits by the window, the accompanying drum sticks on the fireplace mantel and a piano invites any pianist to play. To some the room may appear cluttered, but to the Brening family it’s business as usual. Instruments are in almost ever y room of the home, including those being softly played in an adjoining room, a soundtrack to their lives. For more than a centur y, the Brening family has shared musical talent in local churches, even before pianos or guitars were common in a place of worship. Brening became a vocal music teacher at Bluffs Middle School, a private guitar teacher, a worship leader with Mitchell Berean church and the leader of his own band, The Perfect Blend. “There was always music within the home, and, of course, church was a big part of that,” Brening said. “I was blessed to have a Christian upbringing and folks that cared about things like that.” At age 9, Brening started playing the guitar through the encouragement of his parents. Brening said they had to make him practice, but after a special opportunity struck in junior high school, playing the guitar was never the same. The day before a tutoring session with his math teacher, Bob Kraft, Kraft asked Brening to bring in his guitar for a jam session. After Brening finished his homework, they both played in the math room. As the music carried down the hallways, it caught the attention of choir teacher Duane Stukesbar y, who popped his head into the classroom to see who was playing. Stukesbar y liked what he heard and asked Brening to bring his guitar to choir class the next day. Brening brought his guitar, along with a thick music book of John Denver songs. He played and sang for 45 minutes in front of 80 to 90 peers. Brening said he was an introvert at the time, but enjoyed the class’s polite response and attentiveness. “That day was my turning point, in the sense that I found some success and self-worth and I thought, ‘Hey, this could be kind of cool,’” Brening said. “I tell that stor y to the
■ Yes Ma’am celebrating seven years this summer By ROGER HOLSINGER Assistant Editor
Photo by Joe Dutton
Perry Brening sings and plays his guitar during lead worship at the Mitchell Berean Church just outside of Mitchell.
kids at school and I tr y to emphasize how you have this line: on this side it’s have to and on this side it’s want to, and how we cross over that line is a myster y.” From then on, Brening said it was effortless and more enjoyable to play. He used to listen to music on his parents’ eight-track tapes and records through headphones that he described as looking like volleyballs cut in half. With his guitar in hand, he learned the licks of the Eagles, Deep Purple, Jim Croce and many other influential artists. “I was just eager to just sit down and play,” Brening said. “My goal was, ‘Man, if I could play a guitar and play that, like the radio, I’ve arrived.’ That’s how I used to think.” As he learned to master his guitar one riff at a time, he also fell in love with good melody, which he said is the driving force behind any form of music. “I’m a firm believer that ever ybody has a melody in their head,” Brening said. “If we were just to stop right now and get into each
person’s mind, we would find that we all have a melody playing there and they are never the same. Some people might have ZZ Top, Metallica, while others are kind of Norah Jones and kind of laid back.” After graduating from Gering High School in 1980 and attending Western Nebraska Community College, Brening pursued his bachelor’s degree at Chadron State, majoring in vocal music. Chadron State was also where he met his musical confidante and future wife, Robin, during histor y class. “I had this shirt on and I used to be a cyclist,” Bening said. “That was how we first met, through a crazy bike marathon T-shirt, of all silly things.” He said he was a vocalist needing an accompanist and he eventually asked if she would play. She agreed, without asking for pay. “I’ve got a wife that is more valuable than the rubies and diamonds like Proverbs has. She’s an amazing girl,” Brening said. See BRENING, page 2
Almost seven years ago, three women with a love of music decided to share their passion with the people around them. Today, Yes Ma’am continues to enter tain old and young alike, with the singers never forgetting the sacrifice made by soldiers during World War II and the Korean War. The trio is made up of Michelle Coolidge, Angie Hoff and Mar y Mau. Michelle and Angie knew each other while they attended Bayard High School, while Mar y grew up in Winside, located northeast of Norfolk. Michelle sang in high school, and Angie played the piano. “But she sang along with the altos,” said Michelle. “No one knew that I could sing until I went to college,” added Angie. After graduating from high school in 1986, Michelle enrolled at Nebraska Wesleyan University. After a year, she transferred to Chadron State College and graduated in 2 1/2 years with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. After college she worked for Platte Valley Mor tgage in foreclosures. For the last eight years she’s worked at Western Nebraska Community College as the administrative ser vices c o o r d i n a t o r, w o r k i n g
with finances and the college facilities. Her husband is Dan and the two have an adult son, Michael. Michelle said she came from a musical family, adding that while she never thought of being a rock star, she would have enjoyed the “theatrics” of music more than being in a band. Angie graduated from BHS in 1984 and during high school was the accompanist for choirs and show choirs. She said she began learning the piano when she was in kindergarten and by age 7 was playing for the public. During high school, college and after college, Angie was a member of several regional bands, performing onstage for 15 years. After high school, she attended Concordia University then transferred to CSC on a full-ride music scholarship. She graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor’s Degree in humanities and psychology. After college, she retur ned to Bayard and worked in special education and as a sign language interpreter. Her talent on the piano and keyboards landed her work with a number of local bands for a few years, then in 1992 she began working for the Adolescent Psychology Unit at Regional West Medical Center. In 1996, See YES MA’AM, page 4
She’s got the music in her ■ Barb Becker can’t imagine life without music By ROGER HOLSINGER Assistant Editor
Barb Becker says she can’t imagine her life without music. The accomplished pianist says she might be able to live without playing music, but “not being able to hear (music) would be worse than not being able to play. I just have to have it. I can’t be in a quiet house,” she said. While almost ever y high school music student since 1989 knows her, she says many people in the community know her just as “that Barb lady” who is always playing the piano at the high school musicals, show choirs and chorus performances. She has been an integral part of the Scottsbluff High School Music Department for nearly 25 years. But had she followed her dream, she might have never tickled the ivor y at SHS. Barb (Gregg) Becker is the daughter of the late Don and Ruth Gregg. Both her parents were musical, and so music began to influence her life at an Photo by Roger Holsinger early age. Barb Becker has been a part of the SHS music department for more Her mother worked as a than 25 years, first as a student and now as a para-educator and homemaker and her father accompanist. She said that she can’t imagine her life without worked at Nebraska Machiner y Company, eventually ser ving as music and that she really enjoys working with students.
the manager. Barb had three older siblings — Jim, Janice and Bob (all deceased) — and has two younger siblings — Richard and Jennifer. She said her parents grew up in the Marsland area and graduated from Crawford High School. The two were also members of the Squaw Mound Band when they were children and teenagers. She said her mother never had the opportunity to take piano lessons so she made sure all of her children did. Barb was born in Scottsbluff and attended Longfellow Elementar y School. When she was 6, she began taking piano lessons and was trained for 12 years in classical music by Rudolph Barta. Then in high school, she began to accompany the musical groups while still taking classical instruction. She also competed in regional competitions with the winner asked to play with a symphony. She graduated from Scottsbluff High School in 1977 and then attended the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, studying music education. She played the oboe in high school and continued that in college with the dream of someday playing for the Boston Pops. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
While taking her classes that first year, she discovered that being a band director was not for her and left Greeley and enrolled at Nebraska Western College (now Western Nebraska Community College). She studied computer programming and earned her associate’s degree. She married Kelly Becker in 1979, and the couple had two children — Jeremy and Amanda. The couple later divorced. SHS Music Instructor Gar y Bacon approached her and asked if she would be interested in helping with his classes. She said at that point her children were in school. “I thought, ‘I could do that.’ I didn’t need to sit at home.” Bacon, who was also her high school teacher, hired her to work a couple of hours a day. She said that before she began working at the school, she thought about going back to school and completing her secondar y math degree. “But playing the piano sounded like a lot more fun,” she added. While she didn’t help with the musical that year, she had plenty of experience helping while in high school and junior high. She said when she was in ninth See BECKER, page 4