In Memoriam: Steven Hankins

To all: It is with profound grief and sadness that I must tell you our beloved Steve has passed away. He will be incredibly missed by his family, friends, mentors, buddies, and the band world in general. He gave his career to music, but more importantly he gave it to teaching children ABOUT music. He mentored many incredible band directors along the way, judging at contests, and generally offering his opinion and advice when asked. He also helped at several USBands events. Steve attended Forest Park High School in Beaumont, and went on to get his bachelor's degree at Lamar and his master's in educational leadership at UTSA. He taught in El Campo, East Bernard, New Braunfels, Big Spring, Corbett and helped open East Central-Heritage, where he taught for 14 years. He founded The Yellow Board many years ago, hoping that it would provide a forum that would help band directors across the state. I don't think he ever dreamed it would help as many directors across the nation as it did. He always said to me that it is about you - the band directors. He wanted to help the band world in any way that he could. He succeeded. Steve was a great person, a friend. He was someone who could be called on to help at any time. We will all miss him immensely. Please be in prayer for Betsy, his children, his family and his friends - of which there are many. Thank you, Tim