Waco ISD string group plays in memory of their director, who died this week

By Erin Quinn Tribune-Herald staff writer
Friday, April 24, 2009

The day before their debut performance, Maryann Driessner’s orchestra students were gathered into the practice room Wednesday and told that she had died.

There was shock. And tears. And reflection.

Waco High School’s orchestra director, Joe Ortiz, and other instructors decided to cancel Thursday evening’s performance of Velocity, an orchestra and movement group made up of six students from Waco High and Tennyson Middle schools. They were too emotional right now, the teachers reasoned, to play for the Community Race Relations Coalition’s quarterly meeting at the Texas Life Annex downtown.

But the tight-knit group of kids wouldn’t hear of it. They decided, instead, to dedicate their performance to Driessner.

“We just figured she had worked too hard for it to be canceled,” said Waco High student Matthew Slavik, 15, who plays in Velocity.

After Driessner didn’t show up at school Wednesday, two of her colleagues went to her house, where she lived alone, and found her dead on the floor, school officials said. Driessner was 55.

Funeral arrangements had not yet been made Thursday. Co-workers said she suffered from high blood pressure, but the cause of her death was unknown Thursday.

Driessner had come to Tennyson about three years ago from Carrollton, Texas. She had recently divorced but had a grown son, Chad, who lives in Whitney with his family, Ortiz said.

Naseem Khozein, a 27-year-old Vanguard College Preparatory School graduate who volunteers as a coach for Velocity, said she last saw Driessner after Monday’s rehearsal. The two had stayed late to talk. Driessner was excited about her grandchild and about Thursday’s performance, Khozein said.

“She could not stop talking about how much she loved her family,” Khozein said. “The kids at school were her family, too. You could see it in her eyes when she talked about them.”

Tennyson Middle School seventh-graders Brittany Rister and Jackie Hernandez, members of Velocity, knew that their teacher thought highly of them, and they felt the same about her.

“She would always encourage us and help us,” Brittany said.

Driessner had told them she loved them just before they left after orchestra practice Monday.

Brittany and Jackie cried when they told the story of how they had heard their teacher planned on baking cookies for the Velocity members’ Wednesday rehearsal to pump up the group for Thursday’s big performance.

When the teacher was found dead Wednesday, there were cookies in the oven, they said.

Thursday afternoon, Doreen Ravenscroft, president of the Waco Cultural Arts Fest, introduced Velocity to the crowd of 100 or so, seated at round tables. She told how the group had started last summer with a grant from the Arts Fest that brought Khozein to Waco to do a workshop while she was touring with Barrage, a worldwide strings and movement group.

Driessner’s orchestra students were energized by the new form of performance, and she decided to start Velocity.

In an October e-mail, Driessner wrote to Ravenscroft, “We may have created a monster, but it’s a great monster. This is such a good way to motivate the students and incorporate new and different ideas of what playing a string instrument can be.”

Thursday, Ravenscroft was teary-eyed when she told the crowd that Driessner had died.

“It was the kids’ decision to play for you all today,” Ravenscroft said. “They’re not playing for WISD. They’re not playing for themselves. They’re playing in honor of their teacher, Maryann Driessner. Please welcome, Velocity.”

And so the students took the makeshift stage and sawed on their strings for “Cripple Creek” and psychedelic rocker Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.”

Khozein and her friend, local violinist Joey McFarland, helped the group, made up of Brittany, Jackie, Matthew and Waco High student Stephanie Lopez, 15. One of the other members was sick and another had a death in the family and was unable to attend.

The crowd clapped along to the energetic mix of song and movement, and it wasn’t until after the performance that some of the kids cried for their teacher.

“It’s emotional for all of us,” Stephanie said. “She was a good teacher. She motivated me a lot. She would always tell me that I could do it, even when I didn’t think I could. She’d work with me after school if I needed it.”

 

Driessner, Maryann - Driessner, Maryann Of Farmers Branch, Texas, born November 24, 1953 to Lois and James Mickle, passed away to our Lord in Heaven on April 22, 2009. She is preceded in death by her father, James Mickle and Husband Richard Driessner. She is survived by her daughter, chrissy Driessner; son, Chad Driessner; daughter-in-law, Tierni Driessner, Grandchildren Jacob and McKenna Driessner; brother, Robin Mickle; Sister-in-Law, Marijean Crow; Nephew Jackson Crow-Mickle; Sister-in-law, Laurie Mickle; Nieces; Regan and Courtney Mickle-Dittrich; Nephew Andrew Mickle-bell and a host of friends, family and students that will truly miss her. Maryann had an eclectic personality and an addicting smile that would light up any room. She was vibrant, artistic, and beautiful and was passionately devoted to her family and students. Visitation is scheduled for Monday, April 27th from 6pm to 8pm at North Dallas Funeral Home in Farmers branch. The funeral will be at the same location on Tuesday, April 28th at 10:00 am.

The Dallas Morning News April 26, 2009
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams