Alumni Hall of Fame
Service to St. Marys City Schools (2021)

Richard L. Schilling was the Director of Bands at Memorial High School from 1941 - 1950. He was here long enough to leave a legacy of lasting impact on generations of graduates and supporters of the St. Marys City Schools; a legacy that continues seventy - five years later.

In 1946, Richard Schilling composed the music and lyrics of the Memorial High School Alma Mater.

  Dear Memorial, Thy Name We Praise
  Your Blue and Gold Will Ne'er Grow Old
  Long May They Wave.
  Dear Memorial Thy Sons Are We
  To Laud Your Name, Proclaim Your Fame
  O'er Land and Sea.
  To the Blue Of Memorial
  We Will Be True
  To Your Gold Brightly Shining
  We Look Anew
  To You, Our Alma Mater
  Sings Ev'ry Son and Daughter
  Proudly Wave the Blue and Gold
  Your Traditions We Uphold.

His tradition we continue to uphold, as our alma mater is played at home athletic contests on a daily and weekly basis, and every year at graduation ceremonies.

Richard Schilling took trombone lessons at an early age, and began studying the piano when he was in fifth grade. By the time he was in seventh grade, he was playing trombone in a dance band in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After graduating from Versailles High School in 1934, he attended the Capital University Conservatory of Music. He majored in Brass and Conducting in Music Education, and received his Bachelor of Public School Music Degree with a certificate in conducting from Capital in 1938. Mr. Schilling taught in Van Wert County Schools, at Middlepoint and Ridge Township, from 1938 until 1941.

Mr. Schilling arrived in St. Marys in 1941, where his bands received Superior ratings eight of the nine years he was at St. Marys. Under Schilling's direction, the St. Marys Memorial High School band was one of the first in the area to combine formations with music on the field at football half-time shows.

In 1949, Mr. Schilling received his Masters of Music degree from Northwestern University. After leaving St. Marys, Schilling served as Supervisor of the City Music Department in Wooster, Ohio, for two years. In 1952, "Doc" Schilling, as he was affectionately known, joined the faculty at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in their Department of Music Education. Mr. Schilling retired as a Professor from Miami University in 1981. Richard Schilling passed away in 1984. Schilling wrote three books on marching bands and had many choral compositions and arrangements published. His children honor their father's memory and legacy by awarding the Richard L. Schilling Music Education Scholarship annually to a Miami University student.



For his contribution to the traditions of the St. Marys City Schools, and on the 75th Anniversary of the Memorial High School Alma Mater, the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation inducts Richard L. Schilling into the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation Hall of Fame for his outstanding Service to St. Marys City Schools.

The above text, in its entirety, is embossed on a St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Hall of Fame plaque permanently on display in Memorial High School.