Margaret Ann Detwiler Scholarship Fund for Stringed Instrument Students at Goshen College

Margaret Ann (Peg) Detwiler graduated from Goshen College in 1943 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music. Four years earlier, in 1939, she graduated from Goshen High School where she played in the orchestra (violin), band (trombone) and sang in the chorus as well as a vocal trio.  With fellow GC alumna, Mary Oyer, she also played in a violin, cello, piano trio performing for many organizations in the area.

At Goshen College this violin and cello duo of Margaret and Mary joined with their piano instructor, Mrs. Robert Friedman (her family were World War II refugees from Vienna, Austria sponsored by the College) to form a classical trio.  This trio gained a fine reputation within local musical circles for their many performances which were always well attended.

Margaret studied violin with Edith Jane Baker and later with Edwyn Hames, the conductor of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.  Mary and Margaret both auditioned for this musical organization since Goshen College had no orchestra in those days.  Both were accepted and Margaret became the Principal of the Second Violin Section. Later both young ladies began work on their Master’s Degree in Music at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Soon after graduation from Goshen College, Margaret was asked to become the Assistant Director of Music in the Goshen Public Schools.  She accepted this position but the workload became heavier each succeeding year with little hope of assistance or appropriate compensation.  Because of these circumstances, Margaret made the decision to head west to join her family in Tucson, Arizona soon after the end of World War II.

Just before leaving Indiana, she won a contest sponsored by the South Bend Symphony and was then featured as a soloist with the orchestra playing the First Movement of Wieniawski’s Concerto No. 2 in D Minor.  Margaret later used this work for her audition with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and was accepted in the First Violin Section.

However, the need for violas was so great that Margaret elected to change to that instrument, which had always interested her.  She successfully transitioned to the new instrument and was soon selected as the Principal Violist for the orchestra.  She held that position for the next 18 years before going overseas to England to teach in 1965.

In 1947 there were no music teaching jobs for stringed instruments open in Tucson so Margaret attended the University of Arizona to obtain an elementary teaching certificate.  She

then started in her new career of teaching, always placing great emphasis on music.  She directed her students in a musical performance or an operetta every year.  She interspersed the academic teaching with a 10-year span of teaching string instruments to elementary students.

In those early years with the Tucson Symphony she was soloist in Telemann’s Viola Sonata, Berlioz’s Harold in Italy and with the concertmaster in a performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante.

Before going to England to teach in 1965, Margaret completed her Masters in Music at the University of Arizona under the direction of Dr. Robert Emil.  Several summers at this time were spent studying and singing under the direction of the great Robert Shaw who later became conductor of the Atlanta Symphony.  These sessions always helped Margaret become a better conductor of the school choruses she led in every school where she taught.

She also participated in several trips abroad in chamber groups singing and playing in the large churches and cathedrals of Europe.  Margaret retired from the Tucson Public Schools in 1981, but remained in the Tucson Symphony until 2002 when she was highly celebrated after 50 seasons with the orchestra.  Margaret has also maintained a life-long membership in the Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana.

Margaret, known to her friends and relatives as Peg, still has a passion for solving jigsaw puzzles, volunteering, travel, and reading.  You will now find her at Bell Court Gardens, a beautiful retirement facility in Tucson where many of her musician friends come to entertain the residents.

08/15/2006