DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as Duane can carry it to you. Now, there are people who leave a mark so deep on a community that decades later, you're still feelin' the reverb. Roy B.
Wallace was that kind of man. He came into the world on October 13, 1901, in Coolidge, Limestone County — son of Benjamin C. Wallace, Sr. and Mae McCoy Wallace.
Roy grew up attending school in rural Limestone County, and somewhere along the way, music got hold of him and never let go. He studied at Texas Christian University, then earned his bachelor's degree in music from Baylor University in 1925. He wasn't done yet — he went on to do graduate work at Stephen F.
Austin State University and Sam Houston State University. A man who kept reachin'. In 1927, he married Clothilde — known to everyone who loved her as Clo — Hiser.
And then came the work. Real work. He began his teaching career in Elkhart in 1932, put in three years there, then moved on to the Norwood Common School District.
But 1936 — that's when things started to build toward something. Wallace became the band director at Reagan Junior High School in Palestine. Six years later, in 1942, he stepped up to lead the Palestine High School Band.
Now here's where you start to understand what this man was building. Over the nineteen years Roy Wallace served as band director, his band received first division sweepstakes honors fourteen of those nineteen years. Fourteen out of nineteen.
That is not luck. That is a standard, set and kept. Under his direction, the band performed at a 1946 Texas A&M football game and — hold onto this one — the 1950 Cotton Bowl classic.
The Cotton Bowl. A high school band from Palestine, Texas, on that stage. And the way he got them there was unlike anything else going on at the time.
Wallace used recordings of performances during practice — so the students could hear themselves, really hear what they were building. And he handpicked a small group he called the Radio Band to broadcast music right on the local radio station. Creative methods, the marker calls them.
I'd call them the work of a man who understood that music lives in the listening. In 1960, the Texas Bandmasters Association named Roy Wallace bandmaster of the year. The whole state.
But illness had other plans. Roy retired on October 15, 1961, and on December 15, 1970, he passed from this world. He rests now at Roselawn Cemetery in Palestine.
The story didn't end there, though. On July 22, 2007, Roy B. Wallace was inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame in San Antonio — recognition that caught up with the legacy even after the man was gone.
Fourteen championships. The Cotton Bowl. A Radio Band crackling out over Palestine airwaves.
Roy Wallace didn't just teach music — he taught students what it felt like to do something worth remembering. Turns out, they weren't the only ones who remembered.
What the marker says
Roy B. Wallace was born in Coolidge, Limestone county, on October 13, 1901, to Benjamin C. Wallace, Sr. And Mae McCoy Wallace. Roy attended school in rural Limestone County and attended Texas Christian University prior to earning his bachelor’s degree in music from Baylor University in 1925. He also did graduate work at Stephen F. Austin State University and Sam Houston State University. In 1927, he married Clothilde “Clo” Hiser. He began his teaching career in Elkhart in 1932 and taught there for three years, then taught at the Norwood Common School District. In 1936, Wallace became the band director at Reagan Junior High School in Palestine, and in 1942 became the director of the Palestine High School Band. Wallace’s band received first division sweepstakes honors fourteen of the nineteen years that he was band director. Under his direction, the band performed at numerous events, including a 1946 Texas A&M football game and the 1950 Cotton Bowl classic. Roy Wallace was named bandmaster of the year by the Texas Bandmasters Association in 1960. Wallace used recordings of performances for practices and selected a small group known as the “Radio Band” to broadcast music on the local radio station. Due to illness, Roy retired on October 15, 1961 and died on December 15, 1970. He is buried in Roselawn Cemetery in Palestine. On July 22, 2007, Wallace was inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame in San Antonio. He will be remembered as a devoted band director and educator who inspired students with his creative methods and positive influence. (2013)