Marjorie Shidler

is honored with a Brick from Sonja Alseike

Marjorie (Morgridge) Shidler grew up in a small town in southeastern Kansas named Longton. It was a small town, and her mother, Neva, was the only music teacher in town. Neva had lots of pupils coming to her house to take piano lessons. Marjorie can remember when she was very little, sitting at the window, waiting and watching for the pupils to arrive so that she could hear the sweet music while her mother taught them how to play the piano. But Marjorie had to promise her mother that she would not say a word, sit quietly in the same room, and sit real still and listen, which she gladly did because Marjorie loved music "from day one."

All Marjorie wanted for her birthday was a violin. And a violin is exactly what she received. No one in her family before her had ever played the violin. But Marjorie fell in love with the sound that it made and played the violin for everything throughout her school years. She played for concerts, operettas and even school marches.

In grade school, Marjorie entered her first music contest. She competed in all the cities in southeastern Kansas: Pittsburgh, Lawrence, Winfield and Chanute, just to name a few. Marjorie always received a "highly superior" rating.

There was a famous violinist named Rubinoff when Marjorie was growing up. He was known as "Rubinoff and His Magic Violin." Rubinoff traveled through Longton and Marjorie played her violin for him. He was so impressed by her talent that he picked Marjorie to play on his "magic violin." At this time, the violin was valued at over $500,000. Marjorie played "Stardust" on his violin; a memory that she treasured for a lifetime.

Marjorie and her grandmother, Nana, started coming to Wichita so Marjorie could take music lessons from the Fine Arts Department at Wichita University. She took two lessons per week and practiced eight hours a day: four hours on the violin and four hours on the piano. When Marjorie attended Wichita University, her music instructor was Beatrice Sanford Pease, who was one of the founders of the Wichita Symphony. Marjorie "tried out" for this symphony, and became the youngest member of the orchestra. Marjorie really enjoyed playing with the symphony and getting to meet so many fine guest artists. The orchestra was not paid in those days. It was an honor to be chosen to play in it.

Marjorie's father would drive her to Wichita from Longton every Sunday so that she could practice and play with the Wichita Symphony. Many a night Marjorie could remember her father driving down the road with his head out the window to see the road because his defroster did not work quite right. Her father was so proud of her, up on stage with the Wichita Symphony. He always had front row seats to hear her play, but after the first few numbers he would always fall asleep. Marjorie also remembers playing on Beatrice Pease's radio show which originated out of the Lassen Hotel.

One of her biggest moments of fame occurred when Marjorie won a contest. KFH, not KFDI, held a contest for violinists to enter. Jack Benny was coming to Wichita for a show, and the violinist who played "Love In Bloom" the best would get to meet him at the airport and attend a big dinner in Mr. Benny's honor. Marjorie, with the help of her brother-in-law John Schneider, won the contest. Marjorie met Jack Benny at the airport. The press took lots of pictures and then Mr. Benny played "Love In Bloom" on Marjorie's violin. The paper wrote up a big article about all the activities. Marjorie said, "That's the first and last time that I ever felt like a celebrity."

Marjorie fell in love with teaching children how to play the piano and violin. These lessons snowballed into a lifetime vocation for Marjorie. She has been teaching music for over 40 years to students of all ages and all nationalities and never let the fact that one could not afford a music lesson stop her from sharing the joy of music.