Life in harmony: Music teacher Mary Ruth Boone picks up the tempo in retirement

“Slow down?” Mary Ruth Boone of Dexter repeats the question.

“Probably not,” she replies with a laugh. “If I do that, then I’d have time to sit and worry, and I don’t even want to go there!”

Boone retired in 2011 after 30 years in the field of music education — most of those years spent in the Dexter Public Schools.

“From the time I took my first piano lesson at 16 years of age,” Boone recounts, “I wanted to be a music teacher. I loved music so much, and I wanted to share that love with others.”

As a teacher, Boone was known throughout the area for the spectacular Christmas Madrigal dinner theater she oversaw each holiday season. Her spring Pop Concert productions were always sell-out affairs, with parents and fans scrambling to purchase tickets as soon as they were available for sale.

In addition, there were fall, holiday and spring choral concerts; district, regional and state choir contests; and music festivals for her piano and vocal students. She also served as music/choir director at Dexter First United Methodist Church.

“I was so shy and backward when I was growing up,” Boone confesses. “I never even had a date in high school. My first date was with my future husband when I was in college. It was music that brought me out of that insecurity. It was music that gave me confidence in myself and in my talent.”

Boone continues, “I wanted, and still want, to help students find something they enjoy doing and that helps them feel better about themselves. Something to give them the confidence that music gave me.”

Fast forward nine years, and Boone is still going full-steam.

“When I first retired,” Boone explains, “I taught music at TRC, but I gave that up after a few years. My friend Brian Crawford offered me the opportunity to help out in his store, French Market, in Downtown Dexter, where I mainly arrange flowers and assist with event planning.”

Boone works about 35 to 40 hours a week there.

Boone goes on to say she has continued to teach piano and vocal music private lessons, and now includes adults among her clientele.

“I don’t turn anyone down — if they are really interested,” Boone explains.

Boone says she no longer holds lessons on the weekend, but still teaches evenings, and is lucky enough to be able to conduct some classes at the Market.

While she was still teaching high school choir, Boone assembled a troupe of students to perform show tunes.

“It was a nice break from the standard music we usually sang,” Boone says. “I originally started it just to showcase the talent of exceptional students during Pop Concert, but it became so popular, I eventually moved their performances into other venues besides school productions.”

“Now they are called Showstoppers of Southeast Missouri,” Boone points out, “and the group is no longer affiliated with the school. My members come from all over the region, and range in age from seventh grade to college age.”

And as if that weren’t enough, Boone continues to fulfill the role of choir/music director at her church.

“I’ve been in this position since 1981,” Boone says, “and I find it very rewarding.”

In addition to coordinating Sunday service music, Boone also plans and produces two holiday musical events.

Boone, grew up in Marston and graduated from Lilbourn High School. She attended Southeast Missouri State University where she earned a degree in music education with a piano major. She met her future husband shortly after she completed her student teaching in Malden.

“My beautician set us up on a blind date,” Boone laughs. “Bill’s mother used the same salon, so the beautician wrote down my name and telephone number with instructions for him to call me. She sent the note home with his mother. He did call me on Christmas evening 1975. We went out, and that was that. We married in June of 1979. He’s the only man I ever dated.”

“Bill retired from Southern Bank in 2015,” Boone says, “and we definitely are spending our retirements differently. While I go about my business, Bill enjoys golfing and yardwork, and is very active in his church. Bill has always been supportive — regardless of my long days and late nights — and we have been meeting in the middle for many years. In fact, we just celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary.”

The Boones have two children. Andrew and his wife Malinda live in Willard, Missouri, where he teaches elementary PE and coaches seventh grade boys basketball. Their daughter, Afton, lives in Springfield, Missouri, and works at Cox Medical Center-South.