Editor’s Note: This story was originally shared in a winter 2024 Encore newsletter for MSU Alumni Band members and has been edited for inclusion on MSUToday. Jim Barry is the editor of the Encore newsletter.

“Amazing” may be an overused descriptor, but veteran MSU Alumni Band member Lanie Rice said there is no better word to describe Henry Nelson. Nelson served as the first president of the Alumni Band Association and is now 103 years old.

Nelson’s MSU roots go deep, and his green and white branches continue to thrive as Nelson has had 16 close family members graduate from MSU, including 10 who played in an MSU band. Those included Henry, his wife Phyllis, son Jack, daughter Kristy, daughter-in-law Nancy, and grandsons Mike and Matt.

Henry Nelson, center, with his son Jack holding a saxophone and other members of the family surrounding him inside a stadium. — Henry Nelson, center, with his son Jack, grandson Matt, daughter-in-law Nancy and grandson Mike, who all played in the Spartan Marching Band. Photo courtesy of Mark Hansen

Nelson was born in Ludington, Michigan, on Oct. 16, 1922, to Henry and Margaret Nelson. He graduated from Manistee High School in June 1940 and started at what was then Michigan State College fall term 1940. After the U.S. entered World War II, he left to serve in the Army Air Force 1943–46 as a musician, returning to MSC after the war to continue his studies.

He married his childhood sweetheart, Phyllis Rykala, an MSC music major and 1944 grad, at Peoples Church in East Lansing in 1946. Nelson received his music education degree from MSC a year later in 1947. That year, the couple moved into their home in East Lansing. They raised their children there, and Nelson lived there until July 2025. Phyllis passed away in 2009. She taught vocal music in Williamston for a short time before moving to East Lansing and spending most of her career teaching vocal music and play-based music education in their elementary schools. Nelson taught band in Bath, followed by Perry, and finished his career in Haslett.

Michigan State bands during the war years

Nelson noted that by 1944 and 1945 during WWII, so many men in the all-male MSC bands had left for the service, and women were admitted to the Varsity Band. When there was no football at MSC, there was no marching band.

However, in fall 1942, there was a marching band of approximately 90 members. Nelson remembers playing and writing music for that band.

“So many men were off serving in the war during the later war years, there wouldn’t have even been a concert band if it weren’t for the women,” he said.

VFW National Champion Band in New York's Central Park in 1962 — Henry Nelson, first row, left, directed the Lansing VFW Band for nine years. Pictured is the 1958 National Championship Band in New York City’s Central Park. Photo courtesy of Morley S. Oates VFW Post #701

Nelson asserts that, “Many of them were excellent musicians.” He remembers this clearly for two reasons: first, because as he says, “I knew a lot of the women.” And second, one of them was his high school sweetheart and future wife, clarinetist Phyllis Rykala.

Former MSU Marching Band Director Leonard Falcone had also left MSC for the armed services for a time, but by October 1943, he had been discharged and was back on the podium. This Michigan State co-ed band numbered about 50 players.

> Related story: How Leonard Falcone built MSU’s signature sound

Origins of the MSU Alumni Band

The MSU Alumni Band was founded in 1970 by Ken Bloomquist, who was MSU director of bands in what was then the Department of Music, now the College of Music. Nelson shared how the MSU Alumni Band got started:

Henry Nelson poses with Ken Bloomquist in an outdoor setting with other people in the background — Henry Nelson, left, with Ken Bloomquist on the 1995 MSU Alumni Band tour. Photo courtesy Nancy Nelson

“The first try starting an alumni band was in the ’60s, when Dick Snook, then the band director at East Lansing High School, and I formulated the idea. We presented it to Leonard Falcone. The idea was shot down summarily by Leonard — and nobody argued with Mr. Falcone. So that took care of it. In later years, Beryl Falcone (Leonard’s wife and future MSU Alumni Band executive secretary) said that Leonard probably shot it down because he didn’t want to do something that could be construed as ‘copying,’ as he would put it, that ‘school down the road.’

“Nothing much else happened to my knowledge until Ken Bloomquist came to Michigan State in 1970 and wanted to start an alumni band. He initially did a lot of talking to people, including me. The biggest problem was getting names and addresses. We used a lot of Leonard’s old programs and grade books. In 1971, we had an organizational meeting. It was a luncheon meeting in the Union Ballroom. I remember it was a pretty good-sized group — there was lot of enthusiasm.”

The first MSU Alumni Band Reunion

The first reunion was in 1971, and Nelson said he worked with Ken Bloomquist to get it off the ground.

“There were a lot of mistakes — and some successes. The band was to perform in Spartan Stadium of course, so to boost the numbers and have a full block, Ken recruited 13 current students. Among these ‘ringers’ were Jack Nelson and Bob Rice, who have participated in every fall reunion since.”

Henry Nelson plays piccolo while where a striped hat during halftime on a football field — Henry Nelson plays during halftime of the 1987 fall reunion. Photo courtesy of MSU Alumni Band

“Well, you can see how that’s increased over the years; it’s the biggest event the MSU Alumni Band participates in,” Nelson added.

The 2026 Annual Fall Reunion will be held Sept. 11–12 and will be the 56th year. In 2025, 551 members from all over the country registered for the reunion and, of that, 531 marched and were on the field for the game.

Nelson said he never held another office after serving as president from 1971 to 1973, but things in those early days of the Alumni Band were a lot more informal, and he was active in many things behind the scenes, much with Beryl Falcone, the band’s executive secretary.

The band presented Nelson with a plaque recognizing his service through the years, which he still has today.

Alumni Concert Band Reunion and Homecoming

Nelson has played in the MSU Alumni Band Reunion from its inception through age 99 in 2022. Through the years, he encouraged others to be involved in it.

Some would say that they would not be able to play the music. He would encourage them, reminding them of the old saying, “The smart musician knows when NOT to play.”

Until recently, he has remained musically active playing tuba, piccolo, writing and arranging music. The most recent event that Nelson played with the band was the 2023 Fall Homecoming parade, using his trusty D♭ piccolo. Nelson said that when he couldn’t remember what to play, he just remembers the piccolo player’s motto, “When in doubt, trill.”

It was Nelson’s son Jack who organized the MSU Alumni Homecoming bands for many years, and it has become a popular unit in MSU’s annual Homecoming parade.

A perpetual player

As an active and influential school band director and adjudicator, and the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association’s Band Teacher of the Year in 1978, Nelson has always been immersed in music. Early on, he began using his musical training and talent to make some extra cash, learning string bass and picking up various gigs in mid-Michigan.

Musicians play various instruments while seated on stadium bleachers. — Henry Nelson plays with the MSU Alumni Band. Photo courtesy of MSU Alumni Band

In addition to the MSU Alumni marching and concert bands and the Strolling Spartans, Nelson has been active throughout his life playing in, arranging music for, and directing a variety of other ensembles, playing piccolo, flute, saxophone, tuba, string bass, and directing.

His ensembles have included the Lansing Concert Band, the Scottville Clown Band, the Senior Class Band, his own brass quintet, a saxophone quartet and various other combos. He also directed the VFW National Championship Band for nine years, which gradually morphed into the Lansing Concert Band.

Nelson has been a model for Alumni Band members, and as a former member of the board and active alumna Melissa Mackey put it: “Henry is what I want to be when I grow up.”

Freed, Carla

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