AN INTERVIEW WITH LARRY MAXEY - The University of Kansas

AN INTERVIEW WITH LARY MAXEY
Interviewer: Jewell Willhite
Q: I am speaking with Larry Maxey, who retired as professor of clarinet at the University of
Kansas in 2007. We are in Lawrence, Kansas, on December 17, 2007. Where were you
born and in what year?
A: Michigan City, Indiana, in 1937.
Q: What were your parents’ names?
A: My father was Charles Sheldon Maxey. He was named after Charles Sheldon, who was
the author of What Would Jesus Do? He was at a church in Topeka, although my
grandmother, who lived in Indiana, had only heard of him. My mother was Bernice Frey
Maxey.
Q: My mother’s name was Bernice also.
A: Not a very common name.
Q: What was their educational background?
A: They both had bachelors and masters degrees, and my mother had a nursing degree. She
went on to accumulate a lot of graduate hours over the years and eventually ended up
with a masters degree in education as well. My father had a master’s. He taught in high
school for his entire life.
Q: What did he teach?
A: He started out as a wood shop teacher, then he taught distributive education, which was
the program whereby students went to school half time and worked half time. He
supervised that program during the later years of his career.
Q: Was your mother employed also?
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