Saluting Wallingford-Swarthmore’s music man

Posted on June 28, 2017 in Newspaper.

Marching Band

Delco Times

By Delaware County Times Editorial Board

Taxes in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District are slated to go up 3 percent next year.

It will be worth every penny if kids can continue to be exposed to teachers like Jack Hontz.

The Wallingford Swarthmore community was stunned Friday to learn that the longtime school district music director died after suffering a heart attack.

Very few people had as big an effect on the district as Jack Hontz.

He spent 34 years in Wallingford-Swarthmore, arriving in 1992 fresh out of West Chester University with the mission of launching a marching band.

Hontz did more than that. He established a rare rapport with students, parents and the community.

That’s not to say he was not successful in his original mission. Today the Strath Haven High School marching band is one of the best in the state, a homage not only to Hontz’s love of music, but his love for the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District as well.

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