Most people when they hear the phrase “The Day the Music Died” think of the day (February 3, 1959) when the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and “Big Bopper” Richardson crashed. Some will know that the phrase actually was coined by Don McLean in his song “American Pie” in reference to the crash. To me and other friends of Jerry Hause it has a second meaning. 
 Jerry was a music teacher, who also worked at a local music store, part-time during the year and full-time in the summers. Through the store he gave private lessons on a number of instruments. Although he loved music of all types, his greatest love was bluegrass, and he played mandolin in a bluegrass band. I love bluegrass, and I wish that I could have heard him play. One day he was working in the music store, when an elderly man, who was a casual acquaintance, came in carrying a mandolin and offered to sell it to Jerry. Jerry immediately realized that the price, while considerable, was way below the worth of the instrument. When asked why he was asking so little, the man responded that his children wouldn’t make good use of it, and that he wanted someone to have it that could play the beautiful music it deserved. Jerry called his wife Mary, and she urged him to buy it, even though they had to take out a loan to do so. I’ve been told that the mandolin and Jerry made a lot of beautiful music together.

 One day Mary came in the house and found him on the floor. Even though he was young, he had suffered a ruptured aneurism in his brain. He lived, but from then on was confined to a wheelchair. He had a little jerky control of one of his arms and could make some sounds, but from that day both he and the mandolin were musically silent. His friends and family called it “The Day the Music Died”.

 In this period of Lent, we prepare ourselves for Good Friday and Jesus’s death on the cross with the knowledge that His resurrection is to follow. In a way the music was resurrected for both Jerry and the Mandolin. One Sunday Mary and Jerry were driving by our church, and Jerry indicated to Mary that they should stop and go in. After that he and Mary faithfully attended and became beloved members. Jerry would sit in his wheelchair in the foyer and greet everyone, with Mary interpreting; clearly his intellect had not been impaired in any way and it was always a pleasure to converse with him. One thing that wasn’t paralyzed was his smile! Her love for him was a blessing to see; not only did she help him communicate, but she tended to him physically, lifting him in and out of the car. While he couldn’t play music anymore, his love for it came back; he always listened to the band play the half hour before the service as well as the pipe organ prelude and postlude. Even the mandolin came to their service. They decided to sell it and cleared enough for a down payment on a small house and some modifications to make the house handicap friendly. Jerry is gone now, and while he died at a relatively young age, this Christian musician strummed the heartstrings of many.

 Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim