In this contributed photo, Michael Williams receives a community award from Marshall-Saline NAACP President Clyde Williams in June. [Click to enlarge]

From an early age, Michael Williams, former music teacher for the Malta Bend schools now serving the Slater School District on the other side of Saline County, knew that his life would be centered around music.

"When I was in eighth grade, I knew I was going to teach music," Williams said. "Going to college was like going to 13th grade ... it was nothing. It was just a continuation of high school. I never had to choose my profession. It was 10 or 12 years before I realized how lucky I was."

"My mom started me off playing piano in third grade and I started playing clarinet in sixth grade," Williams said. "One day, when I was in school, Harold Lickey [longtime former Marshall school band conductor whom the auditorium at Bueker Middle School is named for] came over and asked if any of us played the piano. I said, 'Yes.' So he said, 'Now you're playing the strings.' That's how I started playing cello in seventh grade. So I played piano, clarinet and cello all the way through school."

After graduating from Central Missouri State University in 1971, Williams hit the "Left Coast" with his passion for music bubbling over.

"I left college and went to California, where I spent a year teaching in Orange County," he said "At the time, you had to have five years to be certified in California, so I came back to get my master's degree in '73. I decided at that time that I would stay in Kansas City even though I loved L.A."

Williams taught in Kansas City, Kan., for 20 years and a year in Blue Springs, earning his master's degree in 1980.

After leading the Malta Bend schools music department for the past nine years, Williams decided to take a position in Slater because of the better benefits.

"I left the Malta Bend School District because they are one of only 10 districts in the state that doesn't provide health insurance for their employees," he explained. "I've been faced with that for seven years and I was tired of it. … At 54 years of age, I couldn't afford it, so I decided to move on." However, he indicated that the Mid-Missouri Energy ethanol plant may be interested in helping acquire health insurance for the Malta Bend school personnel.

"I have 10 years left, so I want to build a program that Slater can be proud of and is successful," he said. "I have the tools to do it and I feel like I can do a really good job quicker than I have been able to in some other places."

Williams also plays clarinet and cello in the Marshall Municipal Band, is part of the Marshall Philharmonic Orchestra, plays bells and sings at First United Methodist Church and sings occasionally at First Christian Church in Marshall

The 1968 Marshall High School grad also assists Diana Malan, an associate professor of music and theater at Missouri Valley College, in the musical events she presents at the college.

Williams, who received a community award this year from the local branch of the NAACP on June 26, described his feelings on receiving the prestigious award from Clyde Williams, president of the local chapter, whom he said is a "close friend I've known for a long time."

"It makes me feel good. I had no idea it was going to happen. It means a lot to me coming from the NAACP because I worked in predominantly black neighborhoods for 20 years," he said. "I came back here and it was like going back to a different world that I had left long ago."

Finally, Williams said his greatest source of joy as a teacher comes from seeing his students grow as musicians, --but more importantly as people.

"Seeing my students strive and achieve and work together is an awesome feeling," he said.

Contact Eric Coley at

marshallfaith@socket.net