Andrew Marrier believes he was meant to help band
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By CANDICE NOVITZKE candice.novitzke@lee.net
Saturday, October 14, 2006 8:50 PM CDT
When news spread last fall of the fatal crash involving a school bus carrying the Chippewa Falls High School band, it struck a particularly resonant chord with a St. Croix County man.
Despite having virtually no prior connection to Chippewa Falls, Andrew Marrier felt compelled to drop everything and find his way here to do anything he could to help.
He stepped in as a Chi-Hi band director during what was undoubtedly the band’s most unsettled, heart-broken moment.
However, ask if it was difficult, and Marrier will say being there for everyone was the easiest thing he’s ever done.
“I know what kind of person that ‘G’ (Doug Greenhalgh, a Chi-Hi band director who was killed in the crash) was, and what he taught and what he instilled in his kids,”Marrier said.
“Their reactions to the tragedy didn’t surprise me one bit,” he continued. “It didn’t surprise me that they were as accepting of the tragedy as they were.”
Fulfilling many roles
Still, there were many emotionally trying moments.
Marrier wasn’t just functioning as a teacher — he was a friend and a shoulder to lean on for the students and adults in the band community.
Sometimes, the solution was just to be near someone who understood.
The key, Marrier said, was being able to use humor as a way of healing.
“Once all of us could feel safe enough, trusting enough, it was a big step,” he said. “We needed that.”
Humor was something that Doug Greenhalgh used liberally.
Marrier knew Doug Greenhalgh from his own high school days in Merrill. Greenhalgh instructed there for a time.
When Marrier became the band director at St. Croix Falls, their paths crossed at competitions and other band events.
“From the morning I heard what happened, I felt called to Chippewa Falls,” Marrier said.
Marrier believes it was something he was meant to do. Everything in his life was aligned perfectly.
“I was a stay-at-home dad at the time, not working,” he said. “My personal and professional experiences made me qualified to do the job.
“The morning I heard about the accident, I sat down, grabbed my Bible, prayed, and made a promise to Doug that I would do whatever I could to help,” Marrier recalls.
“As a director I rode on buses to band events, in that same front seat as all band directors do, and I knew I would want someone else to be there for my students in that situation.”
The pieces fit together
In addition to the powerful lessons Greenhalgh had instilled in his students, something else helped Marrier through the semester.
He felt an unusually strong connection with other members of the Chi-Hi music department, one that made it possible for the group to function as a successful unit.
A major part of that was Andrei Strizek, who was a student-teacher at the time of the crash.
“Andrei and I hit it off really well,” he said. “Together, we accomplished so much more than what each of us was capable of individually.”
Marrier still e-mails Strizek every week, wanting to keep updated on what’s going on at Chi-Hi.
Today, Marrier teaches at a high school in Forest Lake, Minn., and still lives in Star Prairie, an hour-and-15-minute drive from Chippewa Falls. For him, commuting last year wasn’t as difficult as it seem to be.
“I put over 20,000 miles on my car,” he said. “But it was worth it.”
He and his wife Rachael were planning to attend Saturday night’s show, “Triumph of the Spirit.” Marrier wouldn’t miss the band’s performance for anything.
“I miss Chippewa Falls and all the exceptional staff and students I was able to work with,” he said. “I feel very blessed.”
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