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colleagues, he served music educators of the state, region, and nation in an exemplary way that could properly be a model for those beginning careers at the present time.


His


unselfish, diligent leadership served as a beacon for those who followed in his footsteps. In short, Cleino led by example. In the above respects, Cleino aptly


could be characterized as a template for Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation” of Americans. Brokaw described these Americans in the following way: The young Americans of this time constituted a generation birth- marked for greatness, a generation of Americans that would take its place in American history with the generations that had converted the North American wilderness into the United States and infused the new nation with self-determination embodied first in the Declaration of Independence and then in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights…At the end of the twentieth century the contributions of this generation would be in bold print in any review of this turbulent and earth-altering time. It may be


historically premature to judge the greatness of a whole generation, but indisputably, there are common traits that cannot be denied. It is a generation that, by and large, made no demands of homage from those who followed and prospered economically, politically, and culturally because of its sacrifices. It is a generation of towering achievement and modest demeanor, a legacy of their formative years when they were participants in and witness to sacrifices of the highest order. They know how many of the best of their generation didn’t make it to their early twenties, how many brilliant scientists, teachers, spiritual and business leaders, politicians and artists were lost in the ravages of the greatest war the world has seen.


This evidence supports the notion


that Brokaw’s description could have been written about Dr. Cleino. Cleino possessed a modest demeanor. He leaves a legacy of model teaching, mentoring, professional service, performing, and visionary thought that was coupled at all times with action. He


accomplished towering achievements in the field of teaching with his thirty-year tenure at one institution and his pioneering endeavors in educational television. Such contributions are in bold print in the awards and writings he received. He served his country, his family, his students, and colleagues, as a soldier, a father and husband, a teacher and mentor, and a leader. The ripples of Cleino’s contributions will be felt for generations yet to come. Dr. Cleino surely was a model music educator during his lifetime and leaves a legacy for those of us still teaching to replicate.


References


Illinois birth certificate, Edward Cleino (1917). Cleino personal interview, by Beth A. Davis, 19 July 2012, Tuscaloosa, AL.


Brokaw, Tom. The Greatest Generation. New York: Random House, 1998. Photographs courtesy of the Cleino family


Davis, Beth A. (2014) Edward H. Cleino: The Father of Music Education at the University of Alabama (dissertation)


The editorial below, by Dr. Cleino, is reprinted from the December 1983 Ala Breve.


ala breve


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