Jim Murdza

James R. Murdza, 75 years of age, passed away March 7, 2014, peacefully at home in Abingdon, Maryland, surrounded by his family.

On the cusp of the Sixties, Jim left Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, the coal town where he'd been born and raised, and landed in Harford County teaching instrumental music at Jarrettsville Elementary. In 1962, a band director position opened up at Edgewood High School, and Jim began building the music program, taking special pride in the jazz ensemble he established. Within three years, he organized the first Chesapeake Jazz Festival, an annual event that drew participants from all over the East Coast and ever more students to the music program. Not only did Jim encourage his students to expand their repertoire of skills, he continued to educate himself and to take on new projects, enrolling in music theory and jazz composition courses at Towson University's renowned jazz program as well as composing jazz music for his ensemble students and writing new arrangements and original field drills for the marching band. Memorable concerts at local elementary schools as well as the regular holiday and spring concerts at the high school fueled young kids' interest and fed a steady stream of talented musicians into the program. Jim rewarded this enthusiasm by investing in the kids; he took his band to jazz festivals all over the tristate area and traveled twice with the band to the All-American High School Jazz Festival in Mobile, Alabama, and once to Montreaux, Switzerland, to participate in the International Jazz Festival in 1972. When the county schools experienced budget cuts in the early 1980s, he arranged with the Edgewood Parks and Recreation Department to continue summer music. In addition, he served as assistant coach to EHS's track and swimming programs. For several years, Jim directed an Alumni Jazz Band Concert, which reunited five decades of former music students in performances at EHS. An annual scholarship was established in his name by the EHS Music Department to honor an outstanding senior to continue in music studies. He was inducted into both the Edgewood High School Hall of Fame and the Harford County Public School Educator Hall of Fame.

Jim was active with the Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Edgewood. He was awarded the Good Samaritan Citation by the Harford County Sheriff's Office for aiding a family stranded on the highway and volunteered for five years with Meals on Wheels. In 2009, he was awarded the Archdiocesan Medal of Honor by the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Janice Murdza; children Susan Lauzau, Therese Murdza, Christopher Lauzau, Linda Lauzau Henry, Amanda Lauzau, and Christine Murdza Zier; four grandchildren; and five great-grandsons.

With his "fashion-forward" ties and his jangling-buckled shoes, Jim Murdza created a place for many a student who didn't otherwise have a place. He taught them all that when you hit a snag, you just picked yourself up and tried it again. And again. Until you got it. How many former students, after all these years, can still hear his voice saying "Let's take it from the train wreck"?

Those who desire may contribute to Prince of Peace Catholic Church, 2600 Willoughby Beach Road, Edgewood, MD 21040 or James R. Murdza Scholarship Fund, Edgewood High School, 2415 Willoughby Beach Road, Edgewood, MD 21040