Welcome!
This website is dedicated to my father, S. Thomas Beversdorf. (The picture to the left is of me, Anne Beversdorf, and "Daddy"... a long time ago). Dad was a consummate musician, performing with the Pittsburgh Symphony, conducting the Houston Symphony, and a Professor of Music (and Chairman of both Composition and Brass Instruments) at the highly ranked Indiana University School of Music. As a teacher, he left a legacy of trombonists and composers who still see him as a primary teacher and life-influencer. As a performer he was a highly respected trombone soloist and master teacher. But his real passion was musical composition. In fact, some time after his death in 1981 I had a vision of his soul working in non-physical realms, marrying the music of notes to the music of the spheres. In this vision, he was working with others to compose and orchestrate whole worlds and universes, through the creative principle of music.
Of course, on earth, his compositions were for musical instruments. In these pages you will find a listing of his compositions.
This web page will have multiple functions. I hope that his former students will take advantage of the blog feature to re-connect with each other. I will be loading OLD family pictures to other sections of the site, and will be happy to share space with other Beversdorfs. And eventually I hope to be able to offer recordings of Dad's music---but keep breathing (don't hold your breath). It'll take me a while to figure this one out!
If you would like to receive notice when more information is added to this website, please click the "newsletter signup" button below. It will take you to a page with several sign-up options. To receive ONLY Beversdorf family (including Thomas Beversdorf) information, just click the "Beversdorf" checkbox.
And if you would like to donate to help keep this Beversdorf Community site going and growing, you can click here:
S.T. Beversdorf Brief Bio
S. Thomas Beversdorf, Jr. was born Aug 8, 1924, in Yoakum, Texas, to Estelle Hamblen Beversdorf and Samuel Thomas Beversdorf Sr. His father (Sam) was a postal carrier and local band-director, and "Tommy" studied the trombone as a child. After a brief period in the army, he was discharged 4F because of his severe allergies. His freshman year at college was at Baylor University in Waco, TX, which is where he first met Norma Beeson, although they didn't seriously connect at that time. Each independently decided to transfer to the University of Texas at Austin the next year, where Norma, a talented pianist, became his accompaniest. Tom Beversdorf married Norma Beeson in 1945. They had five children together: Anne (1949), Paula (1952), Sarah (1960-1962), STB III (Tom) 1963, and David Quintin (1965). Thomas Beversdorf taught music at Indiana University from 1949-1980, living in Bloomington, and died (asthma) in 1981. (Additional professional history is under Thomas Beversdorf BIO above.)
Ancestral Photos
The girl in the picture is Estelle Hamblen Beversdorf--Dad's mother, my grandmother. The Family Photos menu item will take you to many more (and more later, too) photos. If you have photos you'd like me to upload here, let me know. If they are Beversdorfs in any way, I can probably make room to do it! If you download and print these on photographic paper, you'll have instant ancestors, too!
Community
If you have family stories to share, if you are a former student of Thomas Beversdorf's, or if you are researching the Beversdorf family history, please add a comment to the blog at the right of this page. The blogs will come to me first, and I'll then approve them for posting (avoiding spam this way). I may take stories and make new pages of your stories. If you want to get in touch with others, or want others to reach you, share your emails in the blog. And--one more thing--be sure to check out my other websites. They are www.stariel.com (I'm a professional astrologer) and www.sacred-threads.com (my miniature tapestry art-work). I hope this "community" will be a happy sharing space for all!