There's lots of sizzlin' fireworks in the life of our July Spotlight Member: 

Melissa Clark Vickers 

        I’m a lactation consultant, writer, and data collector by profession, and a musician at heart. My love of music is at least partly genetic. My dad’s mom was a piano major at Brenau College in Atlanta, GA, around the turn of the 20^th century. She was being groomed to be a concert pianist, but somewhere along the way she fell in love with a Georgia farm boy, got married and had seven children, 6 boys (my dad was the youngest of the boys), and a baby sister. The older Clark boys were well known for their singing, although the singing talent skipped over my dad! Many of my first cousins–and now their children–are talented musicians as well.

        My first formal study of music began in Chattanooga when I was 6 years old. My older sister, Merrilyn, was taking piano lessons and I had a serious crush on Mr. Lowe. He was tall (at least to a first grader!), dark, and handsome. I was thrilled to start piano lessons.  By the time I was 8, we’d moved to Connecticut, and Merrilyn was now taking lessons from a very strict, overly serious woman. This was not for me. The Cheshire school system started band in the fourth grade, so I just decided to wait a year and get in the band. Sitting still to play the piano was always a challenge for me anyway, and I figured with the flute I could wander around. I couldn’t wait to march! That enthusiasm waned seriously after my first parade in 7^th grade and the band marched behind horses.... 

        I started private flute lessons in the fifth grade with Mr. Crumrine, an older man with white hair and the biggest lips I’d ever seen. He was an excellent flute player and teacher, and I learned a lot from him, and I was a very good flute player all through high school.

         Meanwhile, in the summer after fifth grade, Merrilyn and I decided we wanted to learn to play the guitar, so my parents bought us a 3/4 size acoustic guitar and a few books and we spent the summer teaching ourselves to play. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool 60s folk freak, so I learned folk picking styles and sang in church and for fun. I wrote a few songs in high school as well, most of which were highly forgettable.

         When I headed to the University of Georgia after high school, I had had enough of the flute so I opted not to pursue that any further. Instead I joined the UGA Wesley Singers and played my 12-string guitar and sang with a fun bunch of college students.  I met my future husband at UGA as well, and after we finished school, Bob and I married and moved to Atlanta. My flute stayed in its case for decades.

         Fast forward to kids! We moved from Atlanta to Huntingdon in 1994, where my son, Dan (now 23), took up the clarinet in 6^th grade. He was an excellent player, making it on his own into All West in 8^th and 9^th grades before finally starting lessons with Leigh Boyce in Trenton. He played all through high school, continuing to do well in honor bands.