Even after enjoyable stints as drum major for the Maryville College Highlander Band, tour manager for the Maryville College Choir and a proud member of Porky and the Simple Seven, W. Harold Laster ’65 didn’t think “music” when asked what field he hoped to spend the rest of his life in. He thought he would follow in his father’s ministerial footsteps and enroll in seminary after graduation.

“I was accepted to Princeton,” he said, “but I began to question that, so I decided to work at Maryville for a year. Then the draft notice came.”

Hal didn’t serve in Vietnam but was fortunate to service his obligation as a member of the Air Force Band program. He earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Southern California in 1970 and returned to Maryville to work in admissions, having realized by then that he enjoyed academia and working with students. From there, the pieces of his life’s puzzle began to fall in place.

“I subsequently worked four years at Newberry College (S.C.) and 19 years at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as assistant dean for admissions and student services. In 1995, he was named dean of the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Maryville’s influence? “Huge!!!” Hal said. “Had I not been so actively involved in the MC choir and band programs and been given numerous leadership opportunities in those organizations (thanks to Harry Harter and John Roberts), I am certain I would never have made it in the AF Band program, nor would I have been offered positions at Cincinnati or Aspen.”

In 1981, he and brother James Laster ’56 established the J. Hayden Laster and Willie Nell Harold Laster Endowed Scholarship Fund to honor their parents (both MC alumni) and provide financial assistance to deserving students.

“And Maryville’s influence in the field of church music has been far reaching for me, as well. I have had wonderful choral conducting experiences in churches in Cincinnati and Snowmass Village, and I have also had the opportunity to commission several choral works for these churches.”

Asthma forced Hal to leave Aspen in 2002. He moved to California but was drawn out of retirement by the Music Academy of the West, which figured Hal the perfect person, because of experience and contacts in the music profession, to become the school’s vice president and dean.

It’s a rewarding career, he said.

“Working closely with the likes of Sarah Chang, Lynn Harrell, Marilyn Horne, the Canadian Brass and the Emerson String Quartet and following the development of young artists as they made it big (Tony award-winners Faith Prince, Michele Pawk, Steven Flaherty, Kevin McCollum) have been highlights of my work in arts administration.”

An angel on wheels

Two of the most rewarding experiences of Hal’s life, he said, have little to do with his career. Always up for a good challenge and always motivated by a worthy cause, he has completed two 47-day, cross-country bicycle trips. The first, for the American Lung Association in 1989, started in Seattle and ended in Atlantic City. He raised $10,000 for the charity.

The second, for the Ryan White Foundation and AIDS education in 1994, started at Disneyland and ended at Disney World. (Ryan’s mom, Jeanne, met him at the finish line.) For his physical and fund-raising feats ($18,000+), he was awarded the foundation’s Angel Award, along with actress Judith Light, diver Greg Luganis and talk-show host Phil Donahue.