Alumni Profile: Dave and Pat Hubbard
Attending homecoming is an annual occurrence for Cheboygan residents and Alma College alumni Dave and Pat Hubbard. They are familiar with the typical homecoming routine and activities.
But something different happened at Alma’s homecoming last October. They attended a concert by the Alma College Percussion Ensemble.
We’ve always come back for homecoming, but this was the first time the Percussion Ensemble performed on the Friday night before homecoming Saturday, says Pat. We were very impressed. We didn’t know that the student musicians made such a great sound. We were impressed with the director and the enthusiasm of the young people.
The performance prompted the Hubbards to donate a significant gift to Alma College as part of the Open Windows Campaign to support the purchase of new percussion instruments.
I am deeply grateful because this gift has opened doors for our students,says Dave Zerbe, faculty director. Many of the instruments we had been using were owned by the students. When the students graduated, the instruments graduated with them.
This gift solidifies our instrument base. It gives us the ability to play literature we couldn’t previously perform because we didn’t have the right instruments.
Zerbe has put the donation to good use. The list of new instruments includes marimbas, timpani, chimes, xylophones, steel drums, bongos, drum sets, chimes, bells, cymbals, gongs and more.
It’s just a huge list, says Zerbe. Already, the instruments we have received have transformed the group. The students are performing at a different level. They can create a higher level of sound because of the quality of the instruments. The students were ready to move to another level of performance, but we didn’t have the instruments. It’s really amazing. We are thrilled.
The Percussion Ensemble has performed in concerts and festivals throughout the country. Ensemble members perform a combination of traditional chamber music as well as jazz, steel drum and world music.
The group has been invited to perform July 27 and 28 at the Centrum Jazz Festival at Port Townsend, Wash. Alma is the only college group that has been invited to perform at this professional jazz festival.
The Hubbards, now retired, have dual residences in Cheboygan and Englewood, Fla. Dave, a 1960 graduate of Alma College, has a degree in finance and worked as vice president for finance at Edison-Sault Electric in Sault Ste. Marie.
Pat, a 1959 Alma graduate who has a degree in elementary education, taught in Livonia, Royal Oak and Monroe and subbed in Sault Ste. Marie. She also was director of Christian Education at Central United Methodist Church at the Sault.
The $35.25 million Open Windows Campaign, the largest planned fund-raising effort in Alma’s history, focuses on strengthening student opportunities that build on and enhance classroom learning.
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