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CoeCollegeChronicles
Our Stories
Uncovering Hidden Legacies
Nile Norton: Coe College Class of 1963
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Nile Norton returned to Coe in October, 2013 to share his story. Listen below.
LISTEN
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Nile didn't actually "play" in that parade.
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It was January of 1961; Nile Norton and the Coe College Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) Band were in Washington, DC, to play in John F. Kennedy's Presidential Inauguration parade. The temperature that day was so cold that by the time they were in front of the viewing platform where Kennedy was standing, the three valves on Norton's tuba were frozen shut. He tried to play his instrument and his lips became stuck to his mouthpiece.
Where is he now? After graduating from Coe, Norton taught vocal music in Columbus Junction, Iowa, for the next two years. He completed graduate work at Stanford University and taught at Whittier College and Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Norton had the amazing opportunity to perform in Berlin, Germany, at the Berlin Philharmonic with a group from Berkeley, California, called The Pacific Mozart Ensemble. The group sang Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, and Norton was privileged to have a solo performance. The recording of the performance was nominated for a 2006 Grammy. Norton is now retired and teaches private vocal lessons.