Frances Rudegeair

Frances Elaine Rudegeair (Wildeboor) of Newton, Massachusetts, born April 18th, 1948 in Harrisonville, Missouri, passed away on August 25th, 2014. Fran didn't believe in God but she did believe in people. Most of all she believed in her children and grandchild, Emily, Jake, Eliza, and Mabel, to whom she imparted her many gifts: imagination, madcap passion, musicality, a kind heart, long fingers, an obsession with the arts, boundless curiosity, stick-to-itiveness, wanderlust, and the ties that bind. Fran was a professor and an ethnomusicologist. She taught at Curry College in Milton for 38 years, but her greatest lessons were life lessons: no name calling, be interested in people, believe in your brains, invest in quality kitchen stuff, treat children with respect, put the napkin in your lap, always show affection, celebrate each person's achievement with pure joy, be a feminist, stand up for yourself, and take care of each other. A National Merit Scholar, Fran got her undergraduate degree at William Jewell College where she was selected for Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. She won the Sigma Alpha Iota award for the highest GPA in four years, and the Gene Holman Music Award for Outstanding Music Student. In 1969, she studied opera at the Summer Vocal Institute in Freiburg, Germany. In 1977 she studied at the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria. She got her Master's in Music Education (M.M.E) from Vanderbilt, continued her music education at the New England Conservatory, and studied for her Ph.D. at Brown University. In 1983 Fran lived with the Efe Pygmies in the Ituri Forest of what was then Zaire, conducting field research and having adventures. In 1987 she moved her family to Nairobi for six months to continue her research. For the rest of her life she longed for the Kenyan sky and for the way the air tasted and for the many friends she left behind. Fran also studied Maori music in New Zealand, especially the hip hop/reggae/rap of Dean Hapeta, Te Kupu of Upper Hutt Posse. She was the former Vice President and then Secretary for the Northeast Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology. In addition to her children and grandchild, Fran leaves behind her brother Edwin Wildeboor, his wife Janet, her son-in-law Ryan Murray-Rudegeair, and (she hoped) future daughter-in-law, Laurel True-McCarthy. And of course, the beautiful grandchildren yet to come, and their children, and on and on. Fran lit fires in the hearts of everyone she met. Now she is lighting the fire of the universe: a collection of particles from the stars, back to the stars. She is in the elements. She is elemental. And she is so desperately missed. A service to celebrate Fran's life will be held this Saturday the 18th at The All Newton Music School at 4 PM. Please call 518-256-6866 for more information.