Warren W. Shelley, who turned a love for music into a career as a teacher in Baltimore and Carroll County, died at East Georgia Regional Medical Center in Statesboro, Ga., Tuesday after a long battle with kidney disease, liver disease and circulatory problems.
He was 81 and had lived for the 20 years since his retirement in Statesboro, near his wife's family home in Savannah.
Mr. Shelley taught music at Southern High School for 24 years, supervised music and art in the Carroll County schools for eight years and played the drums professionally for several summers in Baltimore's city-sponsored concerts.
"He started playing music at an early age because he had asthma and music became his love," said his stepdaughter, Bonnie D. Jaeger of Santa Barbara, Calif.
He was born in Elkhart, Ind., where he attended local schools before earning a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1944.
As a student and performer, he concentrated on the drums and marimba.
"He always loved marching bands and he liked to play the bass drum because he wanted to be leading and it's the bass drum that keeps the tempo," Ms. Jaeger said.
He earned a master's degree in music in 1946 from the University of Michigan and came to Baltimore in 1949 to begin teaching music at Southern.
He began a marching band by organizing bake sales and other events to raise money for band uniforms. The band eventually developed a reputation statewide.
In 1962, he took a one-year leave of absence to complete studies at Boston University, where he had been attending summer classes. He earned a doctorate that year from the school, where he also was a guest faculty member, a teaching fellow and an assistant band conductor.
He taught at Southern until 1974, when he left to become supervisor of music and art in the Carroll County schools. He supervised and advised about 30 music and art teachers in 25 schools.
"He was a great father figure to the other teachers. He never lost his temper and he was always calm, but he was firm and he knew what he wanted," said Robert E. Kersey, a retired interim superintendent in Carroll County who hired Mr. Shelley in 1974.
In 1967, he married B. Dale Graham, a physical education teacher whom he met while they were both working at Southern. A previous marriage ended in divorce.
The couple lived in Towson until 1974, when Mr. Shelley took the post in Carroll County and they moved to Westminster.
Beginning in the 1950s, he was hired as a drummer to play in summertime bands sponsored by the city. He performed with the Baltimore Parks Band from 1953 to 1957, and later with the Baltimore Municipal Concert Band.
"He was a very good drummer," said Mr. Kersey, a trumpeter who played in the concert band with Mr. Shelley.
Mr. Shelley also was a member of the Baltimore Civic Opera Orchestra from 1953 to 1956 and taught marching band and conducting part time at Peabody Conservatory in the 1960s.
Relatives said he particularly enjoyed the march music of John Philip Sousa. "All throughout his life he loved it. He'd play it all the time," Ms. Jaeger said.
He retired in 1982.
Mr. Shelley was a 33rd-degree Mason and a member of its Scottish Rite.
He was a member of First Baptist Church in Statesboro, Ga.
Services were held Friday.
In addition to his wife and stepdaughter, he is survived by three sons, Bruce C. Shelley of Arlington Heights, Ill., Scott R. Shelley of Hume, Va., and Gordon J. Shelley of Alexandria, Va.; a stepson, Henry A. Jaeger III of Given, W.Va.; and two grandchildren.
Donations may be made to Ogeechee Area Hospice in Statesboro, P.O. Box 531, Statesboro, Ga. 30459 or Statesboro First Baptist Church Building Fund, 108 N. Main St., P.O. Box 1039, Statesboro, Ga. 30459.
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