New Hope, Minnesota — School years, like songs, start at the beginning.
Last fall, however, no one in the Robbinsdale Cooper High School Band could have predicted the following stanzas.
“One of my earliest memories of my father is being on his shoulders while he walked through his marching band,” Cooper band director Markus Hahn recalls.
Markus’ parents, Richard and Jeanette Hahn, were killed in an accident with a dump truck in October while driving to a funeral.
Before retiring, Jeanette taught middle school choir at St. Francis.
Richard served as Forest Lake High School’s band director for nearly 30 years.
“They were his best friends,” Markus’ wife, Jennifer Hahn, says with tears in her eyes. “He called his dad every day on the way home from work to talk about what they were playing, ways to inspire kids.”
The relationship was not limited to daily phone calls.
“My dad never missed a concert,” Markus says.
The Hahns attended all of Markus’ concerts while earning his music degree at the University of Minnesota.
When Markus decided to pursue his master’s degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, his father did not say no. “He flew down to UNLV for every concert,” Markus explains.
It did not end there.
“When I had my first job at Triton High School in southern Minnesota, my parents drove the hour-and-a-half, and the hour-and-a-half back, for every concert,” Markus elaborates.
Jennifer claims it was one of her in-laws’ most endearing qualities. “They always showed up.”
When Markus started his current job, the Hahns continued to show up. Richard and Jeanette became regulars at Cooper concerts and Friday night football games.
“The football team performs before and after the band,” Markus says, invoking an old family joke.
Cooper band members became so acquainted with the Hahns that some of them addressed Richard as “Papa Hahn.”
“The best father-son relationship I’ve ever seen,” Cooper High junior D.J. Cannon says.
“He would talk about him in band,” says senior Gabe Cummings.
Markus’ Robbinsdale School District colleagues took over his classes while he took time off to grieve the deaths of his parents.
Band students also wanted to support their teacher.
They pinned on gold ribbons to honor Richard and Jeanette, who fell in love with the University of Minnesota while studying there.
“The football players, even they were wearing gold stickers on their helmets,” junior Kendall Carscadden explains.
However, the students were not done.
“They showed up to the wake,” Markus says. “I remember looking over there and seeing just a line of my students starting to walk through the door.”
Marcus cried when he saw his students.
“A lot of tears, a lot of tears by everybody,” Kendall recalls.
“He was shocked,” Jennifer describes her husband’s reaction to seeing his students at the wake.
However, Markus was reminded that the band is family.
His father has twice directed the Forest Lake band in the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Markus accompanied his father on the second trip in 1992.
“I was six years old,” Markus explains. “He made a bed for me in the aisle of the bus.”
Markus’s grandfather was also a band director.
“I’m the third Mr. Hahn,” he proudly declares as he holds the nameplate from his grandfather’s office at Minot State Teachers College in North Dakota.
A fourth generation is becoming interested in music.
Markus posts a video of his 3-year-old daughter Shelby pretending to conduct a band, which she learned from her grandmother Jeanette.
“I would love for her to develop the same musical appreciation my parents instilled in me,” says Markus.
Markus is filled with gratitude for music, family, and even this school year as he gathers his students in the band room to prepare for their spring concert, their final performance together.
Markus appreciates the students’ help during the difficult times of the year.
He informs them: “I told dad in September that I just got a great group of three bands, I really mean that.”
Markus conducts his bands, who perform well-rehearsed numbers for family and friends in the Cooper auditorium.
Shelby sits on her mother’s lap, keeping time with her feet. If things had turned out differently, her grandparents would be sitting next to her now.
“I definitely believe they’re smiling down,” Markus said ahead of the concert.
If they’re looking down, Jeanette and Richard would undoubtedly enjoy the Cooper band’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic” finale. It’s the same song that concludes every concert directed by Markus’ father.
Markus conducts the song using his father’s baton.
The concert concludes with a rousing applause, during which Markus smiles broadly and tells his band, “Nice job, everybody.”
School years, like songs, eventually come to an end.
Unless they reach our hearts.
If they do, the songs and memories from school will stay with us for a lifetime.