FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Blanche V. Simmons, 79, of Madison, Ala., who inspired thousands of music students in Alabama during her 31 years as band director at Fairhope High School, died Dec. 19 at a Huntsville hospital.

“She put the FHS band on the map,” said Becky Jones, a fellow teacher throughout Simmons’ career and current owner and operator of Church Street Inn and Bay Breeze Bed and Breakfast. “So many people in Fairhope were in Blanche Simmons’ band. She completely involved everyone in the town. If you had a kid in the band, you worked.”

Some students first met her in the 5th grade, when she evaluated their musical abilities, many of them later joining the high school band. With her help, more than a few attended college on full music scholarships.

Known to take on any football coach who wouldn’t let the band get on the field to practice, she earned a reputation as a tough but brilliant music educator, both beloved and feared by her students, many of whom became professional musicians, composers, music teachers and band directors themselves.

Numerous former students considered their experiences with the person some call the “god,” “queen,” or “grand dame” of Alabama bands as significant turning points in their lives.

“She probably taught more children discipline for life than anyone I’ve ever been around,” said Beth Stowe Fugard, co-owner of Stowe’s Jewelers, who graduated in 1973 and was Band Captain that year. “She was not afraid to say what she thought. She had no use for lazy students.”

Fugard said that this intimidating, but caring, band director’s practices were legendary. At a band camp they went to in Mississippi, it was normal to start at 4 a.m. and not stop working until 10 p.m.

“That’s why we were so good,” she said. “I spoke on the phone with her not long before she died. She asked about everybody she could think of. She was like a second mother to me. My biggest gift is that I got to tell her that I loved her, and she told me she loved me too.”

Simmons was born in Moss Point, Miss., on June 14, 1928, and grew up next to the Gulf of Mexico waters she loved. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Southern Mississippi and came to Fairhope in 1955 after working as band director in Butler, Ala. She became the first woman president of the Alabama Band Masters Association but was better known as captain of her boat, which she’d take into the bay or Gulf, while her students and friends fished from the back.

She retired in 1986, after planting the seeds of music in scores of young people and several generations who played for the Buccaneer Band. The 1986 edition of the “FHS Bay Breeze” yearbook devotes four full pages to the band’s award-winning competitions and activities, more than the varsity football team got that year.

“The Buccaneer Band competed in contest after contest to show that they were the pride of Fairhope High School,” the yearbook reads. At the band’s May 22 finale that year, they dressed out for the first time in new West Point-style uniforms. It took intensive fund-raising activities throughout the year and a November “play-a-thon” at the Civic Center to pay for the uniforms, the yearbook states.

Master Sgt. Chris Jones, the Band Captain who graduated in 1986, continues to wear a West Point band uniform as Clarinetist and Assistant Drum Major for the U.S. Military Academy Band in West Point, N.Y.

“She was one of the major influences in my life,” he said. “She had a certain power over the band room. Students could be talking and carrying on, and she would walk in and stand there without saying a word. Everyone would immediately shut up. I haven’t seen anything like it since.”

During his 15-year career with military bands, Jones has played for presidents, heads of state and on the stage of Carnegie Hall, he wrote in the guest book at the O’Bryant-O’Keefe Funeral Homes Web site.

“I owe Blanche Simmons my career and love of music,” he wrote. “Sometimes, I wonder if people recognize the genius of music teachers.”

It is hard to turn around in Fairhope without bumping into someone who was in Simmons’ band. They talk about her legacy and how she laid the foundation for years of excellent bands in Fairhope.

“She basically had to build it from nothing when she came,” said Bill Rich, a teacher of 28 years at FHS and who chaperoned a number of band trips. “It was amazing how it got better and better over the years. The band went to Mexico City and the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington, D.C. among many other places.”

Rich said that her practices were legendary, but so were her battles with the coaches over the importance of the band versus the football program.

“They used to try and take her best and largest students,” he said. “That would make her so mad. She was always fighting for her band.”

One former student who said he owes his professional career to Simmons can be heard playing piano most nights at the Grand Hotel.

David Ellis graduated from FHS in 1969 and went to Simmons’ alma mater on a full music scholarship. He then worked as a band director for a number of schools in Mobile. He has been playing piano at the Point Clear resort for 28 years and full-time for the past eight.

Ellis also started with Simmons in the 5th grade. He said that his hand was badly injured in an accident, where two fingers had to be stitched back on. He thought that would end his trumpet-playing career.

“When I came into school that day with my hand all bandaged up, I figured I wouldn’t be playing,” he said. “But I got little sympathy. ‘Just play it left-handed,’ she told me. I’ll never forget that.”

Simmons leaves one sister, Elizabeth Smith of Moss Point, a number of nieces and nephews, and Bessie Owen, a very special lifelong friend.

The funeral was Dec. 21 in Pascagoula, and Simmons was buried in Orange Grove Cemetery.

One former student is organizing a FHS Band Alumni Reunion scheduled for late February or early March next year.

“I plan to contact as many former students as possible,” said George Miller of Fairhope. “I’m looking for a site now and thinking about who should play that night in what I hope will be an annual event. This first year will be dedicated to the memory of Blanche Simmons.”

For more information about the reunion or to volunteer, contact George Miller at geowmill@yahoo.com.