STAFF COLUMNIST
DIANE A. RHODES, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Crystal Estrada discusses a song arrangement with Hemet High vocal music teacher Bonnie Pumphrey.
Memorial plans are being made for Hemet High’s much-loved and respected vocal music teacher Bonnie Pumphrey, who lived life allegro.
Allegro is the musical term for brisk tempo. It described her, too.
The diminutive woman – who died Friday at age 68 after a lengthy battle with cancer – powerfully directed choirs to perfection with robust toe taps, arm swings and head bobs, nearly dancing her way through performances.
She moved just as fast in class to make sure she could fit as much training as possible into a period.
She exhibited her highenergy style of teaching in the San Jacinto Valley from her 1992 start at Whittier and Valle Vista elementary schools through her final 2014-2015 academic year at Hemet High.
In between, she taught vocal music from 1994 at Dartmouth Middle School until she shifted to Hemet High in 1999.
At Christmas, she led her high school students in performances of carols at service clubs, the Hemet Valley Mall, nursing homes, parties and residences of popular teachers like her friend, 79-year-old Betty Hill.
Shannon Eaton, a 2002 Hemet High grad, first sang with Pumphrey at Dartmouth Middle School and later was prodded into the Hemet High choir by the music teacher even though she lacked the time in her schedule.
She said Pumphrey allowed her to attend part of a lunch class to develop as a vocalist and then taught her a lot while she was in the choir as a junior and senior.
Eaton now uses those lessons while directing a children’s choir at Cornerstone Church in Hemet. She appreciated how Pumphrey kept track of her after high school and listened to her children’s choir perform.
The biggest lesson, Eaton said, was learning how to prod kids into working hard when they tire.
“She was such a motivator,” she said. “She always had more energy than we did.”
Dan Boulton, band instructor at Hemet High, said she worked hard and quickly to teach her students to sing beautifully.
“She was full of energy, all the time, always working fast,” Boulton said. “She knew there wasn’t a lot of time with her students in a period. She had fun with them.”
Pumphrey also taught in Illinois and at Mt. San Jacinto College during her 40-year career as a music instructor. Her retired surviving husband, Doug Pumphrey, was a highly regarded U.S. Forest Service district ranger in Idyllwild. He was known for his focus on the forest and the people who loved to be in the woods.
His wife was the same way. Her focus was on kids and teaching them life lessons through the hard work of producing quality music.
Bonnie Pumphrey first tried to retire in 2007 but she returned as a substitute and was persuaded in 2013 to again teach full-time.
Boulton said his conversations with her typically began on busy days with attention-grabbing yells through the wall that separated their offices. Their talks that followed tended to center on ways to inspire kids to achieve high levels in musical performance.
He said her involvement in musical plays was typical of her, even when she was ill.
Not only did she prepare her students to sing, she stepped into the orchestra pit to play piano during performances.
“She did double duty,” he said.
That was her allegro way.