The  Indianapolis  Star
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Page B4,  columns 1-3
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A  LIFE  LIVED:  JAMES  EDINGTON,  1921-2006
He Loved to teach, perform music
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By Rob Schneider
          James Edington  was Shelbyville's music man.  On occasion, he played in touring Broadway shows and once conducted the Carmel Symphony Orchestra.
          "Music was his whole life,"  Beth Bean  said of her father, who died Feb. 19 at age 84.  "He enjoyed playing and entertaining people."
          Mr. Edington grew up in Columbia City in northeastern Indiana, where he began taking violin lessons when he was in the fourth grade.  By the time he got to high school, he was learning one instrument after another, including the saxophone and clarinet.
          While in high school, the band director would let him lead practices.
          After graduating from high school, Mr. Edington studied music at Butler University's Jordan College of Fine Arts.  He served in the Navy during World War II and then continued his study of music at Indiana University and Oberlin College.
          After the war, he met  Elizabeth Baker  when both were assigned to a musical gig, and they married in 1948.  She played the keyboards and drums, among other instruments.
          The family chose Shelbyville as a good place to raise a family, said his son, Arthur Edington.  The elder Edington taught generation after generation of aspiring musicians at various Shelby County schools and operated a music store in downtown Shelbyville from the 1950s to the late 1960s.  He continued to give lessons at a store his son opened in Shelbyville.
          Bean recalled seeing Broadway shows in Indianapolis in which her father performed with the orchestra.  After one such show, she remembered meeting the conductor, Leonard Bernstein.
          During Mr. Edington's music career, he also served as conductor of the Carmel Symphony in the late 1970s and early '80s and other orchestras in the Indianapolis area.
          Mr. Edington and his wife also used to go to restaurants and perform as strolling musicians.  He would play the violin, and she would play the accordion. Even after his wife's death in 1995, he continued to perform at area restaurants playing the violin.
          While he retired from teaching in the late 1970s, Mr. Edington never lost his interest in giving lessons.
          "People retire so they can find time to do those things that make them happy.  I found that teaching music was the thing that made me happy," he said in an interview with  The Indianapolis Star  four years ago.
          He never lost his interest in music, Bean said.  Mr. Edington was always doing something with music and was giving lessons up until he broke his hip in December, she noted.
          In the newspaper interview, Mr. Edington talked of his hopes to continue teaching for years to come.  "How can anyone be sad or tired when their lives revolve around music?"  he asked.
          The family conducted a private funeral service.  Freeman Family Funeral Homes, Carmony-Ewing Chapel handled arrangements.
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The  Indianapolis  Star
February 24, 2005
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          James A. "Jim" Edington 84, of Shelbyville, died Sunday, February 19, 2006, at Heritage House Convalescent Center.  Born Aug. 19, 1921, in Albion, he was the son of  Curtis Clark and Nellie Base (Logan) Edington.  He married  Elizabeth M. Baker  in April of 1948, and she preceded him in death on Feb. 8, 1995.  Survivors include one son,  Arthur C. "Art" Edington  of Shelbyville; one daughter,  Beth Ann Bean  (husband, Richard) of Reno, NV; and four grandchildren,  Sherri R. Bean,  Erica M. Bean,  Joanna M. Bean  and  Andrew C. Bean.  He also was preceded in death by three brothers,  Nelson Edington,  John Edington  and  Walter Edington: and one sister,  Irene Houtzer.  Mr. Edington had been the owner and operator of Edington Music Store from the late 1950s to 1996.  He was a former teacher at Addison Township, Manilla, Fairland and Taylorsville schools, Holy Name School in Beech Grove, and retired June 1, 1977 from Shelbyville Central School.  He also gave private lessons in Shelby County and Indianapolis.  He had played for several ice shows including Holiday on Ice, Hollywood on Ice, Ice Capades and Sonja Heinie Ice Show; touring Broadway show including Kismet, Carousel, Oklahoma, Sound of Music, Bartered Bride and others.  He served as conductor for Carmel Symphony and Athenaeum Turners Orchestras and augmented Fort Wayne and other orchestras throughout Indiana from 1951 to 1968.  Mr. Edington graduated in 1938 from Columbia City High School and in 1946 from Butler University Jordan College of Fine Arts, with a bachelor of music degree, and attended Indiana University, Oberlin College, in Oberlin, Ohio, and Interlocken Music Camp, in Interlocken, MI. Mr. Edington was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II as well as a member of the Indianapolis Philharmonic Orchestra, Carmel Symphony Orchestra, American Federation of Musicians and the Scottish Rite Orchestra.  Private services will be conducted.  Freeman Family Funeral Homes, Carmony - Ewing Chapel is handling the arrangements.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming
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