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John Hood Legacy

Decent Essays

John Robert Hood, Jr., of Lockhart, Texas, formerly from Austin, Texas, New Haven, Connecticut, Nashville, Tennessee and Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, passed away on July 17th, 2015. John died from complications with pneumonia in the care of the Seton Medical Center in Hays County. Although John never married and had no children, he is survived by thousands, his students. They are his legacy and his voice for future generations. John Hood was born January 13th, 1935, in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, to the loving parents of John Robert and Margarette Elizabeth Hood. A gifted and precocious child, John graduated from high school early and matriculated to Vanderbilt University, where he earned his B.A. in English. After being drafted and serving in the …show more content…

Hood also held concurrent administrative appointments including Production Coordinator for the Yale Repertory Theatre and Director of the Electro-mechanical Research Laboratory; at Yale, he was a Pierson College Fellow. Later in life, John would regale his students with stories from the ‘glory days,’ the turbulent, yet artistically profound times under Robert Brustein. Hood spoke of mistaking Meryl Streep for an enthusiastic stage hand, of Sigourney Weaver removing pineapples from unseemly locations in a play by Christopher Durang, and of the cigarettes that Henry Winkler still owed him. John Hood spoke of legends, and, to his many students, became one …show more content…

Hood formed a Bluegrass band called Hard to Make a Living and played professionally for the next ten years in communities within the Texas hill country. John played the bass and cello along with singing in several folk, bluegrass, swing, and jazz ensembles. An advocate of the performing arts and a leader by talent and trade, John assumed the leadership of the Central Texas Bluegrass Association and spearheaded monthly publications, music productions, scholarships, and countless jam

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