103 Years of Excellence: Guided by a passion for music, former East orchestra teacher and 103-year-old Ken Tebow shares about his service in World War II and the book he’s writing to preserve his story

At 103 years old, former East orchestra teacher and World War II veteran Ken Tebow is a staunch routine-follower.

He fixes himself breakfast each morning, pulls on a button-down shirt and khaki pants, walks half a mile on the treadmill seven times a week and swears by the power of a daily nap.

About 20 years ago at the 8:30 a.m. church service, a friend looked Ken in the eye and said something Ken hasn’t forgotten. A rare comment that changed his rigid regime:

“What will your grandchildren know about you? You had a life. They ought to know something about it.”

Since then, every day right after breakfast, Ken sits down to write a book filled with 103 years’ worth of memories to gift his family before he passes. 

“One of my grandsons is helping me edit it,” Ken said. “He helps me with some of the stories but it’s always amazing to see him or the other kids’ reactions when they read something about it. That’s what my life works around recently — writing.”

Yes, Ken is a veteran. But he thinks of himself as more: a musician, teacher and storyteller. In fact, his joy for music was the only thing that led him to serve in WWII. 

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The year was 1927. A Ford Model T was the must-have car, sailor-style dresses were all the rave for women and then seven-year-old Ken conducted his first ever concert.

Straightening his bowtie for the last time, Ken’s mom Fay Bishop Tebow gave him a final glance: hair slicked back, tuxedo pressed and shoes polished. She decided he was ready for his second-grade music concert. 

Clack. Bong. Ring.

A chorus of nearly 30 of Ken’s peers broke out into rhythm in the elementary school gym, playing various wooden “instruments” to create their annual music concert — all at the direction of Ken.

“My teacher wanted somebody to direct the band,” Ken said. “She told me in class one day, ‘You know, I think you’d be a good director for our concert.’ And I think I really had fun and enjoyed my first time conducting in front of an audience.”

In elementary school, Ken conducted small “orchestras,” but by high school, he was singing in the choir and avidly playing the trumpet and violin.

Ken’s private violin teacher even asked him if he’d join a small dance-band group with his trumpet. As part of his teacher’s dance-band, Ken would play music for community dances. While other kids his age played football or finished trigonometry homework, 16-year-old Ken was giddy to earn his own pocket money while getting in extra practice. 

“I played [at the dances] for free for about six months,” Ken said. “And then he told me, ‘I’m gonna give you 50 cents to play for three hours.’ I thought that was pretty good and kept on playing with that group.”

After one evening at the dance hall Ken’s violin teacher asked the off-hand question that made Ken pause.

“Will you join the National Guard Band?”

“[The National Guard Band] was just part of my growing up and being part of my musical experience,” Ken said. “We marched in lots of parades and got paid for each rehearsal in the National Guard Band. My father had been in a World War I band, and so he was very familiar with the concept.”

After years of playing in the National Guard Band, the Army ordered for over 400,000 National Guard members to join the federal service in a desperate attempt to recruit more soldiers. With a federal mandate in December 1941, Ken transitioned from a musician to a soldier. 

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Placed in the 106th Infantry during the Battle of the Bulge in Germany, Ken and his fellow soldiers were told there wouldn’t be any battle action — it was December and surely the Germans wouldn’t attack in winter.

On December 16, 1944, the Germans launched their surprise strike on the American defense line — causing Ken to step away from musical duties.

“Our intelligence was faulty, and we were in the dark about information for most of the war,” Ken said. “We did know things were building up but didn’t have any idea how much the Germans had done.” 

When Ken was playing music for small towns like Karlsruhe, Germany he remembers the smiling four-year-olds, mouths open, infatuated with shiny trombones and uniformed soldiers as he led his military band through tunes like “The Caissons Go Rolling Along.” As a drum major, he had to assign instrument parts to soldiers or lead after-hours practices to work on the music. 

“I think if you as an individual are depressed or feeling down and you hear some peppy music, it kind of changes your attitude,” Ken said. “And I think that is true of anything anywhere. Whether you’re in church and the choir sings an uplifting song, or whether you’re in a group celebrating a birthday, everybody joins in and sings happy birthday, it improves the morale of everyone there.”

In October 1945, Ken was released from the war and came home to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

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After coming home from the war, Ken knew he wanted to continue his musical career — but as an educator. His friend, a college professor, offered him a job at a rural town in Kansas which Ken stayed for a little over one year. 

He worked several small jobs over the next few years, including teaching orchestra at Indian Hills and Meadowbrook middle schools. Ken’s last teaching job would be at East in 1970.

Ken formed relationships with his students at East and grew the size of the orchestra from five players to roughly 35 by 1983, when he retired. East alumni Elaine Roberts remembers Ken as her orchestra teacher from fifth grade to senior year.

“He was like a father to me,” Roberts said. “Mr. Tebow was a stellar teacher and wanted to pass on the love of music, the love of orchestra and performing a perfect concert to his students. He strove for excellence, but permitted young learners to make mistakes and grow from them. There was never any browbeating or scolding, just pouring himself into his passion to pass it on to others.”

After receiving the Kansas Music Educator of the Year award in 1991 for his involvement in the growth of the East orchestra department, Ken was asked to choose a person to introduce his name at the ceremony. 

The answer was obvious to Ken: he’d choose his granddaughter and first-grade teacher Jennifer Price.

“I felt proud to be a part of his family, but I also knew that I needed to continue on this legacy of success,” Price said. “When people in the Shawnee Mission School District found out I’m his granddaughter, they were like, ‘Oh, yeah, I know Ken Tebow’. And so I felt like I had a little bit of stress, having to uphold this fantastic name.”

Ken’s main goal in music education over his years at East and middle schools was to improve the lives of all his students, no matter the skill level — through music.

“Music is all about making yourself feel good and others around you,” Ken said. “If I was able to make that impression on my students then I think I accomplished things.”

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Ken hasn’t consistently practiced the trumpet in 30 years, but he enjoys listening to music of the 1940s in his free time and pores over old stories of his granddaughter, Kelly Stoll, playing his shiny trumpet in Navy bands. 

What songs? The military bugle call.

He hopes to complete his book by the end of 2023 and give it to all his relatives and loved ones after it is published.

“I think that music is a culturally important thing that helps people grow in their roots,” Ken said. “I just think that everyone should grow in their desire for beauty and love of the arts. Music helps shape a person. It changes you and will stick with you even in old age.”