Holiday Lights: The Beat Goes on for band leader Jon Montgomery

The beat goes on for legendary Du Quoin band leader Jon Montgomery.

"Mr. Mo" retired from the Du Quoin school district in 2011, but you had to go no farther than the Holiday Lights Fair Saturday to see him perform with the John A. Logan College Community band.

He's still involved in music and photography, two of his loves. He can pick up any brass or stringed instrument and make the sounds of Christmas come alive.

Long before he was "Mr. Mo", Jon Montgomery and I grew up together in the old neighborhood on North Washington Street. He taught for 33 years.

Performing Saturday night was just part of his catching up on life.

He and wife Jane had to put much of their lives on hold because of their careers. He's a gifted musician and composer who was in the inner circle of all that is great about music education.

He's as comfortable on Facebook & Twitter as he is on an electronic sound board. His photography is amazing.

It was great talking to him during the band's break. The exhibition hall was wall-to-wall people over the weekend, taking in every inch of a great Holiday Lights Fair.

As a teacher he once said the most arduous aspect of teaching music is the fact that "a lot of parents set up their kids to fail in music. I never gave up on anyone," he said. "Some students said they couldn't do it (music). But, they did it," he said. How you play the National Anthem and how people remember how you played it is the acid test for any school band.

Jon has passed the acid test on both the anthem and on life.