Thurlow Lieurance Memorial Fund

Born in 1878, Thurlow Lieurance began his music career as bandmaster for the 22nd Kansas Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish-American War. In 1926, he and his wife, Edna, moved to Wichita where he became the first dean of the College of Fine Arts at Wichita University. Hired by the United States government to record Native American music, he would take recording equipment to various Indian reservations, recording the flute melodies of tribes. A nationally recognized composer of music based on Native American themes, his more than 50 works include orchestral, choral and solo compositions, such as ‘Trails Southwest and his best-known, ‘By the Waters of the Minnetonka.’ His ‘Minisa Symphony’ inspired the naming of Minisa Bridge, which is located on 13th Street next to North High School in Wichita. Mr. Lieurance retired from the university in 1945, and upon his passing in 1963, friends and colleagues established the Thurlow Lieurance Memorial Fund in recognition of his reverential contributions.