Connie Lou Meek passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family after a courageous battle with cancer.She was born in Clinton, Indiana, to the late Frank R. Skelton and Mary Margaret Cox Skelton, who resides at Lane House.

She attended Rockville schools for 12 years, graduating in 1966.   In 1970 she received a BA and MA degree from ISU.    She began her 40-year career as an educator student teaching in the Crawfordsville schools, where she continued to teach until her retirement in May 2009.

During her career, Connie established and sponsored many groups for students including PRIDE, All-State Chorus, Circle the State with Song, Swing Chorus, Madrigal Dinners, NYC Trips, and judged various musical contests. She spent many hours with students before, during, and after school and cherished all of these times.Her legacy of inspiring a love for music will live on forever in the hearts of her students.

She served as the organist and bell choir director at the First Christian Church, and since the mid-1990s, she has served as the organist at the First United Methodist Church.

Connie served as president of the Association of Disciple Musicians, the director of music at Myers Dinner Theater in Hillsboro, the accompanist of the Crescendos, the state president of the Melody Makers of Indiana, adjudicator of local and state music contests, as well as a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, Psi Iota Xi, Delta Gamma and Retired Teachers of Montgomery County.

On June 3, 1972, she married Gary S. Meek at Woodland Heights Christian Church. Along with her husband, she is survived by her son and wife Wesley Alan and Beth Meek of Pembroke Pines, Florida; daughter and son-in-law Lanny and Angela Sledge; two grandchildren, Zander and Astella Sledge of Greenwood, and her mother, Mary M. Skelton. She is also survived by sister and brother-in-law Donna and Jim Hoffner of Lafayette; brother and sister-in-law John and Darlene Skelton of Berwick, Louisiana; sister-in-law Renda Harmon of Peru, Indiana; three nephews, an uncle and aunt, and many cousins.

She was preceded in death by her father Frank R. Skelton; in-laws Chester and Mary Meek; grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Visitation will be held Sunday, January 25, 2015, from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the First United Methodist Church in Crawfordsville. Funeral services will be held Monday, January 26, 2015, at 1:30 PM, at the First United Methodist Church. Burial will follow at the Indian Creek Hill Cemetery, State Road 47 South.

In lieu of flowers, the Meek family requests donations be made to the Connie L. Meek Scholarship fund. Donations may be sent to the Montgomery County Community Foundation, PO Box 334, Crawfordsville, IN 47933. Please note 'Connie Meek' in the memo.

Crawfordsville has lost a true musical treasure. Connie Meek, long-time choir director for Crawfordsville schools, died Wednesday night.

Meek touched many lives beyond the school hallways as she was active in a variety community groups and at First United Methodist Church of Crawfordsville.

Dr. Kathy Steele, who recently retired as Crawfordsville Community School Corporation Superintendent, was saddened by the news of Meek’s passing.

“Connie inspired thousands of Crawfordsville students, as she was the choral director for 39 years at Crawfordsville High School and Tuttle Middle School,” Steele said. “If you ever attended one of her madrigal dinners, musicals or choral concerts, you knew that not only the students had worked diligently to perfect every aspect of the performance, but Connie had spent endless hours to know and play the music to perfection.”

Steele credited Meek for being innovative and one who just did not stay within the confines of the classroom.

“Connie brought Circle the State with Song to Crawfordsville and each year the high school auditorium would be overflowing with parents to listen to incredible student voices,” Steele said. “I learned quickly to bring a stash of tissues because the beauty of the voices blending together would bring me to tears every time. She had a way of bringing out the best in students.

“After a hard week of teaching, Connie would spend Sunday nights working with the PRIDE team. Their award-winning musical performances were shared at State and National PRIDE Conferences and in Washington, D.C. for Senator Lugar and other legislators. Connie was truly a dedicated teacher and an outstanding pianist who shared her love and passion for music with everyone.”

Meek was a fixture behind the organ and piano at First United Methodist Church. Pastor Gary Lewis said his congregation was truly blessed by Meek’s talent and how she reached out to people.

“Connie had a belief that everyone has the ability to sing,” Lewis said. “She had a way of encouraging me and told me that the gift of music is for everyone, not just the musically talented. Our church has been blessed by having Connie Meek in our congregation. Connie was convinced God gave her a gift and she was going to share it with others.”

Meek also was active in the Crescendos, a local choral group, for the past 13 years as its accompanist. Marsha Smith directs the chorus, but her relationship with Meek began long ago.

“I first met Connie when she was 21 years old and a student teacher under Crawfordsville High School choir director Rex Magner,” Smith said. “Later she taught my daughter, Maribeth Smith, and Connie encouraged her to become a music teacher. Today, my daughter teaches at Washington Township in Indianapolis and Connie always continued to be supportive and mentor Maribeth.”

Smith also is the choir director at First United Methodist Church. Both she and Meek were active in the Bell Choir. The two ladies would be together three to four days per week at rehearsals. Smith always will remember the last words Meek said to her just last week.

“Connie squeezed my hand and looked up at me and said ‘We are a team,’” Smith said. “I assured her we are. Today I feel like I have lost my right arm. Connie was a great musician, but she was also my friend.”

Lewis might have summed up best what Meek’s passing will mean to the Crawfordsville community.

“There is going to be a big hole around town now,” Lewis said. “She will truly be missed by a lot of people.”

A special memorial concert is planned for 6 p.m. Jan. 31 at Crawfordsville High School. A group of Meek’s former students will perform, proving the gift bestowed by Meek will live on.

Later this year, July 18 will be recognized as Connie Meek Day in Crawfordsville. Mayor Todd Barton set forth the honor in the form of a proclamation. Her family chose the date because it would have been her birthday.

Barton said Meek profoundly affected the lives of many in Crawfordsville.

“She was an active example and well-respected member of our community, an example to younger generations, an educator and fine example of leadership,” Barton expressed in his proclamation.

‘We Love You, Connie’

CHS DEDICATES AUDITORIUM TO CONNIE MEEK’S MEMORY

John Dykstra jdykstra@jrpress.com | Posted: Monday, February 2, 2015 1:15 am

Connie Meek may not have been in the front row, but many of her former students and colleagues believed she was spiritually present Saturday night for her memorial concert at Crawfordsville High School.

However, they will not be the last people the late Crawfordsville music teacher watches over in the high school auditorium. Meek’s picture will look over what is now known as the Connie Meek Auditorium.

“I know she’s with us in spirit, but she’s not in the front row,” Meek’s daughter Angela Sledge said. “That breaks my heart because I know it would have filled her with so much joy to see all these people who have given their time and traveled to be with us today to celebrate my mom. We are truly thankful.”

Meek’s son, Wesley, traveled from Florida and read two poems at the concert. He felt his mother was watching from a “music note-shaped cloud.”

“My mom was always in love,” he said. “She wanted to inspire. She wanted to encourage. She wanted us to see. She didn’t care who you were or where you were from, she just wanted to make you smile.”

And there were plenty of smiles and some tears Saturday night, as Meek’s friends, former students and colleagues joined together to sing more than 20 songs Meek enjoyed during her life. Several also spoke about Meek’s legacy in between sets, including Meek’s former student and concert organizer Deborah Kochert.

“Connie was a motivator. I’m not saying we always liked it, but she pushed us,” Kochert said in her welcoming speech. “She enabled us to do things that we didn’t even think were possible. Maybe we weren’t the best, but because she believed in us, pushed us and wouldn’t settle for less, we somehow rose to her expectations and became more than we were before that.”

The concert opened with a singing of “We Love You, Connie.” Each set of songs reflected parts of Meek’s life, including her love for music, church, teaching and school spirit.

Steve Frees, who worked with Meek through Crawfordsville PRIDE, was the second person to take the microphone. He detailed Meek’s personality by telling a story about a woman who gently placed starfish back in the sea during a sunny day. In the story, an older man came up to the woman and told her there were too many starfish on the beach to make a difference. The young woman responded by picking up a starfish and placing it back in the sea, knowing she made a difference in that starfish’s life.

“Because we knew Connie Meek as a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend and a teacher, we have been changed for the better and for good,” Frees said. “We hope you think about the starfish story from time to time and believe, as Connie always did, that you can make a difference.”

With that in mind, “For Good” was the second to last song the choir sang.

The concert also provided an opportunity for former Tuttle music teacher Bill Stockwell to set the record straight about when Meek conducted her first Broadway musical. It was at Tuttle Middle School, when students performed “Oklahoma.” Meek’s final Broadway musical as a teacher at Crawfordsville High School also was “Oklahoma.”

“The musical productions were when an entire music experience came together for her,” Stockwell said. “In a musical, you have the intelligence, you have the speaking of the stage production, you have the singing of an opera and you have the dancing of a ballet telling a story though dance. Put those items together in a stage production, add sets, lights, props, costumes, et cetera, and I believe you have what made Connie’s eyes light up or perhaps tear up.”

The choir then performed “Oklahoma.”

Sledge and Wesley Meek spoke before the choir performed “Prayer for Quiet Confidence,” a piece written by one of Meek’s classmates at Indiana State University.

Sledge said Meek chose to come home and be with her family rather than stay in the hospital during her battle against cancer. That prompted Sledge to inform her mother of the surprise concert, as well as the high school’s decision to place replace Anna Wilson’s picture in the auditorium with Meek’s.

“She simply said, ‘Finally. It’s about time. I looked at Anna Wilson all those years and she never stepped foot in that room. I lived my life in there,” Sledge said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Dr. Kathy Steele also drew several laughs as she talked about how Meek was the keeper of the Crawfordsville Community School Corporation’s microphones. Meek allowed others to use the microphones as long as they provided batteries. Steele held up a pack of batteries while giving her speech.

Steele further discussed Meek’s impact on students and the school corporation by listing three things people could learn from the late music teacher. Those three things were striving for excellence, sharing talents and saying yes.

“Connie was probably the most overbooked person I knew,” Steele said. “She worked so hard during the school day, after the school day, before the school day and on the weekends. If it involved kids, her family, her church or music, Connie said, ‘Yes.’”

Then, it was time for a standing ovation. CHS Principal Greg Hunt took the stage and unveiled the high school’s dedication to Meek’s memory by naming the auditorium after her.

“As a principal, I gained so much respect for Connie and had the honor of calling her a friend,” Hunt said. “So, in honor of Connie, for a lasting impression for her 39 years of service to our school, you folks tonight are officially now sitting in what we are going to call from here on out the Connie Meek Auditorium.”

That was the note that will continue Meek’s legacy.