Jerry Franks And Dimensions In Brass

During the height of the Chautauqua popularity at Winona Lake, a crowd favorite was Col. Herbert Petrie’s White Hussars brass ensemble. The White Hussars performed in Winona eight out of ten years, something of a record on the Chautauqua circuit. Petrie (1917-1994) was a World War II veteran who played first trumpet in the Army Band. He and his wife Mildred later founded the Wagon Wheel Playhouse in 1956, along with another couple.

The popularity of the White Hussars brass ensemble was mirrored again in the 1970s and 80s with the appearance of Jerry Franks and the Dimensions in Brass.

Franks, who was born the son of a high school band director in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1938, first picked up a trumpet mouthpiece at age two. By age 12, he was performing weekly on the radio and during high school he played regularly with the Youngstown (Ohio) Philharmonic Orchestra.

Continuing his education at West Virginia University, Franks performed at the Music Educators National Conference held on the campus and as a result was offered a contract to become the lead trumpet player in the NBC Orchestra. Choosing rather to continue his education, he graduated from WVU and began his career at Masontown (WV) Junior High, teaching fourth through ninth grade band.

Continuing his playing career, he joined Buescher Instrument Company as an artist and clinician. The performing that resulted from this relationship led to appearances at music conventions as well as studio playing for recordings, films, and commercials, where he met and performed with Doc Severinsen.

In 1966, after four years of teaching school instrumental music, actively performing professionally and doing clinician work, Franks was tested with three offers.

Dr. Herman Hoyt, president of Grace College and Seminary, spoke at Jerry’s home church in Pennsylvania. Hoyt was looking to start an instrumental music program at Grace and had heard about Jerry’s experience and abilities. Second, while performing with the U.S Marine Band for the Pennsylvania Bandmasters Association meeting, Franks was approached by Ray Brown, father of famous big band leader Les Brown, asking that he consider joining Les’ orchestra. And third, within hours of that offer, the Marine band offered Franks a position as soloist and assistant conductor.

Wanting to use his education, experience and abilities to serve the Lord in building a program and serving future students, Franks accepted Hoyt’s offer to teach at Grace College. Arriving in Winona Lake in the fall of 1966, he had no band, no rehearsal space, no equipment, and no music.

Franks set about recruiting students. With the help of local music store owner and woodwind instructor Bill Snapp, Franks began with a combination community-college ensemble which he named the Grace College Community Concert Band. And thus began Franks’ teaching and performing career at Grace College that would stretch over the next 14 years and would gain a national reputation for excellence.

Founding of Dimensions in Brass

The fall of 1966 Franks formed a premiere performing group, entitled “Dimensions in Brass,” that began with 11 players. The group soon became a significant recruiting tool for the college and the growing music department’s instrumental program as they traveled the USA in concert.

Steadily increasing both their quality of performance and their geographical reach, the Dimensions soon were playing for Indiana Governor Otis Bowen, for Vice President George H. W. Bush, and were featured at Disney parks in California and Florida. They played Cypress Gardens in Florida, Cobo Hall in Detroit, pre-game and national anthem at Dodgers Stadium and did a European tour of Germany and France in 1979. The Dimensions were averaging 150 concerts a year, plus studio recording sessions. After appearing at the governor’s conference in Indianapolis in 1977, the group was touted by an NBC studios official as “a small band of the finest quality I’ve heard.” Soloists with the group were Jerry Franks on trumpet and Dr. Rik Lovelady on banjo.

Franks, in addition to his travel and performing, was teaching 90 student lessons a week and was working with local and national dentists, including Warsaw’s Dr. Thomas Vanosdol, on studies of teeth and jaw structure as related to trumpet performance. He explored the role of the front teeth in high-range playing which led to developments in orthodontia and crowns to alter teeth structure.

In addition, Franks squeezed in work for Conn Instrument Company, designing professional and student instruments, demonstrating instruments and giving concerts at music clinics. Franks represented Conn Instruments as guest soloist at the Chicago Midwest Band Clinic.

Dealing With Diabetes

Franks had dealt with diabetes for many years. He recalled that doctors said it was "not serious enough; they said I wouldn't go blind. But in October of 1977 I couldn't see well, so I decided to memorize all the instructional books for all instruments just in case. I memorized 55 books. Then at Christmas of 1977, while we were on tour, my sight went. Three days after Christmas, my right eye came back and I could see until Easter of '78.”

Though blind, Franks continued to teach, working from his memorized instruction books. He also continued to conduct, standing in a custom-made tiny platform constructed so that he could know what direction to stand by reading markers with his feet. By late November 1980, he was admitted to Lutheran Hospital in Ft. Wayne and began dialysis, the beginning of the next set of challenges.

Once stabilized by the dialysis, Franks continued teaching and performing, primarily with Dimensions in Brass, now relocated to Marion College (IN). In Mid-November 1982, he received a kidney transplant, which after a period of stabilization allowed him to resume his teaching and performing.

Franks suffered a stroke in March, 1985, in California while on tour. After another period of stability, crisis struck again when in March, 1986, the kidney failed and Franks returned to dialysis.

Eventually his body, worn from diabetes and the loss of kidney function, came to the end of its race and Franks entered into his Lord’s rest on May 8, 1990. He is survived by his wife, Dottie, and three children.

Dimensions in Brass alumni are now scattered throughout the world, Many are still playing, some own music stores, and many are teaching music at all levels, from elementary to university. One outstanding Dimensions alumnus from Franks’ first year at Grace College, Terry Eichorst, has kept Franks’ memory and accomplishments alive in several ways.

Grace’s then-president Bill Katip asked Eichorst to form a committee of seven to spearheaded a fund drive that provided modern practice rooms for Worship Arts students in the William Male Center at Grace College. Eichorst also raised endowment funding to provide Worship Arts scholarships for Grace students. The Male Center features electronic displays of Franks’ life and history of the Dimensions, including recordings, sample programs, instruments, and more.

Also on display in the Male Center are approximately 20 historic Civil War brass instruments, donated to the college by Dimensions alum Sam Doyle, now an attorney who practices law in South Carolina and Kentucky.

A special “Jerry Franks Tribute” concert by former Dimensions in Brass players from both Grace College and Marion College was organized by Eichorst and conducted by Dimensions alum Dr. Phil Norris. It was held in conjunction with Grace’s Homecoming on October 1, 2022, and was performed at Christ Covenant Church in Winona Lake.

Both the Petrie ensemble and the Franks’ Dimension in Brass made a large impact with their performing excellence. But the legacy of Jerry Franks has, and will, extend to many generations through his teaching, mentoring, and sharing his knowledge with students.