Mahady will go into band teacher Hall of Fame

Longtime Morgan City and Berwick band director Frances Robicheaux Mahady will be inducted into the District VII Band Directors Association Hall of Fame on Saturday at H.L. Bourgeois High School.
Mahady served as band director at Morgan City High School for 18 years. She also taught at Berwick Elementary, Berwick Junior High, Central Catholic High and Holy Cross Elementary.
During her 40-year career, her bands consistently received Superior ratings in district and state marching, concert, and solo and ensemble festivals.
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Miami (Florida). She began her 40-year teaching career at Jefferson Davis High School in Jacksonville, where she also played bassoon with that city’s symphony orchestra.
After moving to Louisiana, she began her 18 years at Morgan City High. Later, she moved again, this time to St. Charles Parish, where she taught at Lakewood and R.J. Vial elementary schools and E.J. Landry and J.B. Martin middle schools.
Returning to St. Mary, she taught at Berwick, Central Catholic and Holy Cross.
Mahady served as conductor of the Louisiana Band Masters All Star Marching Band and on the staff of the Louisiana Tech Summer Band Camp.
Her Morgan City High School Band performed at the International Festival of American Bands in Mexico, in the inaugural parade for Gov. Edwin Edwards, at the 1985 World’s Fair in New Orleans and at half-time of a New Orleans Saints regular season game.
Mahady is a member of many district, state and national organizations and has served as president for a number of them.
She has been selected as Band Director of the Year by Phi Beta Mu, a national bandmaster’s fraternity, the Louisiana Bandmasters Association, and the District Band Directors Association, an honor she won twice.
Mahady was named Teacher of the Year at MCHS and J.B. Martin. She served as an adjudicator and clinician throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, a women’s national music fraternity, and served for eight years as president of the Lafayette alumnae chapter.
In addition, she played bassoon with the University of Louisiana Symphony Orchestra for 10 years, is a member of the Lafayette Concert Band, and sings in the choir at St. Pius Catholic Church. She teaches double reeds at Comeaux High, Lafayette High and Edgar Martin Middle School, and has private bassoon students.
Mahady lives in Lafayette with husband Barry. She is the mother of three children and two step-children, the grandmother of 15 and great-grandmother of one.