Longtime band director Tom Deese honored with South Stokes lifetime achievement award
WALNUT COVE — South Stokes High School honored its first band director, Thomas E. Deese, with the school’s Lifetime Achievement Award during halftime of the Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy football game on Oct. 30 and announced that the school’s band room will be named for him. Principal Dr. Chris Bottoms presented the award to Deese on the field, citing the “tremendous impact” he has had on the school and community. Band alumni joined the ceremony on the field. The band room dedication will be held at a later date, school officials said. Deese led the South Stokes band from 1964 to 1993. Over those 29 years, he taught more than 1,500 students, and 150 of them earned All-State honors. Under his direction, the marching band won Best Overall Music in 22 of the 23 competitions it entered and earned 16 Superior ratings. At the 1979 Tunstall Marching Invitational in Virginia, the band received a Superior rating and won every category: Best Auxiliary, Best Percussion, Best Overall General Effect, Best Overall Visual, Best Overall Music and Band of the Day. The school’s Concert and Symphonic Band also competed 14 times in Grade 5 and 6 events, the most advanced level of repertoire,
