As Shenandoah University anticipates its 150th anniversary in 2025, some of its graduates are also celebrating significant birthdays, like Charles “Cy” L. Maulden ’47 who marked his 100th birthday right before the new year on Dec. 30, 2023.
His family threw him a surprise birthday party, with about 200 people in attendance, at the Laureate Center in Kannapolis, North Carolina. “I saw many people, including family and friends that I had not seen in years!” said Maulden.
When asked recently which was the best decade of his life, Maulden chose the 1950s. That’s when he had just graduated college, begun his professional career and started his own family – all of which were made possible by his time at Shenandoah.
Maulden chose to attend Shenandoah Conservatory of Music because of his high school band director Arthur W. Rohr ’41 and his wife Julia Wynnyk Rohr ‘40, who also taught music at the school. Both graduated from Shenandoah and highly recommended it to their students. Maulden and six other students from his high school would go on to attend Shenandoah within the same time frame, including his sister Hilda Maulden Misenheimer ’48.
While at Shenandoah, he enjoyed meeting and connecting with his classmates who were from different states across the country and had different backgrounds and experiences from him. He remembered that he attended school with some pranksters.
“One night, some of the boys got a cow and led it into the Howe Building (music building) and left it there overnight,” said Maulden. “You can imagine what the floor looked like the next day!”
The conservatory was also where he met his wife of 71 years, Jo Anne Law Maulden ’48. As fate would have it, Jo Law roomed with his sister Hilda, who introduced the pair. The couple would marry the day after he graduated in 1947. Maulden earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Shenandoah, which helped launch his career.
Maulden taught band for 34 years at the Kannapolis City and Cabarrus County Schools in North Carolina. After retiring, he started a new band for a private school and was the director there for eight years. Maulden also directed the adult choir at Forest Hill Methodist Church in Concord, North Carolina, for 40 years, from 1948 to 1988. He said the most rewarding part of being a band teacher was seeing his students’ progression. He takes pride in knowing that some of his students went on to become band and choir directors or professional musicians. He enjoys learning about his students’ accomplishments later in life and the influence he may have had on them. For his 100th birthday, he received numerous cards and comments from former students about how he had influenced them.
This rich life as a music educator and musician wouldn’t have started without the foundation Shenandoah provided. “All the music courses I took had practical applications for teaching,” said Maulden. “We taught public school students that lived in Dayton to gain practical experience with school-aged students. All music majors were required to take piano, which taught me chords, harmony, theory and counterpoint. Also, part of the qualifications to teach was to learn how to play and gain teaching knowledge of all wind instruments and percussion.” He also took conducting for instrumental and choral music, which aided in his practical experience.
Maulden’s advice to current Shenandoah students is, “Work hard and take advantage of the experience of your professors. Practice makes perfect.”
Outside of teaching, Maulden was very active in his community as a member of his local Lions Club chapter and with the other members of his church’s Sunday school class, which formed a Care-Givers group to visit and serve those who were unable to attend church in person. Upon his retirement, Maulden also founded and directed a senior citizens’ community choir for 22 years.
“I decided to start the choir for those 50 and older,” said Maulden. “I wasn’t ready to just do nothing in retirement, and I wanted to do something for the ‘elderly.’ The requirements were age 50 and above, and you must want to have a good time. After three weeks, we had 62 voices from all denominations. We sang for public concerts, nursing homes and living centers.”
In December, he was honored as the special guest of the 95th Concord Christmas Parade in Concord, North Carolina, for his longtime service to the community and country, as he is a World War II veteran. “I felt honored, and I appreciated the experience,” said Maulden. “I yelled Merry Christmas the whole way. It was a beautiful day!”
Now at the age 100, Maulden keeps himself active by attending a chair aerobics class, men’s Bible study and senior lunches, which are all held at his church. Every week, he also attends Sunday school and worship service.
Maulden says he doesn’t have anything left to check off his bucket list after taking his first tandem parachute jump at the age of 93. “I think I could still fish off a pier, which I really enjoy. I can still play a musical instrument, and I can still direct,” said Maulden.
Maulden’s secret to living a long and happy life is, “Praying a lot, living right and not doing foolish things.”
