Local musician's legacy of music honored with scholarship fund

Music was always a major force in the life of the late Randy Leiner. Growing up in Scott City, he played music in garage bands and carried on that love through his college years and later as the frontman of The Melroys.

When Leiner died in February, literally hundreds of people, including fans of his music and hometown friends, offered their condolences to the tight-knit family. Immediately, his friends and family felt like they must do something to honor Leiner's love of music and the mark he left on his Southeast Missouri home.

So McPheeters, along with the Leiner family and Randy's long-time friends like Dr. Tony Varnon and Mike Kohlfeld, decided the best way to honor their friend's legacy was to create a scholarship fund at Southeast Missouri State University for musicians and aspiring songwriters.

To raise money for the scholarship they're planning a six-band concert June 4 at Scott City Park, the site where the Leiner family farm was once located. The event will last from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., with the lineup including Common Thread, 13th Floor, Bruce Zimmerman and the Water Street Band, the Chimes of Freedom (a band McPheeters played in with Leiner in high school and college) and Friends, The Melroys and the Leiner Brothers.

Following the event a Tacos and Tunes party will be at the Schock Community Center in Scott City. Organizers hope to raise the $10,000 needed to endow the scholarship at the event.

Mike Enderle, also a Southeast Missouri native and drummer for The Melroys, said the event honors Randy Leiner's attitude of service to others.

"He was a great musician and a great human being and he was constantly helping people," said Enderle. "To me it's just a great thing to keep his memory going."

Leiner's wife, Sally, said the scholarship fund is a perfect way to honor the musician who liked to root for the little guy.

Even though he lived in the St. Louis area for 20 years, Leiner still called Southeast Missouri home.

"Scott City and the Cape Girardeau area is still home to us," said Sally Leiner. "I didn't have a second thought of going back there to Southeast Missouri for Randy's funeral and to have him buried in Scott City, and we're so glad we did because so many people were able to attend there."

The benefit show will be especially poignant for Jordan Leiner, who has taken over his father's guitar and vocal spot in The Melroys. He hopes to be able to make it through the show in the shadow of his father's boyhood home.

At a concert shortly after his father's death, Jordan struggled to make it through a set at The Pageant in St. Louis. This could be just as hard, he said.

"Of course it's hard because your dad's gone ... but you had this thing going and you had these parts and it's never gonna be like that again," he said. "And not because somebody quit or whatever, this is not anybody's choice. This is fate.

"And I don't know. I'm sure it will be a very emotional performance."

Tax-deductible donations to the scholarship fund can also be made to the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation, with a memo for the Randy Leiner Scholarship Fund, and an account is being set up at Capaha Bank in Cape Girardeau.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182