LETTERS: TRIBUTE: JOHN WISEMAN

To the editor:

I am writing to acknowledge the loss to the community of a unique and quietly influential man. With the death of John Wiseman, the musical and cultural life of Cape Girardeau is poorer, for John was, in the truest and best sense of the word, an amateur -- one who engages in an activity for the love of it rather than for gain or self-aggrandizement.

I have known John Wiseman as a fellow clarinetist and colleague for 30 years, and I have never known anyone whose enthusiasm and love of music surpassed his. Organizations such as the Municipal Band could not exist without the dedicated commitment which he and others like him have steadfastly brought to it over the years.

John Wiseman was rare in that he always put his causes ahead of himself. There are too few like him, and his passing diminishes us all.

DAVID GREEN

Cape Girardeau