Encouragement

Corbin Trimble remembers what Washburn did for him, so he wants to do the same for others

Corbin Trimble’s love affair with music began at age 5, when his mother bought him an accordion from a door-to-door salesman.

Corbin Trimble, ’78, has built his life around encouraging people.

As a long-time elementary school music teacher, he’s had to listen to thousands of hours of missed cues, off-key playing, out-of-pitch singing and a cacophony of sour notes. But through it all, his unwavering optimism and cheerleading led to moments of making music that reached the heavens. “Never give up. Don’t get discouraged. You can do this. Keep at it.”

It’s a message he deeply believes in, not just for his own students but also for himself. He carries that belief with him in his life, his career, his faith, and ultimately, he wants to carry it on through his philanthropy. It is, in many ways, his core legacy and it’s something he learned, in part, at Washburn.

His love affair with music began when he was 5, growing up near Meriden, Kansas. A door-to-door salesman came to the house one day selling accordions. He showed it to young Corbin and the boy was transfixed. His mother bought the instrument, and the salesman was kind enough to let them know that his wife, wouldn’t you know it, happened to give accordion lessons nearby. It may have been straight out of “The Music Man,” but it worked.

“I loved it but my mother did especially,” he remembered. “Anytime anyone came over to our home I became mama’s little monkey. She wanted everyone to hear me play. I just regret I never had a cup set out for change because I’d have made a fortune and paid for college.”

Piano lessons followed soon after – his teacher in Meriden happened to be a Washburn student, Carol Sue (Davis) Armstrong ’66 – and Corbin has early memories of visiting campus, which included attending her May recital in MacVicar chapel a month before its destruction in the 1966 tornado.

Corbin’s passion for music eventually led him to a long-time career as an elementary school music teacher.

So, you’d think it would be a no-brainer for Corbin to enroll as a music student at Washburn after high school. But no, he took a more circuitous route. He took classes at Kansas State University for a semester, then Baker University, both times studying social work and psychology, but neither college nor career field felt right. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Veterans Affairs hospital while taking classes at nearby Howard University. But after three years in D.C., the thought of going back to Kansas – and college life – became too strong, and he made his way back home and enrolled as a full-time music student at Washburn.

“My previous college attempts hadn’t been covered in glory,” Corbin recalled. “But my first semester back in Kansas at Washburn, I made the Dean’s Honor Roll. It all started to feel right.”

Money was tight. He lived with his parents for the first few semesters, worked a couple jobs and gave piano and organ lessons on the side, but Corbin was able to make it work. He received a partial scholarship early on, which was a great help. But more than that, Corbin credits the people around him with helping him realize his potential and stuck with it.

“It was perhaps the first time in my life where the encouragement to do my best, a belief in myself and a push to succeed surrounded me. I hadn’t necessarily experienced that before, but boy, did it make a difference.”

He remembers observing Floyd Hedberg passionately directing choirs, listening to James Rivers' piano performances and studying with him in his studio, and soaking in pedagogies, knowledge and theory from John Buckner. It wasn’t just the teachers, but also his peers who inspired him with their talent and built his confidence with their encouragement.

“I found role models in my professors, camaraderie with my fellow students which promoted a real focus in my life,” Corbin recalled. “God aligned everything for me there; I truly believe that. And the encouragement I found at Washburn, I’ve taken with me into all my classrooms and teaching experiences ever since.”

The encouragement Corbin Trimble found at Washburn University is something he’s carried throughout his life, including during his long career as an elementary school music teacher. With his estate gift to Washburn, he hopes to encourage future generations of music students.

After Washburn, Corbin spent a career passing encouragement along to other young music students in Texas, Kansas and Missouri. He returned for a master’s degree at the University of Kansas and became very involved in an influential school of pedagogy developed by Carl Orff, which is teaching music through movement, singing and play. He ultimately served as national treasurer of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. And, of course, he worked with thousands of students, helping them learn to play, to enjoy music, to have fun and to be their best.

After he retired in 2019, he began to think of ways he might keep encouraging people, far into perpetuity. And he remembered his parents, Fred and Elizabeth Trimble, who didn’t have a lot themselves, but were always philanthropic, and surprisingly willing to shell out for the odd accordion when the opportunity arose to spread a little joy.

“Being an ‘educator’ is not the most lucrative field in the world,” Corbin said. “But my parents instilled in me how to be a good saver, and how to always give back, even if you don’t have a lot.”

So, when Corbin began planning his estate, there was no question that he wanted some portion of it to go to scholarships for music students at Washburn.

“I hope it relieves some pressure on future music students,” he stated. “So perhaps they won’t have to work quite so much, stress quite so much, and allow them to give their full attention to their studies and music. Because that’s what Washburn did for me. Washburn gave me a chance – they were the catalyst that propelled me into a successful and fulfilling career.”

“I hope I can do that, in some small way, for future music students at Washburn,” he added. “Washburn gave me the confidence to, in turn, spend my whole life encouraging others, even after I’m gone.”

Like Corbin, you, too, can make an estate gift that will inspire future generations of Washburn students. Contact Erin Aldridge at 785.670.4483 or PlannedGiving@wualumni.org to learn more.