Musician, educator and community leader Bill Fellers (right) was a longtime member of the El Dorado Brass Band and joined the ensemble for Carmichael Park performances.

CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - A teacher, a musician and a pillar of community service, Bill Fellers died in September at age 94. His life was celebrated last week at the First Christian Church of Sacramento.  

For 41 years, Fellers led the American River College mathematic and engineering departments.

“My fellow students told me what a great teacher my father was,” said his daughter, Carol Wilson, at the church celebration. “But they all agreed, Doctor Fellers told terrible jokes.”

Beyond a flair for shaggy-dog stories, music made Fellers smile. The lifetime musician would play with any band that asked him.

Thumping the piano as a pre-school prodigy was Billy Oscar Fellers’ first gig. He mastered at least 10 instruments.

Some instruments, such as his silver banjo and his double-belled euphonium, were hugely out of date. Fellers’ E-flat alto was obsolete. Fellers played this horn with the El Dorado Brass, a Civil War replica band that airs mazurkas and polkas more than a century after their ballroom heyday.

Kentucky native Fellers grew up in a state previously divided by war.

“My mother had relatives on both Civil War sides,” Fellers told this reporter during a long-ago interview. “Her great-great aunt made boots for one brother who fought for the South and for another fighting for the North. She hid their boots on different sides of the farm.”

Bill Fellers renders Taps at the Carmichael Vietnam Memorial. The Korean War veteran played for scores of community events.

Fellers’ first uniform was a Boy Scout rig. During his long life, Fellers sported insignia from dozens of organizations. He was proudest of his Navy uniform, worn during the Korean War.

The veteran married Nancy Sutherlin and brought her to California in 1956. They inhabited their Carmichael neighborhood for more than seven decades and became community anchors. Nancy operated a travel agency and was president of the local Chamber of Commerce.

Elder Bill sang in the First Christian Church of Sacramento choir and helped fund church buildings. The trained engineer installed a sound system so the Word could be better heard.

“Dad was the smartest man I ever met,” Wilson said. “He taught me to fix a flat tire before I had my driver’s license. He figured a girl should be able to do these things without a man around. He was proud of my career as a sheriff’s deputy. He’d introduce me to friends, saying, ‘This is Carol. She’s carrying a gun.’”

When Fellers helped establish the Carmichael Kiwanis Club, he noticed several members were musicians.

“We decided to play together,” he recalled. “Carmichael remains the only Kiwanis Club in the world with its own big band.”

Volunteering for Carmichael Parks and Recreation, Fellers organized many summers of public concerts and played in scores of performances. He rendered Taps at gravesides and war memorials. Fellers joined the Kiwanis band at Easter gatherings and tossed pancakes for fundraiser breakfasts.

This reporter once asked Fellers whether his public service went hand-in-hand with playing music.

“Musicians just love to play,” Fellers replied. “When you see you’re making others happy, that makes you happy, too.”                                                 

Bill Fellers is survived by his wife, Nancy; daughter, Carol Wilson; and son, Ron Fellers.