2025 SESSION
ENROLLED
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 415
Commending Roy Holder.
Agreed to by the Senate, February 19, 2025
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 20, 2025
WHEREAS, Roy Holder, an esteemed conductor who has led marching bands, concert bands, and orchestras throughout the Commonwealth, the United States, and the world, was inducted into the National Band Association Hall of Fame of Distinguished Conductors in February 2025; and
WHEREAS, Roy Holder earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and proudly served as a high school band director at schools in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia over the course of 42 years; and
WHEREAS, during Roy Holder's tenure as the first band director of the West Potomac High School Band in Fairfax County from 1985 to 1988, the West Potomac High School Band earned consistent superior ratings in Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association concert band and marching band events; won competitive events in Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, and Ontario, Canada; and performed for President Ronald Reagan at the retirement dinner for Senator Paul Laxalt and for Armed Forces National Family Week at the Pentagon; and
WHEREAS, Roy Holder's outstanding leadership of the Lake Braddock Secondary School Band contributed to the program's recognition with a 30-year Honor Band Plaque by the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association for receiving superior ratings in all aspects of State Concert Band Festival and State Marching Band Festival adjudication for 30 consecutive years, the only school in the Commonwealth to ever accomplish such a feat; and
WHEREAS, ensembles under Roy Holder's direction have performed for the National Commission on Aging, for the 50th Anniversary of the National Savings Bond Campaign at the Federal Reserve, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the National Chamber Symphony and as an American Youth Performs Selected Ensemble, at the Music For All National Concert Festival, four times at the Virginia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference, three times at the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra, and at the American Bandmasters Association Convention; and
WHEREAS, in addition, Roy Holder has conducted bands in Canada, Europe, and Japan, and he completed a concert tour of China under the sponsorship of the US-China Cultural and Education Foundation; and
WHEREAS, Roy Holder is the founding president of the Virginia Chapter of Phi Beta Mu International, vice president of operations for the John Philip Sousa Foundation, and a past president of the National Band Association; in March 2025, he will become president of the American Bandmasters Association, making him only the second high school band director in history to serve as president of both the National Band Association and the American Bandmasters Association; and
WHEREAS, among countless awards and accolades, Roy Holder has received the Al and Gladys Wright Distinguished Legacy Award from the National Band Association and the Diploma of the Sudler Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation; he has also been inducted into the East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association Hall of Fame, the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association Hall of Fame, the Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame, and the Virginia Honor Band Directors Hall of Fame; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Roy Holder on the occasion of his induction into the National Band Association Hall of Fame of Distinguished Conductors; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Roy Holder as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for his incomparable legacy of contributions to the performing arts as a world-renowned conductor and his legacy of achievements in service to young people in the Commonwealth as a school band director.