Music teacher retires after notable career

WAUSA – Patricia “Pat” Sedivy has had a noteworthy teaching career.

The longtime instructor has decided to retire after a 43-year career in music education that has included several stops at schools in northeast Nebraska, such as Cedar Catholic in Hartington, Newcastle, Wausa and Wynot.

Sedivy noted her choice to step away from teaching after the 2021-22 academic year has left her with mixed emotions – excitement and nervousness – but she felt the time was right to retire.

“I’m ready for new adventures,” she said. “No definite plans yet, but being available for my grandkids is the priority.”

The 65-year-old Newcastle woman mentioned what she will miss the most about teaching is interacting with her students.

She also has enjoyed “being able to watch students grow from a ‘beginner’ to an advanced musician and a successful adult.”

Sedivy became interested in instrumental music during her sixth-grade year at Walthill Public Schools – she had lived in Sioux City, Iowa, previously – when she could “borrow” a school trumpet.

“Throughout junior high and high school, I had a pretty fantastic band director that inspired the love of music in our school and in several of us,” she said.

Sedivy graduated in 1978 from Wayne State College in Wayne with a bachelor’s degree in K-12 instrumental music and later returned there to earn a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction/ music education in 2001.

She started her career at St. Cecilia Middle and High Schools in Hastings as the 5-12 band teacher and then was given the junior high choir the following year.

“I spent four years at St. Cecilia and probably would’ve stayed longer, but since I’m a ‘homebody,’ we moved closer to home,” Sedivy said of relocating from Hastings to Hartington.

She became the K-12 music teacher at Wynot Public Schools when she and her husband, David, first moved to the area.

After a year of teaching at Wynot, Sedivy became the instrumental director at Cedar Catholic High School for eight years.

She and her husband next moved to Newcastle and she became the music/band teacher for Newcastle Public Schools for 14 years.

Sedivy then returned to teaching at Cedar Catholic to be closer to her parents and to be able to check on them daily.

Her second stint at the Hartington school lasted for 12 years before she spent the last four years of her career as the music director at Wausa Public Schools.

“I’ve enjoyed seeing my family daily that’s here,” Sedivy said of Wausa.

Now that she is retiring from teaching, she will have more time to spend with her husband and the rest of her family.

“I’ve been married to my favorite mechanic, David, for almost 44 years,” Sedivy said. “We’ve been blessed with six talented children, who have all been a part of my bands over the years.

“We have 10 awesome grandchildren, with seven of them being formally taught by me,” she said. “No worries, though, because I intend to influence the other three with private lessons.”