FEATURE STORY: This Decorah couple is "doubly blessed"

For retired Decorah School District music educators Liz and Jim Fritz, good news comes in pairs. The two spent 31 years teaching music together. They are the only music educators in the state of Iowa to both win some major awards given to music teachers. Jim Fritz started working in the Decorah Community School District in 1986, arriving from a music teaching job in Hudson, where Liz Fritz also taught. Liz Fritz landed a job in the Decorah School District a few months later. For the next 28 years in Decorah, the pair of educators led marching bands and symphony bands to numerous awards for their performances. Even though they retired in 2014, their work has not been forgotten. At the All-State Music Festival of 2021, Liz received the National Federation of High School Associations Outstanding Music Educator Award for Section 4 (Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana). In 2022 Jim received the same award. Both have been recognized for meeting the strict standards of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. In 2022, the National Federation of High School Associations presented Jim Fritz a 2022 National Federation Award of Merit--one year after Liz Fritz was presented the award at the 2021 Iowa All-State Music Festival concert at Iowa State University. They are the first married couple to both receive this award from NFHSA. Now both of them have been honored by the Iowa Bandmasters Association, both district-wide and statewide. In 2005, Jim received the Iowa Bandmasters Association "Karl King Distinguished Service-Active" award. Liz received the same award in 2013. Then at the 2022 Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference, Liz received the Karl King Distinguished Service-Retired Award. At the 2023 Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference, Jim received the same award. They have won "Outstanding Music Educator Awards" in both the active and retired classifications and are the only married couple in the state of Iowa to both earn such recognition. In addition to the awards, Liz and Jim have both been President of the Iowa Bandmasters Association. Jim was President of the Iowa High School Music Association. Liz is the current Webmaster for IBA and Jim is the co-conductor of the Iowa Bandmasters Association Retired Directors. "It's very humbling," Jim Fritz told decorahnews.com. He says the two of them have decided there's only one way to react to the record they have set--doing something to pay it forward. That means they'll continue to be active in both the Decorah music scene and the statewide music scene.