Willis E Traphagan

Professor Emeritus of Music, University of Massachusetts Lowell. The family is saddened to announce the passing of musician and educator Willis E. Traphagan from lung cancer in Dracut, Massachusetts on 8 April 2024. He is survived by his son, John (wife Tomoko) step-daughter, Tracie, and three grandchildren. Willis will be remembered as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, musician, mentor, and educator. Will had a lifelong passion for playing the tuba which he began in high school. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College, where he met his wife, Jeanne Traphagan (a French horn player, d. 2004), after which he joined the Army Field Band in the late 1950s and with which he was fortunate to tour throughout Europe and Asia. After the Army, he moved to Boston to attend graduate school at Boston University, where he received his Master of Music degree. He settled with his wife in the Boston area and taught music at MIT and eventually became a music professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (at that time Lowell State College) in the 1960s. In Boston, Will performed regularly with the Boston Pops Orchestra, including being on stage for the 1976 Bicentennial Concert on the Esplanade. He also performed with the Opera Company of Boston and the Boston Ballet, particularly as a member of the pit orchestra under the baton of Arthur Fiedler for the Nutcracker, and with the Metropolitan Opera when it toured to Boston in the 1960s and 1970s. As his career developed, he became a conductor leading the Wind Ensemble at UMass Lowell and an innovator in the area of electronic music for wind groups. As a conductor, he premiered works by Dutch composer Henk Badings and Czech composer Václav Nelhýbel. In the 1980s Will became interested in music for wind octet and recorded a CD of Rossini’s opera Zelmira transcribed for Wind Orchestra with the group he founded called Harmonie. Will was also the music director for the Nashua Symphony Orchestra and the Savoyard Light Opera Company of Carlisle and directed shows at Turtle Lane Theater in Newton, Massachusetts. In addition to his love of music, Will was fascinated with airplanes. He spent many years building and flying model airplanes and became a private pilot in the 1970s. After the passing of Jeanne, he moved to Austin, TX to be close to his family. There he met his second wife, LaTrelle Voss (d. 2021). In Austin, he was the Principal Tuba for the Austin Civic Orchestra for several years.

A memorial donation may be made to the University of Massachusetts Lowell in support of the Jeanne and Willis Traphagan Endowment Fund, which provides scholarships to undergraduate students in music. Donations can be made online at www.uml.edu/givenow or mailed to: UMass Lowell Advancement Office, 45 Lawrence Drive, Lowell, MA 01854. Checks should be made payable to UMass Lowell and note that the gift is in memory of Willis Traphagan.