• Richard Peer - Clarinet, Saxophone

Richard Peer - Clarinet, Saxophone

Richard Peer is a native of Van Buren and is a graduate of Arkansas Tech University and the University of Arkansas. Mr. Peer began teaching in 1962 at Atkins and later taught at Paris, Arkansas and Kimmons Junior High in Fort Smith, Arkansas. In 1977 he was appointed the assistant band director at Southside High School in Fort Smith and in 1993, he was promoted to the position of head director and chair of the Fine Arts Department, which he held until his retirement in 2002. He is a past president of the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association and has served three times as the state chair of the American School Band Directors Association. In 1989, he was named the Arkansas "Bandmaster of the Year." He and his wife, Liz, have two children and three grandchildren.