His Life in Every Note
Music can change the world because it can change people.” —Bono
It is a powerful truth, and we have all experienced it. We turn on the radio or create playlists on our devices just to hear that perfect melody that calms us, lifts our spirits, motivates us to exercise, shifts our perspective, or even takes us back to another time or place. Just as music stirs us, so can a person.
For years, Ed Grissom has been that kind of person. As a teacher, he did not just educate—he inspired. He led with wisdom and kindness and a belief in his students. He changed lives, and those changes were not just measured by grades or test scores but by the confidence he instilled in the students he touched. His influence, like a favorite song, stayed with those he taught sometimes long after they left his classroom.
Now, Grissom faces the greatest challenge of his life—Stage IV glioblastoma of the brain, and even now, he leads by example. This time, his lessons aren’t given in a classroom behind a desk or a podium but in how he demonstrates courage and faith in the face of his diagnosis.
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common type of malignant brain tumor in adults. It accounts for nearly half of all cancerous brain tumors and affects more than 13,000 Americans each year. Most often, it strikes between the ages of 45 and 70, with the average age of diagnosis being 64. GBM is aggressive, fast-growing, and notoriously difficult to treat. Symptoms often come on quickly and may include headaches, memory problems, nausea, vomiting, seizures, changes in mood, changes in speech, and numbness. While there is no reliable cure, treatments can help ease symptoms and prolong life.
For Grissom, the symptoms began with fainting spells, dizziness, and a frightening sense of disorientation, even when he was in familiar places. “My wife and kids convinced me something was not right and took me to Texarkana Emergency Center, where I was met with compassion and urgency,” he explained. “I feel certain they saved my life that day.”
Ed Grissom playing at the Perot with the Temptations in January 2024.
Born in August 1959 in Malvern, Arkansas, Grissom was raised in a household filled with music. “My older sister inspired me to join the band in the fifth grade,” he said, “and from there, I developed a love for playing the trombone throughout my school years and into my adult years. I wanted to inspire others to love being in the school band like I did. I wanted kids to find their purpose through their love of music.” Throughout his life, Grissom learned to play multiple instruments beyond the trombone, including the piano and bass guitar. “If I had to choose, the bass guitar would be my favorite because it has given me the chance to play in a lot of fun jazz bands around town.”
After graduating from Henderson State University in 1981 with a degree in Music Education, Grissom began his 44-year career as a band director at Sheridan Junior High School. His path eventually led him to Texarkana, where he accepted a position at Pine Street with Texarkana Independent School District. There, mutual friends introduced him to Kathy, the woman who would become his wife. Today, the couple has been married for nearly 37 years. Together, they have raised two daughters, Jessica and Jenna, in a home filled with the same joy and creativity that music has always brought to Grissom’s life. “Growing up, our house was always full of music,” Grissom said. “My parents (Martha and Elvis Grissom) instilled a love for it in me, and I’ve tried to do the same with my girls.”
Throughout his career, Grissom taught in various schools and programs, always leaving a mark wherever he went. “I have taught some of the best musicians in the Ark-La-Tex,” he said proudly. Even after retiring from Pleasant Grove High School in 2015, Grissom found himself called back to the classroom in 2019 when he was asked to return to Pleasant Grove and start a jazz band. For him, it was an easy “yes!” It was a dream gig for someone who sees jazz as a way of life. “Jazz is more than just a genre,” he said. “It’s a way to express yourself through your music, and to know I would get to teach this lifestyle to students was very exciting to me.” He also added a guitar class to the curriculum. “There’s no better street cred,” he explained, “than being in high school and knowing how to play the guitar.” “I want to thank Pleasant Grove for letting me take this dream and run with it.”
Just as a melody in a song can be unpredictable and take us to all sorts of unexpected places, so is life. Grissom’s diagnosis came and, with it, fear and confusion. “At first, I was scared and became depressed,” he admits. “To know that I have an incurable and inoperable cancer was the hardest news to accept. But over the past eight months, my faith has helped me move forward. Trusting in God’s promise to me has kept me at peace… I’ve accepted this diagnosis through lots of prayer—my own and the prayers from my community. I’ve felt the love through every one of them. My hope comes from knowing that I have been promised eternal life in my healed heavenly body. My encouragement comes from my family, friends, community, and students who have made me feel loved, appreciated, and remembered.”
Grissom is especially grateful for his family. “My wife has been my rock,” he said. “She cared for me and held true to her vows to me, in sickness and in health. I am forever grateful for her strength. And our children have stepped up and held our family together. This was not the life I promised them, but sometimes God has a different plan.”
Grissom’s daughter, Jenna, explained, “To care for someone who once cared for me is one of the greatest honors of my life. Spending every chance I get with my dad since his diagnosis, we have created memories I will cherish and hold close to my heart forever. I am so proud of who my dad is and how strong he has kept his faith. I hope that one day there’s a cure for this awful disease, and that no one ever experiences the heartache it brings.”
For Grissom’s students, his legacy lives on in every note they play. Maylee Waddill, one of those students, said, “Mr. Grissom has been the greatest inspiration of my life, and I wouldn’t be who I am without him. He saw something in me that day we met that I had not yet seen in myself. He passed on the beautiful, creative spark he has along to me. That’s the greatest gift anyone can ever ask for.” In a special moment a few months ago, Grissom gave Maylee one of his favorite bass guitars. It was an act that left a deep impression on them both. “I owe everything I have accomplished and will accomplish to him because he believed in a young girl who wanted to play music,” she said. “I am incredibly thankful to have met such an amazing, inspiring, talented, and gifted man.”
Jay Sutton, the current band director at Pleasant Grove, shares a unique connection with Grissom. He began his career at Pleasant Grove when Sutton was a freshman, so Sutton had the rare honor of working with him as both a student and a colleague. “Ed Grissom has been more than just a band director,” he said. “He has been a mentor, a friend, and a true inspiration. His love for music and his students has shaped not only our band but also the hearts of everyone he has taught. I am lucky to have had him as both an instructor and a colleague.”
Through all the hardship, Grissom remains focused on what matters. “I want to be remembered for the lessons I taught and the music I played,” he said. “I want my legacy to continue through my own children and the students I’ve had over the years. I think they’ve done a good job so far. I find great satisfaction knowing that someone has a love for music because I helped them find it.”
One of Grissom’s favorite quotes comes from the movie Dazed and Confused. “You just gotta keep livin’—L-I-V-I-N.” It’s a simple but powerful reminder to face life head-on, even when it throws the hardest of trials your way. Grissom’s story is not just one of a teacher battling cancer. It is the story of a man who has spent his life making music, not just with instruments, but with compassion and joy. That melody lives on in every student he has inspired, every song he has played, and every life he has touched.
Though the tempo may change, and the notes may soften, the song still continues in the halls of Pleasant Grove, in the hearts of his family, in the students he has taught, and in everyone who has been blessed to know him. Because people, like music, have the power to change the world. And Ed Grissom’s music will always play on.
