Born in Arthur, Illinois, in 1888,
Henry Wamsley took his first lesson on cornet from a
retired army musician. Mr. Wamsley graduated from
Tuscola, Illinois High School in 1909. after two
years at the University of Illinois, he joined the
United States Navy Band School and serving on the
battleship, South Carolina. In 1916, he enrolled in
the Mississippi State University ( then Mississippi
A & M.) but enrolled in the United States Army in
1917, serving in the regimental band of the 134th Field
Artillery.
After discharge, he returned to
Starkville as a photographer and married Edna
McDonald, from Illinois. The Wamsleys had two
children, Nancy and Henry Wamsley Jr. He moved to
MSU as band director in 1992 and was appointed
postmaster there in 1924. His tenure on the MSU
faculty lasted until 1957, and he was postmaster
until 1958.
A thorough and experienced musician,
he trained and maintained an excellent band at MSU
even before there were high school bands in
Mississippi. He is noted for making the “Famous
Maroon Band” famous, and wrote the music to “Maroon
and White”, the MSU Alma Mater. Wamsley served on
the Mississippi State Department Education Examining
Board and organized the first State Band Clinic for
the MMEA Band Division in 1938. he was involved,
along with Simon Kooyman, in organizing the first
Band Contest in 1928 and was constantly in demand as
an adjudicator in the South.
