Local businessman Jim Thomas purchased the former First Baptist Church of De Soto campus more recently known as the De Soto Community Center in December, and he has big plans.
Thomas, a 1983 De Soto graduate, has led the charge to bring an Amtrak stop to town, and is known as the man behind the town’s Frank Wilcox Festival and the 12-year-running Mel Bay Jazz Festival.
Now he’s the one behind the Mel Bay Foundation, a recently formed 501(c)(3), with plans to use the five-building Community Center complex on Boyd Street for music history, specifically a Mel Bay Museum; music therapy; and musical performances at the Mel Bay Theatre.
Thomas said his goals are to use the facilities to support groups that are helping people; further the legacy of Mel Bay and the millions of people who were touched by Bay’s efforts and “give people reasons to visit De Soto.”
Who is Mel Bay?
Bay, who has been called “the George Washington of the guitar,” is one of
De Soto’s most famous former residents.
Bay, who died in 1997 at the age of 84, was born in Bunker and raised in De Soto, where as a teenager he taught himself how to play the guitar.
Thomas said Bay had amazing musical skills. Bay watched the few guitarists he knew and copied their fingering on the fret board, teaching himself chords. After learning the guitar, he experimented with the tenor banjo, mandolin, Hawaiian guitar and ukulele, Thomas said.
Bay moved to St. Louis in the early 1930s, playing with many bands and on radio stations while teaching guitar to up to 100 students a week.
In 1947, he started Mel Bay Publications and since then, his method of learning guitar has been shared with millions worldwide.
The proposed Mel Bay Museum would be located in the old pastor’s office to the right of the auditorium and would tie in with the existing De Soto Historical Society Museum, Thomas said.
He hopes to feature the guitars Bay played, photos of Bay with artists he met and people he taught, as well as family history with interactive displays.
Thomas said Bay’s nephew, Larry, who is also a musician, still lives in De Soto.
Expanding on therapy
Thomas said Chestnut Health Systems, a nonprofit, opened a mental health and substance use treatment office within the center in April. That office will remain in operation, as well as Cindy Latham’s fellowship/food ministry.
Thomas said the foundation would like to partner with Chestnut, Maryville University and Positive Note Music Therapy for a Mel Bay Music Therapy program.
He’d like the music therapy program to help people with a range of needs and illnesses such as mental health and substance abuse issues, post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Thomas said Maryville University in St. Louis is one of four in the state to offer a music therapy program and he believes the students could benefit from having a place to intern.
Maryville graduate and adjunct faculty member Dustin Politte-Bender of Crystal City is excited about a partnership with the Mel Bay Foundation. He said his Crystal City-based company, Positive Note Music Therapy, has many partnerships and depending on how big the program gets, a music therapist could be housed there.
Theatre
The most expensive part of Thomas’ planned project will be the Mel Bay Theatre. His plan calls for a complete renovation of the former church, which he refers to as the auditorium, to make it acoustically sound. He also wants to add a balcony so the auditorium will seat about 550.
“The auditorium will require the most money and the most work,” said Thomas, who is president of a public relations and marketing firm called TagTeam Global with offices all over the country.
Thomas wants to use his connections, and more so Bay’s connections, to draw Nashville and rock artists who learned how to play guitar from the Mel Bay method. He hopes these artists will want to pay homage to Bay by performing acoustically and then talking about how they got their start in music. He hopes attendees could ask questions and take pictures with the guest artist, who could even spend time with kids who are learning to play the guitar.
Thomas said he’d like to see a week-long summer camp where students from all over travel to De Soto to learn an instrument from someone who has mastered that instrument. He said this would tie in well with the future Amtrak stop as students could travel from Chicago and beyond.
Thomas also would like to see the center have a guitar store where people could go to take guitar lessons or get their guitar fixed.
Like home
The former First Baptist Church of De Soto campus has a special place in Thomas’ heart. He grew up in that church, attending Sunday school, church services, lock-ins and Boy Scout meetings and even sang in the choir.
“That was my church,” he said. “I was there three days a week. I have deep emotional ties to the building. It brings back a lot of memories.”
On top of that, he remembers using the Mel Bay books to learn instruments as a kid.
He said he didn’t realize it until recently, but he did meet Bay when a teacher invited Bay to speak to a fifth-grade band class at De Soto Central Elementary.
Thomas has a strong appreciation for music. Thomas, who earned a bachelor’s degree in communications at Arkansas State, minored in music.
As the organizer of the Mel Bay Jazz Festival, he has a growing appreciation for Bay and has met the man’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, cousins and nephews.
‘My last big project’
Thomas said the campus takes up two full city blocks and offers plenty of parking. He said the buildings range in age from the 1920s to the early 1990s and each have a different heating and cooling system.
“It’s in good structural shape,” he said. “I had it inspected three different times.”
Thomas said the roofs need repairs but most of the needed repairs on campus are more minor. He said some of the repairs may turn into bigger renovations, like upgrading electricity.
He plans to start on small projects and work his way up to the biggest projects.
He hopes to get sponsors for individual rooms, as well as for the church windows that will be replaced with stained glass. He also plans to seek funding from the Jefferson Foundation for some improvements, as well as for the music therapy program.
Anyone interested in sponsoring a room or a window, becoming a board member or sharing ideas for the project, may visit melbayfoundation.org or call 636-586-1964.
Thomas said the foundation currently has two other board members: J.P. Mahn, president of B.F. Mahn & Sons, and Autumn Blanchard.
“This is my last big project,” he said. “I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”