Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Through a special award, Mississippi State University Libraries and the Department of Music are celebrating a late student’s passion for music and a current student’s spirit in carrying on his legacy.

Catherine N. Patriquin, a senior music education/instrumental major from Ocean Springs, was honored with the 2018 Keyone Docher Student Achievement Award during MSU Libraries’ recent 12th annual Charles H. Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival.

Annually presented to an outstanding MSU music student, the award pays tribute to Keyone Docher, a Weir native and former MSU music education/piano major who died in 2014 following a 13-year battle with cancer.

Patriquin, a member of the Famous Maroon Band, Wind Ensemble and Saxophone Ensemble, was nominated for the award by MSU music professors Jackie Edwards-Henry and Rose Sebba.

During one of the festival’s evening concerts, Patriquin received a plaque and check from MSU Libraries Associate Dean Stephen Cunetto and Chip Templeton, festival co-chair and son of festival namesake Charles H. Templeton Sr. She also performed “Bordel 1900,” the first movement of Astor Piazzola’s “Histoire du Tango,” on tenor saxophone with piano accompaniment from MSU music instructor Karen Murphy.

“When Keyone performed for us several years ago, he was our first amateur to play in the festival,” Templeton said during the concert. “It was a special moment not just because he played a beautiful song for us, but because he put his heart and emotion into what he was doing. It was quite obvious that this young man loved music, and that was the real connection.”

Docher’s parents, Charles and Tammy Docher, also attended and gave remarks during the concert. The couple showed its appreciation to MSU Libraries by presenting Templeton and Cunetto with a plaque bearing the names of every Keyone Docher Student Achievement Award recipient since the honor’s inception in 2015. In addition to Patriquin, other recipients include Sarah G. Wallace, a 2015 magna cum laude music graduate from Brandon; Tyler J. Stallings, a 2016 music education/instrumental graduate from Pontotoc; and Abby L. Weinstein, a 2017 cum laude music/vocal graduate from Marietta, Georgia.

“This time of month is special because I always feel that spirit,” Charles Docher said. “When I know the festival is coming up, I get so emotional and excited because know I’m going to hear some good music again.”

“I’m so used to hearing that piano some late nights,” Docher said with a laugh. “It brings back such good memories, and it lifts my spirit, lifts my soul and makes me carry on. It makes me thankful for Mississippi State and the music department and what they’ve done for Keyone. It’s just a wonderful feeling.”

For more on MSU Libraries, visit http://lib.msstate.edu; MSU’s Department of Music, www.music.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.