Centerville is both the home of the world’s largest town square and the birthplace of internationally regarded musicians. One is Simon Estes, one of the first widely acclaimed African American opera singers. In Iowa City, however, the most famous Centervillian is no doubt Himie Voxman.
Voxman taught at the University of Iowa for 41 years, serving as director of the School of Music for 26. The original Voxman Music Building was named for him in 1995 but was closed due to the 2008 flood. A newly constructed Voxman Music Building is scheduled to open in September.
He sold millions of books of music and music pedagogy, the first of which he published with his former clarinet instructor, William Gower Sr., whom he first met in Centerville.
Voxman was born in 1912 in a small home with neither an indoor toilet nor electricity. His was perhaps the poorest of about 60 Jewish families that had settled in Centerville, many of whom fled anti-Semitism in Russia.
In 1915, when his father died, his older siblings dropped out of school to work and support the family. They lived off that income, along with a small welfare check and help from the tightly knit Jewish community.
Voxman graduated from grammar school at the top of his class in 1925, at which time he began clarinet lessons with Gower. In the evenings, Voxman could sometimes be found in the Majestic Theater, which still stands, playing music to accompany silent films. He could also be found rehearsing with the town band in a room above Swearington’s Eastside Poolhall.
By his sophomore year at Centerville High School, Voxman had taken and passed every course available, had substituted for other teachers, and had taught a course of his own.
In 1929, Voxman moved to Iowa City to earn a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at the UI. He would never again live in his hometown, though he occasionally returned to Centerville in the summer to play for bands and earn extra income.
“He always enjoyed going back to Centerville,” says his son William Voxman. “It left a strong mark on him, I would say.”
Follow riders across the state—and learn about the University of Iowa’s impact all along the route—on social media by using #RAGBRAI2016 and #forIowa.
The elder Voxman donated to the Drake Public Library and the Centerville High School. The Centerville Voxman Honor Band commemorates his many contributions to music, and the Himie Voxman Scholarship fund has helped 37 students attend the UI since 2002.
Voxman died in 2011 in Iowa City at the age of 99. He’d published his last book at 93. At 95, he was still teaching music lessons. Those who knew him remember an intelligent, curious, refreshingly sincere, understated, and tirelessly active man.
“He knew he was extremely bright,” says his son James Voxman. “He knew that he, in his mind, had a duty to help people, to do whatever he could himself. In other words, if you looked up ‘frivolous’ in the dictionary, I would say the opposite would be my father because every minute of every day, he was doing something.”