Former Gainesville Middle and High schools band member and former faculty member, Katie Poff, died last spring in a car accident.

To pay tribute to her memory, the GMS band program commissioned William Owens, one of the most published composers of middle school band music in the U.S., for her and her friends and family. The new musical piece entitled “Splendid Forevers” will debut at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 11, for the band’s spring concert at Lakewood Baptist Church in Gainesville. Owens will conduct the eighth-grade band in the soon-to-be-published musical composition.