Lavenna Boyer
Viola and Violin
Lavenna Boyer, viola and violin teacher, graduated from Westmar College in LeMars, Iowa, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education in 1966. During her collegiate years she played in the Sioux City Symphony and in a faculty string quartet. Since then she has played in orchestras in Interlochen, Michigan; Tri-Cities in the state of Washington; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Wichita and Ottawa, Kansas. She has done some graduate work at Kansas State, University of Washington, University of Pennsylvania, and Friends University in Wichita. Most of her adult life she has taught elementary and/or junior high vocal, band, or orchestra, either on a full-time basis or as a substitute teacher in the public schools, while also giving private lessons in violin, viola, and piano. She has also worked with children and adult choirs in the churches she has attended. Her Suzuki Teacher Training has been with Judy Weigart-Bossuat, Alice Joy Lewis, Nancy Lokken, and Craig Timmerman. She is currently president of the Heart of America Suzuki Teachers Association. Lavenna and her husband lived in England in 1992 and 1993 where she played in a string quartet, and they were able to visit with the Ottawa Suzuki Strings group during their rehearsals in London. Lavenna’s husband, Gary, is retired Chief Administrative Officer at Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation. Their daughter, Annas, who plays flute, and their son, Kenneth, who played trombone through high school are married and living in Lawrence, Kansas, and Boston, Massachusetts, respectively.