Selby Minner’s Celebration of Life on Saturday at the Checotah Performing Arts Center was a beautiful 3-hour-long tribute to an amazing soul who loved the blues and more importantly, loved people. As family and friends shared how Selby had touched their lives, others lined up to share their story, showing just how much Selby had shared her heart and soul with so many. A proclamation for Selby from Mayor Mildred Burkhalter was also read and the Blues Club board members are making plans to keep the legacy of the Minners and the Dusk til Dawn festival alive.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Selby had begun her journey as an inspiring visual artist studying at the Rhode Island School of Design.
But all that would change after hearing Janis Joplin perform. Soon Selby would be on the road sharing her love of the blues in coffee shops and bars across America.
Then fate would bring D.C. Minner and Selby together and they would tour for several years before they came back to Rentiesville and started the Down Home Blues Club in his grandmother’s old homestead in 1988. Not long after in 1991 they would co-found the Dusk ‘til Dawn Blues Festival which brought in blues artists from all over on Labor Day weekend. Selby and D.C. had a way of holding the spotlight, but not being afraid to shine it on others as well.
They loved working with children and others, as they volunteered in the community, keeping and teaching the love of the arts to children and adults as well. Whether introducing children to the electric guitar or mentoring aspiring musicians in the classroom, Selby and D.C. believed in the power of music to uplift, heal, and connect.
Together with D.C., Selby received the “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award in Education from the International Blues Foundation in 1999. Selby would continue to keep D.C.’s legacy flourishing even after his death and she did it with grace and style. Even as far as making plans for this year’s upcoming festival set tentatively for Labor Day weekend.
As much as Selby loved to feature newcomers, she could always light up any stage and in 2006, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame. Then in 2014, she received the Music Legend Award, from Bare Bones International Film, Arts and Music Festival. Last year Selby received the Community Service Award from Kevin Stitt during the Governor’s Arts Awards, which honored her decades of leadership and volunteerism in Oklahoma’s cultural communities. She even recently received notification that she was awarded $50,000 from the Oklahoma Historical Society Oklahoma Civil Rights Trail Grant Program.
Selby was definitely a matriarch of the Blues, because her music was raw and real, just like she was. Many of her grandchildren and other family members praised Selby at her home-going celebration. They told how she inspired them to give back to their own communities because giving was the best feeling of all. And one by one, those in attendance could see a little piece of Selby in everyone who knew and loved her and how she had poured her love and legacy into them.
Selby’s brother-inlaw, Reverend Robert Stuhlmann—husband to her sister Jena Guenther of Burlington, Vermont, also told about her love for all people and how she made sure all her musicians got paid a little something which was a big deal for most musicians. He then closed his speech stating “There you are with the angels today and I’m hoping you’re singing in the choir. You’ve got a good voice. I hope they have a blues band up there. I hope they have a bass. I hope they have lots of people singing gospel songs. I hope you’ll find D.C. there with his arms wide open. I hope you’ll see people like B.B. King singing ‘When Love Comes to Town’ because love has come to town…because Selby is home now. She’s home.”
Selby was definitely a radiant light but she wasn’t afraid to step behind someone else to let their light shine as well. Her music was raw and real as was every performance at her celebration. From her group the YaYas to all her blues family and friends, music echoed her life’s work with “Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You” to “Are We Having Any Fun” and “I’ll Play the Blues For You.” The celebration even continued at the community center where everyone was invited to come eat together and sing together.
In life Selby’s presence was unforgettable and even in death it was tangible throughout her home-going celebration. Her love for community and culture seemed to echo through all the generations she had touched. Though she may be gone from sight, her legacy lives on in the blues she loved and in the lives she forever changed by her kindness.
