Longtime Chicago and south suburban band director and music teacher Patrick “PJ” Henning taught high school and grade school students and led school bands for 46 years.

“There are myriads of people who have chosen to become musicians, band directors and teachers because of the influence and impact PJ had on our journey,” said Lisa Arito-Pusatera, who first was a student of his at the now-closed Queen of Peace High School in Burbank.

Arito-Pusatera was later hired by Henning to oversee the color guard and create routines at Queen of Peace and at St. Laurence High School in Burbank.

“He taught the importance of hard work, perseverance, fortitude, teamwork and striving to be the best you could be, independently and collectively,” she said.

Henning, 77, died of complications from cancer Jan. 20 at his home, said his wife of 54 years, Susan. An Indian Head Park resident since 2021, Henning had lived in Alsip for decades.

Born in Evergreen Park, Henning grew up in the St. Sabina Parish on the South Side and graduated from Leo High School.

Henning followed in his father’s footsteps. His father, Leo, taught music part time and led bands at Leo High School in Chicago, Brother Rice High School in Chicago and St. Laurence High School in Burbank for many years. Leo Henning also oversaw bands at roughly 13 Catholic grade schools.

PJ Henning attended Quincy University for three years on a music scholarship before returning home to finish his studies at DePaul University and help his father with his business. The two men wound up working side-by-side as band teachers and bandleaders for 30 years.

“I am the third of six kids, and we all play musical instruments,” Henning told the Tribune in 1992. “But I am the only one who went into teaching and conducting. There was never any doubt in my mind what I wanted to do, but (Dad) was surprised because I’d always loved sports and he thought I was going to be a physical education teacher or something like that.”

Henning’s specialty was the lower brass, although he, like his father, could play and teach all instruments. In 1968, he took over from his father the music instruction at the parochial grade schools, and he eventually increased the number of grade schools at which he taught.

Although Brother Rice and St. Laurence were male-only during the years that Henning and his father taught — St. Laurence later became coed — both schools’ bands were coed, with female band students from Mother McCauley joining those from Brother Rice to form a joint band, and with girls from Queen of Peace similarly teaming up with the boys from St. Laurence.

“PJ created a ‘band family’ where everyone felt they were a part of this wonderful community,” Arito-Pusatera said. “He … built confidence and character in his students. The word ‘can’t’ was just never part of his vocabulary. He saw potential in every student and pushed them to achieve things that did not seem possible.”

At times, that meant that Henning could be demanding, though everyone agrees that he was pushing his charges to do their best.

“We make them go straight to the wall to develop the full extent of their musical talent, and we don’t accept anything less than everything they have to give,” Henning said in 1992. “Not coddling them is another part of it. Never accept excuses, never let them slide by with less than their best effort.”

Rich Daniels, the musical director of Chicago’s City Lights Orchestra, recalled meeting Henning and his father in the fall of 1974 when Daniels began his freshman year at Brother Rice.

“In my business, the music industry, one of the highest compliments we can pay someone is to say they are musical. That means that they were born with an innate quality that you can’t teach but that allows them to convey and understand music on a very high level,” Daniels said.

“PJ was very musical. And I recall him pushing me at an early age to go beyond where I was at musically and reach for greater development,” he said. “Any teacher who supports you, encourages you and helps you reach beyond what you deem as possible has given a gift of the highest order to their students. PJ was such an educator.”

Across the decades, the Hennings’ bands were much-honored, winning shelves full of awards.

“We have taught our kids that just playing the easier stuff, the stuff that would get by but wouldn’t advance their experience with music, isn’t enough,” PJ Henning told the Tribune in 1992.

After retiring in 2015, Henning continued to run an annual grade school solo concert at St. Laurence, and he was occasionally a guest conductor. In the early 2000s, he and his wife bought a place at a country club in Sarasota, Florida, where he enjoyed golfing.

In addition to his wife, Henning is survived by a daughter, Meredith Wisniewski; two sons, Patrick and Tim; seven grandchildren; two sisters, Cathy Egan and Rosemary Chansky; and two brothers, Leo and Mark.

Services were held.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/10/patrick-pj-henning-band-director-south-suburbs/