Music is life.

It was not only a favorite saying of Robert Balliet, but also the theme Sunday of his memorial service in Lehighton.Balliet, 91, died in February after making his mark on the local music scene including a pivotal role in the formation of the Carbon County Band Festival.His friends and family gathered at Zion United Church of Christ on Sunday to share memories."My dad, a true child of the Depression, was born in Lansford and raised in the house next to Tommy Dorsey Sr., who taught him to play woodwinds," Balliet's son Scott said in a eulogy.By the age of 12, he was performing with the Os Werley Orchestra."When he went to join the music union, they told him the required age was 16," Scott said. "I'm only 12, my dad said. But you have to be 16 to join the union, now how old are you, they asked. I'm 16, he responded, and got the paperwork to join the union."Balliet served in the U.S. Navy on the USS Herbert C. Jones in the South Pacific. He returned from the Navy and majored in music at Penn State, performing in the Blue Band, and graduated in 1950.Having returned to Lehighton in 1958, Balliet chaired the music department in the Lehighton Area School District, where he served as director of the Lehighton bands for 31 years."Dad touched the lives of many of his students," Scott said. "He was truly a great educator. Many of his students went on to become symphony musicians and even a rock band member."Two of his grandsons, twins Brad and Doug, went on to play professionally as a bassoonist and double bassist respectively."Without our grandfather, I don't think we would be the musicians we are today," Doug said. "The life we love was really launched here in Lehighton in pop-pop's front room."Brad, meanwhile, said he and his brother wrote their very first tunes sitting at their grandfather's piano."He instilled in us the will to work and to always strive to improve," Brad said.Despite his time spent working during the day and giving private lessons at night, Balliet always had time for his family.Whether it was helping his children cram for tests in the morning or giving them a hand with homework, he was someone they could count on to be there."He really taught us to work together as a family and support each other," Scott said.Robert lived with Scott in Latrobe for the last seven years of his life. On Feb. 12, he died peacefully in his sleep."He had his headphones on," Scott said, "listening to the soothing sounds of the Canadian Brass Band just to let God know he was coming."