Paula B. Thomas, a classically-trained accordionist, clarinetist and pianist who was the state's first woman to earn a degree in music education, died Thursday. She was 86.

Mrs. Thomas, of Churchill, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, the daughter of a professional accordionist, and picked up her first accordion at the age of 5. Under the tutelage of her father, she quickly became proficient, performing with him and her brother.

Later, her mother gave her a piano and a clarinet, and she quickly mastered those instruments, too.

Mrs. Thomas went on to Pennsylvania College for Women, now Chatham University, where she impressed her professors with the vast catalogue of music she had stored in her head and her ability to transpose pieces from key to key.

"She could play it all by heart," said her daughter Lilli Nieland, who recalled that she could transpose a piece while playing if she was accompanying a musician playing in a flat key.

She was recruited at Chatham and received a scholarship to earn a degree and certificate in music education. She graduated in 1945, making her the first woman in the state to earn the certificate, according to her family.

The degree landed her a job conducting the Shady Side Academy Junior School Red Coat Concert Band, where children as young as 4 played under her direction. She directed the band from 1949 to 1990, all the while playing on the society circuit.

Her warmth, friendliness and musicianship meant she was comfortable among her red blazer-clad musicians at Shady Side Academy and with the Pittsburgh Symphony, which she accompanied on occasion.

She was one of the few accordionists who was also classically-trained, which earned her a spot next to famed musician James Galway, who was looking for a accordionist to accompany him for a concert of classical Irish music in 1994.

Her Red Coat band, which included up to 70 young musicians and up to 10 full drum sets, played in Mellon Park and Three Rivers Stadium. And a former teacher once invited her to conduct the Marine Marches at the San Diego Marine Base in California.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Thomas is survived by her husband, Alexander; and another daughter, Paula Williams of Lexington, Ky.

Services will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at Buelah Presbyterian Church, 2500 McGrady Road, Churchill.

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