Young Audiences of Northeast Texas is proud to present the 2025
Kay Arms Lifetime Achievement Award to Franklin Kimlicko,
honoring his remarkable life of 60+ years of teaching and artistry.

Franklin was born in The Bronx to immigrant parents. He grew up
playing on the post-World War II streets of NYC and attended
Manhattan School of Music. He established a guitar teaching
studio in New York, and at the age of 20, met and married his late,
beautiful wife of 60 years, Sheila. Together they raised four
children who all attended Tyler Junior College and have become
successful performing artists. Kimlicko earned a Bachelor of
Music in Composition from North Texas State University where
he played in the legendary One O’Clock Lab Band. He played at
The White House for LBJ with Duke Ellington and earned a
Master of Music in Guitar Performance from SMU. Kimlicko
studied with Pepe Romero and played regularly with the Dallas,
Fort Worth, and East Texas Symphony Orchestras, Dallas Civic
Opera, and the Dallas Summer Musicals. In 1972 he became a
full-time faculty member at TJC and continues today as a
Professor of Music teaching guitar, music theory, ear training,
and sound production. He was honored to serve for 15 years as a
judge for the annual Texas Guitar Competition and Festival at UT
Dallas and as the first adjunct teacher of guitar for UT Tyler and
Ambassador College.

As a composer/arranger, he has created concert arrangements
for saxophone quartet, special music for TJC drama productions,
over 30 arrangements for guitar ensemble, and several of the
pieces on the Angel Romero CD, A Touch of Class. Kimlicko also
composed The Friendliest College in Texas and Christmas Time
in East Texas, recently premiered by the TJC Choir.