A Tribute to Mr D

Hey, gang.  I know this isn’t coming on my regular schedule, but this is not a regular post.  This will be my first, and possibly only, post that has nothing to do with horse hide and pine tar.  Rather, it is about a man.

Unless you’re from Rawlins, Wyoming, you’ve probably never heard his name, but, as RHS alumni fan out across the country, it’s possible you’ve felt his influence.  His name is Roy Dahlinger, and he’s a choir teacher.

I’m not sure teacher is really the right word to describe Mr. D., but it’s the best I have.  I was never in his choir.  Indeed, I never attended Rawlins High.  I have, however, seen, and felt, his influence, across the entire community.

Mr. D. has been an inspiration to Rawlins High School students since 1976.  His gentle, fatherly manner has been a constant encouragement to students for decades, whether they were in the choir, or not.

In an age when students across the country are getting disciplined for simply wishing a teacher “Merry Christmas”, he showed his faith and courage in every performance, by choosing music with a very strong, definite, Christian message.  Some of those songs are old standards, like Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing, which are often, but not always, performed with new, exciting arrangements.  Some of them, however, truly show the depths of his heart, as he has poured it out, like Beethoven, Sibelius, and Handel, writing what God has given him, unafraid, and unashamed, to show his beliefs from a very public platform.

I’m writing about him tonight, because we said goodbye to Mr Dahlinger.  He’s retiring at the end of the year, and the Christmas concert is his biggest event.  Many alums came together, to honor a man they greatly respected, by performing a song that he, himself, wrote.  There were representatives from nearly every year he taught here, from Rawlins Elementary School Music Director, Jim Keldsen, to last year’s graduates.

Mr. Dahlinger, Although I was never one of your students, but some of my closest friends and loved ones were.  Through them, and through watching performances that he has directed, and hearing songs he has written, I have been touched, as has our entire community.  You will be missed.