‘How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard’

Some say music can touch our lives in ways that words can’t. The same can also be said of teachers who inspire others and push them to achieve things they may not have thought possible.

Many Holyoke music students will undoubtedly say that Marcia Dalton was one of those teachers for them. It doesn’t matter if they were students in her elementary music classes, members of the JR/SR high choir or select choir — this teacher has touched the lives of countless students over the years and instilled in them a passion for music.

Dalton is retiring after 38 years as a teacher, including 16 in Holyoke, and she has touched the lives of many music students in that time.

Dalton cites father as inspiration

Dalton said she was inspired by her father Max Bernard’s career as principal in Holyoke for 26 years, noting that she grew up watching his interactions with staff members and students.

“He was truly my biggest inspiration,” she said, pointing out that he was in education for the outcome and not the income.

She loved to sing and play musical instruments, and the teachers she had made music a good experience.

She recalls that the high school band teacher and choir director Jeff Davis helped inspire her to continue her music education. He even started a music theory class at HHS to help prepare those who planned to pursue music.

After graduating from HHS in 1979 and the University of Northern Colorado in 1983, she taught music to grades one through six at North, South and Central elementary schools in Sidney, Nebraska.

Dalton remembers with a smile that she had an interesting first day. She arrived at South Elementary School ready to get started, only to be informed by the principal that she was supposed to be at North Elementary.

“I think I got my directions mixed up,” she said. “It was a great start to my teaching career,” she laughed.

After eight years in Sidney, Dalton moved back to Holyoke and was hired to teach K-12 vocal classes in Grant, Nebraska.

In her 14 years working in Grant, she also directed musicals, which meant a lot of late nights, early mornings and time away from her family. She said this was especially hard because her son Trevor was so young at the time.

Still, she said she was so happy to get the opportunity to teach and direct in Grant, even though the schedule was not always ideal. She fondly remembers directing “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”

She added that she taught great kids in both Sidney and Grant, and the experiences really prepared her well for teaching in Holyoke when she began in 2005.

Dalton begins teaching in Holyoke

She started in Holyoke teaching a reading group and elementary music, but eventually moved to the position of K-12 vocal music teacher and select choir director.

She is grateful to Nancy Kennedy for encouraging her to apply when the job opened in Holyoke. She said she is especially happy to have had the opportunity to teach where she was once a student.

“Teaching in the rooms where I had music was surreal,” she said, “and I’m blessed that I got to be back here. Those rooms are definitely my happy places.”

She said she really appreciates those students who stick with music.

“Watching them smile on stage does my heart good,” she said, pointing out that people really appreciate watching kids get out of their comfort zone and try new things like solos and speaking parts in front of a crowd.

Dalton said she feels so fortunate that she gets to start with students in kindergarten and teach some of them all through high school.

“Watching them grow up into amazing men and women is so special,” she added.

Dalton pointed out that it’s amazing for her to be able to work with Maury Kramer again. She remembers that he was a freshman when she was a senior at HHS, and they were in show choir together. Now, years later, she’s happy to work with him and his daughter, Karina Davis, in directing select choir.

The blessings of the teaching profession

Dalton shared that she has been a teacher long enough that she has taught children of former students.

“It makes me feel really old,” she joked, adding that this is just another blessing of teaching and it happens to everyone if they’re in the profession long enough.

She specifically remembers teaching Amy Marner in Sidney and then her son and daughter in Holyoke. She also taught Violet Lee in Grant and is teaching her son in fourth grade now.

She said that there are so many memories she’s collected in teaching that she wishes she wrote them down. However, she does have a file of notes and drawings students have made and given to her over the years.

“Those things I just can’t part with,” she said.

One memory she specifically noted happened one Halloween at Holyoke Elementary School during music class.

The class turned off the lights to perform the skeleton dance to a piece of music and act out a spooky story. Students who were frightened of the dark could go into the hallway where the lights were supposed to be on, but they turned off after no one moved for a while.

As Dalton was entering the music room, Caden Sporhase reached out from his hiding place and grabbed her ankle, giving her quite a fright.

Dalton loves interactions like those. She remembers the calypso birthday bongo song and the tooth song that elementary kids would sing on their birthday and when they lost a tooth.

She pointed out that she even liked when students would try to scam her and pretend it was their birthday when it wasn’t or that they lost a tooth when they hadn’t. She said the older students remember things like that and reminisce with her about them years later.

“Holyoke is blessed with some amazing children,” she added, noting that the kids are so kind to one another.

She was quick to point out that the students have been through so much in the past year, not knowing if they would have concerts due to the pandemic, but they’ve risen above it and persevered.

While she loves what she does and will miss the daily interactions with the kids, she said she will be glad to have more time with her family. She will get to help babysit her grandson and can be there to help her 91-year-old mother, too.

She also plans to continue to work at Holyoke Golf Club and coach HHS girls golf. She also hopes to give piano and vocal lessons and attend musicals in Denver in her retirement.

One thing she may not miss quite as much is tying students’ wet shoestrings when it’s not raining.

“I’ve tied a lot of shoestrings in my day,” she said with a laugh.

Dalton’s final concerts bring many emotions

She is the first to admit that she’s very glad they were able to have concerts this year, but knowing they were her last made them difficult.

In the programs for the concerts in the first week of May, Dalton wrote that it has been her pleasure and privilege to work with amazing students and staff over the years.

“Being born and raised a Dragon, graduating a Dragon and retiring as a Dragon has been so special,” she continued. “I will miss my students so very much. One of the joys of my life is teaching and working with the students and hearing them sing and watching them on stage.”

She wrote a message to all her past and present students: “You will always have such a special place in my heart and I thank you for helping shape me into the teacher I have become. Thank you for blessing me, HHS and Holyoke with all of your amazing musical talents. I can’t even begin to express how much I will miss all of you. You are the best and I love you to the moon and back!”

At Dalton’s last vocal concert May 5, JR/SR high principal Angela Powell presented her with a canvas depicting a treble clef and a heart, and staff members had all signed it. Dalton said that was very emotional, but she very much appreciated it.

In the program, Dalton wrote that she truly thinks that Winnie-the-Pooh put it best when he said, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

She also included a line Christopher Robin said to Winnie-the-Pooh, something that is also an apt message to her students: “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

At the concert, the senior members of Sound Check (HHS select choir) gave Dalton a wall hanging with an inscription reading, “The song is ended but the melody lingers on.”

It is a fitting tribute to Dalton’s impact on Holyoke students and beyond, as her influence will remain in the hearts of her students long after she retires.