Almost 12
weeks ago, one of the best people I’ve ever known, Dawn Black, went to heaven
suddenly at the age of 39. Today would have been her 40th birthday.
I've been thinking a lot about her influence in my life the last few weeks as
I've talked with multiple family members and friends, and gone through
pictures, notes and memories from the last 16 years (recently I mentioned that
I’d known her half my life, and it had been a pretty good half life, to which
she responded, “What are you-a radioactive isotope??”). As I've thought, the
song "O Love that Will Not Let Me Go" came across my mind. Partly
because it was the last offertory Dawn played in church, the Sunday before she
died on Tuesday. I remember because we played string prelude that night, so
after she practiced her solo, I went up to the stage to prepare to play along
with her, and we talked about how I love this hymn and it is not used often
enough. And the more I've meditated on it, I've realized that the first verse
especially is how Dawn lived her life.
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
Dawn was
one of my favorite people in the world. She started as my choir and violin
teacher, but quickly became one of my dearest friends. When I first met her, I
was sixteen, and a sophomore in high school. She came to interview at our
school and I got out of class to practice the songs she would be conducting.
The only thing I remember from that was when she told the choir “Pretend you're
really old, like 35!” In retrospect, that was a pretty good indication of what
she was like. When I was a junior, she came as our new music teacher, and I
have to be honest and say I wasn’t happy she was here, so I avoided her. It has
nothing to do with her and everything to do with the fact that she wasn't Mr.
Miller our previous director whom I loved and still do. Typical teenage
behavior right? Not sure how long it took me to get my head on straight, but
for sure by Thanksgiving I knew better.
It's not
an exaggeration for me to say that knowing Dawn changed my life. Almost
everything I do (I'm a teacher and a musician) has been influenced by her. Many knew and loved her-I'm definitely not the only one with special memories, but I'd like to tell you a little about Dawn, how God used her in my life, and share a small sample of some special memories.
Dawn was talented. Extremely talented. I accompanied for her voice
lessons, and I especially enjoyed the few times she'd drop whatever opera
music she was practicing in front of me at the piano in between lessons and I'd
get to play for her to sing. Wow. Chris Anderson's article was right-her voice
was AMAZING, but the humility with which she served and used it has always been
an example to me. In fact, I can hear her voice saying "You don't need
me" about something or another, which of course I disagreed with, but her
point sticks with me. I never heard her bragging on
herself or her talent, or talking about the things she’d done, even though she
had every reason to do so. In fact, recently, she said this in an email to me
“I sang a solo in Rutter’s Requiem when I was in Chorale. Those were the days.
Now I might only be fit to turn pages.” (this apparently was the solo mentioned
by Chris Anderson in his beautiful blog post-"Dawn Black Rests") I also remember
going to her voice lesson once. She told me beforehand that it wasn’t going to
be very good because she was sick. She then proceeded to hit an E 2 octaves
above middle C in warmups. I’ve always said I want to be sick like that
someday. Hasn’t happened yet =P Also, I'd been taking violin for a VERY
short time and we had this conversation:
"You're going to get better than me, and then I won't be able
to teach you anything."
"When's that going to happen?"
"Next week!"
That never happened, but the point is, she used her talents to
serve and glorify God, not bring attention to herself.
She was
always committed to excellence in music. Whether playing the violin, singing,
directing the church or school choir, or even playing violin with a mountain
dulcimer group, it was important to do the absolute best possible. She didn’t
expect something we couldn't do, but she definitely expected our best effort,
and she had a way of bringing that out in her students. As I watched her across
the room in choir practice and warm-ups, not once did I see her slacking off or
giving half effort-she was always using proper technique and singing to the
best of her ability. In our dulcimer group, she worked kindly and humbly to
help the group become the best they could possibly be.
AACS National Competition Spring April 2000. It was just the two of us that year.
Excellence wasn’t the only thing though. I learned from her
example to have fun in music, and life in general. Like when I asked her how
hard a piece was that she had chosen for me to play: “Oh, it's easy. Just 17
flats in the key signature, mixed compound duple triple meter, spiccato bowing,
and goes to 17th position. “ Or when I texted her asking about songs on
the christmas program and she replied "Yeah, our theme is Christmas Bits
and Pieces, so we'll do a couple fun ones even though I'm vehemently against
fun." Riiight…… Or the songs like "Take Me Out to the Ballgame",
"Count on it" and more. She loved playing in dulcimer group. I can
picture the smile on her face as she played the fast part of a fiddle tune with
the group. We had so much fun (maybe too much =P) at those rehearsals and
performances.
Our choir my senior year. I'm pretty impressed with the facial expressions she got out of us.
Dawn was one of my major inspirations for teaching, and in my
first teaching job, most likely the only reason I survived. I didn’t study
education as an undergrad, so when I started as a music teacher, EVERYTHING I
did from the mechanics of teaching music to classroom management techniques
were things I picked up from watching her as her teacher’s aide. I taught music
for 6 years and used many of her ideas and even phrases and mannerisms-they
worked =) Mostly though, it was her care and love for her students whether they
loved her back or not that has motivated me to attempt to show that same love
for the students I come in contact with. Also, being a fellow "non-outgoing"
person, I watched and learned little ways to get to know people and show love
without being loud and flashy.
Two of my favorite teachers ever. Dawn on my right, and Kristen Drinnon on my left. June 2006 at my sister's wedding.
I learned so much from her that wasn’t “book learning”.
- Make mistakes
with confidence. When you’re performing, play like you mean it, and most
people will never know the difference. If you look and act self conscious
though, any mistakes will stand out.
- As I saw someone
posting on FB, she had a way of getting people to do something they
wouldn't on their own. Such an accurate description! So many things she'd
drag me into doing that I ended up loving. Never something too hard, and
never something I hated, but something I probably wouldn’t have thought of
or attempted on my own.
Staff Christmas party, December 2000. Dawn's mom says we both look like kids here. I had been taking lessons since September of that year. She could have done an incredible job without me, but let me get involved and gain valuable experience.
- She
was always learning and trying new things. Voice, piano, and harp lessons,
learning to make quilts, new art techniques, etc.
- There’s always a
way to serve. Painting backdrops, church music, VBS music, even painting
faces during VBS-there’s always something she was doing to serve others
and the church. She also found opportunities for others to serve and
encouraged them to do it.
- I learned about
hospitality from her. I will miss the periodic texts or calls asking me to
come over. It was never a complicated event, but she opened her home and
spent her time to fellowship and encourage me.
- Dawn
was very competitive (but not unkind in her competitiveness). Recently she
told me I needed to come over. After I agreed, she said her kids had been
whipping her in games. So basically, she wanted someone to come over that
she could beat. In the same vein, in high school, a group of us were at
her place for a sleepover and we were playing Phase 10. She was losing,
and decided it was time for bed. We got up in the morning, resumed the
game, and she beat us all. One of my
favorites of the texts I have saved was this one from last fall (when her
mom was in town): “You are invited to a black-brown [Braun] party Sat.
evening. You will eat and then lose at games.”
If you
knew Dawn, you knew she was funny. Hilarious, really, though sometimes quietly
hilarious. So many of the goofy things she said weren't premeditated, and
if you weren't listening closely, you'd miss it since she didn’t usually stop
to laugh at her own jokes. Life with Dawn was full of moments when she would
say something crazy and I’d have to fight to keep a straight face because I was
supposed to be paying attention to whatever else was going on. It was so much
fun to be around her just waiting for whatever goofy thing she would say or do
next.
One of those moments where I was supposed to be paying attention and she was probably saying something crazy.
- She was constantly making faces at me, and others. Often before an individual or group fine arts performance, she would crack some sort of crazy face to break the tension and help us relax. She also would make faces across the room, from the congregation to the choir loft, from the choir loft to the congregation, or as we passed each other in our vehicles dropping off kids in the school parking lot. This is one of the little things I really miss.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Dawn. I didn't take it (she gave it to me), and have no clue who did. If anyone out there recognizes it, I would love to hear the story!
- One day she was
late to school because the cows next door got out, and being the good Wisconsin
farm girl she was, she took the time to put them back. She told me the
story, and mooed at me every time she saw me for weeks after that.
- This email was sent while I was in college (obviously, before she and Brian were dating =P ) : "I am now in the church's all-male play. Mr. Beck can't find any eligible males and neither can I."
- Once I was
practicing in the church auditorium early in the morning, with most of the
room dark. (my dad worked before care) As I was in the middle of a run up
the piano, she slipped through the door directly behind me on the stage,
and screamed at the top of her lungs. This started a tradition of scaring
each other in the back hallway-current BBCS students and staff, let me
know if you need some ideas for this. Ha.
- Over the past
year, while I was job searching, she kept giving me ideas for jobs to keep
me here at BBC. We went back and forth for a while. She told me I could
work as a sub, and when I told her I couldn't live and pay bills on that,
I got this string of messages:
"sell paper
airplanes"
"teach cello
lessons"
"walk dogs"
"take leaves"
"rake, not take, you
leaf thief"
- Her
kids love to tell jokes, and recently she'd begun answering
Gabe's "Knock Knock...." with "Who dat??"
- In 10th grade I
misspelled the word potatoes at the state spelling bee. She wasn't there,
but I told her about it in following years. That particular word and
spelling in general became a running joke. For years she would misspell
words on purpose just to be funny.
- She was not a
fan of vegetables. At the Jr./Sr. one year, Pastor Mike asked "Did
you eat all your veggies, Dawn?" (she hadn't eaten any, I'm pretty
sure) She replied, "No, I saved them all for you!"
This picture was taken at that Jr. Sr. banquet. This would have been spring of 2000.
- At a youth
activity outside, she was in an extra goofy mood, and we were talking
about mosquitoes. She said the reason she didn't get bit was because she
eats a lot of garlic. Mrs. Rossiter said, "Really??" and she
said "Yeah, haven't you ever heard of garlic deodorant?" When
Mrs. Rossiter said no, Dawn said "neither have I."
- She ended an
email with:
"Say hi to Dr.
Gilliam.
Hi to Mrs. Dunbar
Hi to Dr. Cook
Hi to Ruth
Hi to Sally
Hi to Mildred
Hi to Gertrude
Don't be rude ha ha
-DB
(only the first 3 on the
list are real people =P)
- For months she'd
been asking me to let her turn pages for an offertory (it was her dream to
do this, apparently). I kept telling her "No, you'll make me
laugh" and she always replied "Yeah, I will". So, in
February, I was scheduled for an offertory and finally decided to let her
turn pages. I picked one I could not possibly do without a page turner,
and I spent hours practicing it. I remember vividly the conversation when
I asked her to do it-we were talking across the aisles of the auditorium.
I asked her if she could, and she said, "Sure, when?" I said,
"Next Sunday morning" and she said "nope!" I said
"Whaaaatttt??!?!?" She said she couldn't do Sunday morning. Too
scary/hard. I looked at her and said, "You can do this!!! You
made me do hard things in high school like playing in orchestra after 3
weeks of lessons." She looked furtively back and forth, then looked
at me and whispered "I must have been high!"
As
musically and artistically talented as she was, I think Dawn was best at being
a friend and loving people. Most of all she loved Brian and the kids. I remember when she and Brian started dating-so much fun to watch. She used to
holler across the auditorium or over the intercom: “I
love you Mr. Black!” It wasn’t just words though. Especially in recent months I
saw her love and concern for her husband as she supported and prayed for him
through nursing school. She loved her kids-anyone who saw her with them knew
this.
She always gave wise and biblical counsel. She was not afraid
to tell me if I was thinking or doing wrong, and she was always ready to
encourage me biblically. On the other hand, she did not respond quickly and
offer worn out platitudes-she took time to think and responded with thoughtful
biblical advice. Because of this, I almost always took the advice she
gave-I knew my issue had been thought through and responded to from a biblical
perspective. I was a very shy, timid person before I met her. Still am in
many ways, but she pointed out some things in this area I needed to change.
Also, her love for me gave me confidence to get past many of my fears. Most
recently I was sad about a job I didn't get. I told her I knew the truth of
God's word, I just had to keep reminding myself. She said, "Don’t worry,
I'll help you remember." Later on that day I had a text from her
"Trust an unknown future to a known God. Love ya." I have
constantly come back to these words in the past few months. I know she prayed
for me and many others, and we miss those prayers so much!
She loved her students, whether she saw them often or not. I was
in and out of GA over the years since high school, but she never treated me
with any less love during those times I wasn't able to, or just didn't , stay
in touch like I should have. She was often going to visit friends or
former students just to see them and talk.
Dawn knew how to love people in small ways. She was always making
some sort of connection with friends, family and students. If you had an
interesting or funny experience with her, she would remember and bring it up
years later. Just ask my brother Will about the spider. Since I was her
teacher's aide and accompanist, I was in her classroom a lot. During a music
class, I would sit off to the side and observe until she needed a pianist, so
sometimes I'd have a book with me while I waited. Once apparently she slipped
this note in my book while I wasn't looking: "What are you looking at? You
can't read!" I found it in the middle of math class after I'd finished my
work. This is another habit/tradition I learned from her. Something very simple
to show love. It became a game to leave random notes in random places. I think
I succeeded at least once to slip something into a song she was directing =)
She would often email, text or leave a note- "Have a crummy/rotten
day" which I knew meant the exact opposite. I have lost count how many
times I heard the phrase "You're fired" (I was never hired =P )
often after I apologized for something I'd messed up. I always knew though,
that she meant the opposite. These are small practical ways to show love to
others that I attempt to use every chance I get.
I’ve thought about this a lot, and if you take away every part of
me she impacted, I don't think there'd be much left. Her legacy will live on in
the multitudes of people she influenced. I miss my friend so much. I’ve lost
count of how many times over the past few weeks as I've thought about all of
these memories that I've momentarily wanted to pick up my phone and text her to
say "remember when...." before I realize (as a side note I’m glad I
ignored her when she told me to throw out the old emails because “no telling
what I said!”). I take comfort, though, in Pastor Regier's words that she is
not regretting her new neighborhood, and that when she got to heaven she wasn't
greeted with "you're early!" Also, she's not frustrated with her
uncooperative voice any more (it hasn't been what it used to be recently) And
as my dad said, she didn't cease to exist-she had a change of address.
Something else that has been a help to me are these words she
wrote when I graduated from high school: “[God] has a plan for each of us, and
most times the lamp shines in our path to reveal only one step at a time.”
I also think about how she's enjoying that heavenly music she was so looking forward to. Years ago, in Katie Thackrey's voice lesson, Katie was singing Gesu Bambino, Dawn was playing the violin, and I was at the piano. When we finished, Dawn was so excited about how beautiful it sounded and said this: "It's so beautiful sometimes I can't stand it, and the music is going to be so much better in heaven. I can't fathom it, I can't imagine it, I can't wait!”
This was taken at my high school graduation in May 2001.
At my sister's graduation May 2014 (our last picture together)
I also think about how she's enjoying that heavenly music she was so looking forward to. Years ago, in Katie Thackrey's voice lesson, Katie was singing Gesu Bambino, Dawn was playing the violin, and I was at the piano. When we finished, Dawn was so excited about how beautiful it sounded and said this: "It's so beautiful sometimes I can't stand it, and the music is going to be so much better in heaven. I can't fathom it, I can't imagine it, I can't wait!”
God used Dawn in my life in so many ways. I’m extremely grateful,
and now I’m the one who can’t wait!