Volunteers keep choir going after cuts

By Barbara Curtin

DALLAS, OR — Choir was supposed to die at Dallas’ high school and middle school this year, a victim of deep budget cuts. It didn’t.

That’s a testament to students who love singing and to two recent grads determined to help them do so.

Slade Thackeray, 24, is a junior English major at Western Oregon University. His sister Malena, 21, is a senior studying music at Oregon State University.

They come before school three days per week to teach choir at Dallas High and two days at LaCreole Middle School. They’re putting on three concerts this year with the combined choirs, and they’ve raised enough money to replace the high school’s ragged robes. Each sibling devotes 25 to 30 hours per week without earning a cent.