Music director Mary Ann Vidourek leads the Humbolt Elementary School sixth-grade band in class Wednesday, May 25. She also conducts the elementary choir students in grades 3-6, and the Grant Union Junior-Senior High School bands and combined choir.

JOHN DAY — Grant Union Junior-Senior High School choir members serenaded their director Mary Ann Vidourek, “Mrs. V,” on Tuesday, May 24, during the final district band and choir concert.

It was a grand finale for Vidourek as she plans to retire at the close of the school year, after 25 years of teaching.

Vidourek taught for nine years at Seneca School, John Day Junior High and Mt. Vernon School; 11 years at Grant Union High School and Mt. Vernon Middle School; and five years at Humbolt Elementary and Grant Union Junior-Senior High School.

She had planned to be a sixth-grade teacher, majoring in elementary education with a minor in music education at Ohio State. She fell into music education when she moved to Grant County.

Starting out as a substitute teacher in the District, she was asked to fill in as conductor of the Christmas concert when music teacher Al Olson fell ill. Vidourek said he told the principal of John Day Junior High she was “the only person who could pull it off.”

Later, when Dr. Ed Carwithen retired as the high school band and choir teacher, Vidourek, who had by then earned a master’s in music education, took on that role as well.

Currently, Vidourek directs the Grant Union junior and senior bands, the Grant Union 7-12 combined choir, the Humbolt 3-6 choir and the Humbolt sixth-grade band.

Her students have performed at various state competitions and jubilees; Disneyland in Anaheim, California; Honolulu, Hawaii; the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle; and in Europe through the Oregon Ambassadors of Music program.

Vidourek said she and her husband plan to move to Redmond to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

She also plans to continue some of her current music pursuits, staying on as a staff member for the Western International Band Clinic as a facilitator for the honor band, housing chair for the Oregon All-State competition and music staff for the Oregon Ambassadors of Music program.

When asked what she’s enjoyed most about teaching music, she recalled her choir students singing “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran during the district concert.

The students rehearsed the song on their own time — without their teacher’s knowledge — with eighth-grader Samantha Floyd accompanying on piano.

“To know that you can give them the tools to become musicians, and they can take those tools and make music” is what she enjoys most, she said. “When they learn music, that is something they have for the rest of their lives. It’s a lifelong skill.”

Vidourek herself learned music at a young age. She was in eighth grade when she became the organist at her church, and she also learned piano, accordion and guitar at that time.

“My mother is 88 years old, and gives 25 piano lessons a week,” Vidourek said. “It helps keep your brain healthy and active.”

She said when her Grant Union choir had a fundraiser, offering singing Valentine’s, they visited an assisted living center where an elderly man, who was ill, requested a song he found consoling.

“It’s about being human,” she said. “If people would share more music, there would be less conflict in life. It teaches students to work together for a goal.”