A Chorus of Thanks

They are coming from across the country to honor Richard Otey, their high school choir director who inspired them at a time when their lives were wrought with insecurity and self-doubt.

Some of them graduated more than 20 years ago, but their experiences of singing in the choir at Edison High School are among the best memories of their youth.

Few of them have thanked the tall, bespectacled choir teacher for instilling a love of music that stayed with them long after they graduated. Few of them have told Otey that it meant a lot to them to be assured as teenagers that they possessed a talent worth nurturing.

But now, they have a chance.

After teaching at the school since it opened 27 years ago, Otey, 61, is retiring at the end of the school year. Reminiscent of the film, “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” as many as 200 of Otey’s past and present students plan to pay tribute to the veteran teacher at his grand finale concert on June 1 at the Huntington Beach High School auditorium.

“I always felt that when the day finally came, I would like to have a concert where I have all my former ‘puppies’ come sing with me,” Otey said, adding that he has hired a 45-piece orchestra composed of professional musicians to perform and accompany the student choir.

Some of these “puppies” are now middle-aged, with families of their own. Some have become music teachers, rock stars (Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots) or concert organizers. Some now live in places such as Las Vegas, Hawaii and Arizona.

But none of them have forgotten their teacher, whose penchant for classical music has kept students at Edison High rapt for nearly three decades.

Vicki Wikoff, a 1981 graduate now living in Ephrata, Wash., said Otey is the main reason she pursued a career in music and ultimately became a voice instructor.

She will be at the concert, along with Mike Grillo, a 1984 graduate now living in Garden Grove. Grillo was among those attending the group’s first rehearsal, even though he had another important engagement that afternoon: It was his wedding day.

“I wanted to let everyone know that I’m committed to the concert,” he said.

Robin Andrus Snyder, a flight attendant who graduated 22 years ago, also agreed without hesitation to come back for the performance, even though she lives in Worden, Ill.

“I think the big reason people are coming back is because he always took the time to be there for us,” she said. “Mr. Otey was always one of those people who, if you had personal problems, boyfriend problems, he was always there to talk to. He’s a really giving teacher.”

A committee of alumni and parents organized the gala event, sending out 200 letters to former students who graduated as long ago as 1969.

Rehearsals have been scheduled every Saturday since April 27, and every week, a parade of alumni waltzes into the room to rehearse songs they first learned as teenagers.

“It’s taken a life of its own,” said Darrell Hokuf, a 1982 graduate who is helping plan the event.

Hokuf said people are being lured to their alma mater because it brings back a happy time in their lives, when they first learned the pleasures of music.

“Mr. Otey always wanted us to feel passion for the music,” Hokuf said. “He would stop in the middle of a song and tell us why the composer wrote that section or say, ‘This is how I hope you feel when you sing this song.’ He gave us an emotional attachment to music.”

Like many teachers who sometimes have difficulty gauging their impact on students, Otey said he is stunned by the response of his former pupils.

“I would never have thought it would happen this way,” he said.

Otey, pronounced Odee, originally planned to retire in two years. But the district offered him an early retirement package that he said was too good to pass up. Along with Otey, six other teachers who were part of Edison High’s original staff are retiring.

Part of the reason Otey volunteered to hang up his baton early is because four years ago he was stricken with cancer that attacked his facial nerves and left him deaf in his right ear.

He now wears a device to help him hear, but he said it took him a year and a half to recover from his illness emotionally.

“Not being able to do what I was used to doing was very difficult,” said Otey, who underwent an 11-hour surgery to remove the cancer. “Now I know what Beethoven must have felt like being a musician without both ears.”

Beside his battle with cancer, Otey’s daily commute has taken its toll. To make it to his first class, which begins at 6:45 a.m., Otey must depart his Eagle Rock home at 5.

He is sentimental about leaving his “children” at school, but he believes it’s an appropriate time to shift his life in a different direction.

Upon retirement, Otey plans to spend time at home, “keeping dust off the floor,” and learning more about computers. He also has volunteered with a local social service organization to help counsel people battling serious illnesses.

“I have a need to give back to those who helped me out during my illness,” he said.

Otey has two grown children, a daughter who lives in Los Angeles and a son in Austin, Texas. His wife, Leila, whom he married four years ago, is an elementary school teacher in Highland Park in Los Angeles County.

When hearing about Otey’s life, it’s difficult not to compare him with Mr. Holland, the fictional high school music teacher portrayed by the actor Richard Dreyfuss.

“He is Mr. Holland,” Edison High Principal Brian Garland said. “He’s been the master of ceremonies here for 27 years.”

And just like in “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” the grand finale concert portends to be an emotional spectacle, not just for Otey but for everyone taking part.

Dottie Anderson, a 1984 graduate who is helping organize the event, said many people are coming out of the woodwork because Otey is one of the community’s unsung heroes.

“I would not have made it through high school if it were not for that man because I didn’t have a connection to that school,” she said. “He made me want to come to school.”

Her husband, David, who graduated in 1981, said Otey made students want to sing, even if they had no previous training.

“When you come into the room, he has a way of making you feel that no one is better than you at that moment,” he said.

Even now, after 27 years at the school and a total of 37 years in education, Otey is still one of the most beloved teachers.

“He’s been like a dad to me,” said senior Joe Hamamoto, who sings in the school’s ensemble choir. “Most of the time I can talk to him about stuff. He’s always treated us like his own kids.”

Beside directing the school’s choir program, Otey five years ago began teaching severely disabled students how to play English hand bells with the help of student aides.

“He’s one of the most unselfish teachers I’ve ever met,” said Garland, who came to Edison High a year after Otey.

Garland said the best way to describe Otey is as an “impact teacher.”

“An impact teacher sends kids in a direction,” he said. “There are a certain number of teachers that 20 years from now an individual can say, ‘My life has been changed because of that teacher.’ ”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Profile: Richard Otey

Age: 61

Resides: Eagle Rock (Los Angeles County)

Family: Wife of four years, Leila, and two grown children

Background: Choir director at Huntington Beach’s Edison High School since it opened in 1969; taught for 10 years in New Jersey and Ohio before coming to Huntington Beach

On leaving: “I always thought it would be nice if I could have my former students go out with me. I know it’s going to be an emotional event. I hope I can get through it.”

* Source: Richard Otey; Researched by DIANE SEO / Los Angeles Times