A letter from Ara Gary Dinkjian,class of "76" I felt that this should be shared so all can read this touching letter.
I graduated from River Dell in 1976. However, in 1975, the year Dr. Barrows received New Jersey's Teacher Of The Year award, he did something extraordinary for me:
Dr. Barrows inquired about my college plans. All I knew was that I wanted to go to the best music conservatory that I could get into. However, I really didn't know where to start looking. Frankly, the school guidance department was no help. Dr. Barrows to the rescue! He not only suggested Hartt College Of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, but actually scheduled an appointment for me to see the school. On the morning of my appointment, Dr. Barrows actually took the day off from school and drove me to the College! After looking around the campus, having my meetings, and getting a good idea about the whole environment, he took me out to lunch. I'll never forget that day, because it was so pivotal in my life. Whenever we saw each other, we reminisced about that day.
I was accepted into Hartt, with a scholarship, and graduated in 1980. Since then, I have been a performer, composer, and music teacher. Dr. Barrows made this all possible for me.
I was very saddened to hear of his passing. I will always be grateful for having had him in my life.
Ara Gary Dinkjian class of "76"
Richard Barrows, a music educator so proficient in his subject matter that he once was guest organist at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, died Tuesday. The Paramus resident was 80.
Barrows He had cancer, but the cause of death was injuries suffered in a fall, said his wife of 50 years, Dorothy.
Mr. Barrows taught at River Dell Regional High School in Oradell for 28 years, putting students through their vocal paces as choral director and rising to music department chairman. He was New Jersey’s Teacher of the Year in 1975. “I never cease to get a thrill from teaching over 200 high school seniors to sing Handel’s ‘Hallelujah’ each autumn,” Mr. Barrows said upon receiving the statewide honor. “And not just ‘The Hallelujah Chorus,’ but Handel’s entire ‘Messiah,’” Donald Skog, a long-ago River Dell student, recalled Thursday. The retired pediatrician from Cresskill had Mr. Barrows for music in 10th, 11th and 12th grades in the early ’60s.
“He really demonstrated to his stu dents that you can look toward an ideal and reach it,” Skog said. “He truly inspired people to greatness.”
Mr. Barrows, who played the organ at the Reformed Church of Oradell and gave recitals at Riverside Church in New York, Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark and elsewhere, achieved greatness himself, on one of the world’s most famous stages. In 1973, he dusted off his French and penned a letter to Notre Dame Cathedral’s resident organist, Pierre Cochereau, offering his services in a pinch. “I’d be very glad to drop everything to play without warning,” Mr. Barrows wrote. The response arrived by mail more than a year later: “Will the date Aug. 17, 1975, suit you?” Mr. Barrows performed that day before 6,000 people. “That was right up there as a highlight,” his wife said. The next day, Mr. Barrow was riding the train to Amsterdam from Paris. “His luggage was above his seat, and a gentleman looked over and saw his luggage tag and said, ‘Are you the fellow who played yesterday at Notre Dame? I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your performance,’Ÿ” Dorothy Barrows said. “Dick got a chuckle out of that.”
Richard Barrows, a milkman’s son and the first of 10 children, grew up in North Arlington and Rutherford. “He always wanted to play the organ or piano, but back in the day there wasn’t a whole lot of money, so he pretended to play on the radiator,” his wife said. “He was 12 years before he could take lessons.”
Mr. Barrows received a bachelor’s degree from Montclair State Teachers College and a master’s degree and a doctorate in music education from Columbia University.
He retired from River Dell in 1984 but did not stop teaching. In recent years, he taught music appreciation to senior citizens at Bergen Community College.
Dedication and now in Memory
For his work as a music teacher in the Junior High, the knowledge he tried to impart to us, the encouragement he showed to the talented, the honesty he displayed to the untalented "hopefuls," the methods he used to make us realize that there is no reason to be ashamed at lack of talent, only at wasted talent, the humor that often went over our heads;
For his work as a chorus instructor in the Senior High: the molding of young voices into harmonious accord, the many assemblies which meant more to us than just a day of shortened periods, the unforgettable Christmas and Spring Concerts, the discovery of new talent;
For the hours he devoted to to the perfection of River Dell's various productions: for Babes in Toyland, for Carousel, for South Pacific, for Guys and Dolls, but especially for Bye Bye Birdie;
For his efforts to instill an interest in culture and the arts: for chorus field trips, for his inmitable "horsegrin," for "When Wally comes flying home again," for his ever-available, ever-frank advice, for the little things for which he has received no recognition, for the big things for which he has received too little;
For "Pomp and Circumstance:" for graduations past, for hours of marching drills; for more hours of singing practice, for the trials, tears, and tribulations of our graduation, for the memories of our schoold days, our Senior year, and especially Graduation Day, 1963; For having been himself and for having been an inportant part of our happiest days; For Everything;
We dedicate this, the 1963 Golden Hours, to Richard A. Barrows in sincerest appreciation.
Blaine M. Pool
Blaine Pool
My memories of Mr. Barrows is in 7th grade Music Class. My singing and rhythm is pretty bad but I do have a good love for music and plays. I seem to remember him talking a lot about the play "My Fair Lady" which I believe was in its long run on Broadway at that time. I would have to say that Junior High class was when I started to learn good things about a much wider world out there.
I just happened to be looking through my Junior High Yearbooks tonight and along with our Senior Yearbook I realize again what a hugh impact he had on so many classmates lives with the large Chorus and the many plays.
John Hauter
. I remember Dr. Barrows him well, for the most part very fondly. But I could have killed him myself for making the whole class sing some very complex song, set to a Robert Frost poem I believe, during the graduation ceremony. ("Oh, star, the fairest one in sight/I grant thy loftiness the right/....") And that's all I remember!
But Dr. Barrows and the Reformed Church of Oradell were a big part of my life. Dr. Barrows played some very specific things for me as the people gathered for my mother's memorial service in 1974. The "Gloria" from the Faure Requiem comes to mind. He transcribed the whole thing for the organ, at my request. (Dirk Walvoord's dad came back to Oradell to help officiate at the service.) I'll try and get off a quick note to Dr. Barrows.
As I mentioned to Steve Abrams, I was just thinking about you the other day, after reading in the NYTimes the obituary of the man who directed Live from Lincoln Center all those years. Didn't your brother Alan "associate direct" most of those? There can't be that many Alan Skogs who were really into music out there, right? (I still remember his "Enoch Snow" in "Carousel.")
