Dale Johnson’s reaction to learning that he had been selected to the Washington Music Educator’s Hall of Fame was classic.

“I jokingly said that the hall of fame was for old guys named Grover or Duke or Willy,” said Johnson, 66, the Auburn High School and Rainier Middle School symphony director. “But it’s really a great honor.”

For Johnson, it’s an honor almost 60 years in the making.

“It’s been a journey,” he said. “It started in the third grade.”

Born in the Southern Idaho farming community of Burley, Johnson was first exposed to music while attending a “country” elementary school.

“One day this little German guy came to school and offered to teach kids the violin,” Johnson said.

Johnson jumped at the opportunity, setting his feet on a path he would travel the rest of his life.

He enrolled at Brigham Young University, intending to become an electrical engineer. To help pay for college, he applied and won a musical scholarship, which required him to play violin in BYU’s symphony.

Getting the chance to play in a large orchestra hooked Johnson.

“To play the Shostakovich Fifth Symphony right off the bat … I was just amazed with it,” he said.

Music eventually replaced engineering for Johnson, who graduated from BYU and accepted a music teaching fellowship at the University of Washington.

After earning his master’s degree, Johnson accepted a job with the Seattle School District, which led to jobs with the Federal Way and Tacoma districts. In 1993, he landed in Auburn.

In addition to teaching at Auburn, Johnson conducts the Tacoma Junior Debut Orchestra.

Along the way he conducted the Tacoma Junior Orchestra during its European tour in 1981, and two Carnegie Hall performances in 2000 and 2005.

“Each time the hall was near capacity, and each time we received a thunderous standing ovation that went on and on,” he said. “That was pretty amazing, being back in the dressing room where Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, Tchaikovsky and all those giants have been. It was pretty awe inspiring.”

Johnson also served for 13 years as the musical director for the Tacoma Community College Chamber Orchestra.

“I really like being able to see a full spectrum of the system,” he said. “In those years I was doing the TCC orchestra, I had fifth-graders all the way through high school up to college. Then with TCC, it was a community orchestra, and there were members who were in their 90s.”

At Rainier Middle School and Auburn High School, Johnson serves as chairman of the Fine Arts Department.

Johnson and his wife of 43 years, Darlene – who teaches violin – have raised eight children. The youngest, Ashley, graduates from BYU with a degree in cello performance this spring. Another, Gunnery Sgt. Karl Johnson, serves as a trombonist with The President’s Own U.S. Marine Band in Washington D.C.

“It would have been pretty hard to have passed through our family without some of that rubbing off,” he said. “All of them played and some of them continue to play.”

Johnson said that although is wife is eager for him to retire from his teaching duties, he’s still taking it one year at a time.

“I appreciate the support in the community for music and from the administration,” Johnson said. “I’ve been very fortunate to work with lots of wonderful kids over the years. So if there is any award, it should really go to them.”