Dale Pendley and the Oak Ridge Community Band are pictured above in this submitted photo.
Submitted
As summer comes to a unofficial close on Labor Day, it is official that Dale Pendley’s many years of outstanding service as conductor of the Oak Ridge Community Band from 2001 to 2018 comes to a close as he heads into retirement. The Community Band is inviting all Oak Ridgers and area residents, particularly former Community Band members, former band students of Pendley during the years he worked as an educator in the Oak Ridge Schools, family, and friends to come on down to A.K. Bissell Park on Monday, September 3, at 7 p.m. to join with band members in giving Dale Pendley a warm send-off and many best wishes for his retirement.
Dale Pendley has been with the Oak Ridge Community Band since 1996, originally as a member of the trombone section, later becoming assistant conductor in 1998, and he was appointed the band conductor in 2001 after the retirement of former director Steve “Doc” Combs. Pendley is a graduate of Tyner High School in Chattanooga and received his bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He taught in the Knoxville City Schools and started the band program in the Grainger County Schools. From 1980 to 2012, he taught band in Oak Ridge Schools at both Jefferson Middle School and Oak Ridge High School. In addition to teaching and conducting, Pendley has performed with the University of Tennessee Trombone Choir, the Babahatchie Community Band, the Oak Ridge and Knoxville Symphony Orchestras, and numerous jazz and dance bands. Dale and his wife Rita have three grown children and one grandchild.
The Labor Day concert is a free event although donations are appreciated to help offset band expenses. The public is encouraged to bring chairs or blanket for outdoor seating, and Razzleberry’s will be in the park for refreshments. Also, at the end of the musical program, there will be special refreshments for all to enjoy as both band members and the audience gives best wishes to Dale Pendley as he heads into retirement.
Along with the concert programs handed out at the tables around the performing pavilion at the Labor Day concert, audience members will have the opportunity to pick up brochures outlining the Community Band’s 2018-2019 indoor concert season with performances scheduled from October through April. And as an extra bonus, complimentary tickets to the first indoor concert on October 14 will be given to the first 200 people attending the Labor Day concert.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
This press release and photo were submitted by Barbara Gritzner.
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