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Reggie Gorter, of Pipestone, will be inducted into the Pipestone Area Schools Instrumental Music Hall of Fame on Sunday, May 18 during the spring band concert. The program begins at 3 p.m. Photo contributed by Mark Thode
On Sunday, May 18 Reggie Gorter will be inducted into the Pipestone Area Schools (PAS) Instrumental Musical Hall of Fame during the Spring Band Concert at 3 p.m. in the PAS auditorium.
Gorter said she felt a mix of emotions when she learned at the end of April that she’d been selected for the hall of fame.
“I was stunned and then I thought I haven’t really lived long enough to be installed into the hall of fame; but then, of course, extremely honored, and then immediately examining whether or not I deserved it,” she said.
She was selected as this year’s inductee by a selection committee comprised of members of the PAS Band Parents Association including Trava Olivier, Jennifer Dunn, Jennifer Zupp and Savannah Lange. Olivier said four people were nominated this year and Gorter was nominated by multiple people. She said those who nominated Gorter cited her life-long commitment to arts and music.
“It’s all the ways she has helped music to be a part of this community and region,” Olivier said.
Gorter was involved in band, choir and theater in high school in Pipestone. She later earned a degree in vocal performance music from Oklahoma City University and a master’s degree in music education from Northern State University in Aberdeen.
She sang with the Minnesota Opera for a couple seasons, has been involved with the Al Opland Singers and the Pipestone Performing Arts Center, and played music in church. She’s also taught music in Pipestone and Rutland, S.D., and has provided private lessons.
In 2017, she started the Arts and Mentoring Project, which is intended to provide arts experiences dedicated to mentoring and performing. AMP has produced multiple musical and theatrical performances since then and is now holding youth dance classes at First Presbyterian Church of Pipestone.
Last year, Gorter was among those who started Sound of the Stone, a community band in Pipestone. She said the community band and PAS Band Director Zachary Ploeger have been working together on a mini community band camp for musicians 12 and older, and the community band and members of the band camp are expected to perform at the May 18 band concert at which Gorter will be inducted into the hall of fame.
Gorter said she comes from a family that supported, loved and was involved with music and the arts. She said that no matter what her main job has been, music has always been a part of her life.
“I think it’s been the single most influential thing in my development as a human, just the emotional, the confidence, everything about becoming a solid person goes back to having those experiences so young and having them be positive experiences,” she said. “And then it becomes a communal experience, as the more you play or do, it becomes communal with those around you and that just takes it to a whole other level.”
Gorter and her husband Del live in Pipestone and have three children ranging in age from 18 to 24. In addition to her musical and arts pursuits, Gorter works at Split Rock Creek State Park in Ihlen, which she said she loves.