A4 • Friday, June 24, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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Remembering band director Rieger at Seaside High School memorial
“Thank you for always being there,
thank you for being my friend. I will always
remember you as the best teacher. Thank
you for being my teacher.”
“Coming back to school in person, our
band was pretty shaky, but Mr. Rieger put in
so much eff ort and patience for making us
amazing again.”
“I most appreciated about Mr. Rieger
was how kind he was and how much he
believed in our band. There’s never going to
be a band teacher as kind as him.”
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
tudents, staff , family and friends gath-
ered last Tuesday to remember Kyle
Rieger, the Seaside band director
killed in a two-car collision over Memo-
rial Day weekend, less than a year after his
arrival on the North Coast.
“This is truly a celebra-
tion of what Kyle brought
to this community and the
impact that he had on the
young people that he got
to interact with every day,”
principal Jeff Roberts said.
“And also his colleagues.
Kyle Rieger
They got to work with him
every single day.”
Rieger was born Feb. 24, 1996, in St.
Louis, Roberts said. “He was a dedicated
and talented musician, composer, conduc-
tor and teacher and was the band director
for Seaside High School, middle school
and jazz band in Seaside, Oregon,” Rob-
erts said.
Roberts recalled how Rieger would
open up pep band rehearsals with the
shout, “Hey, band!” His instrumentalists
would shout in return: “Hey, what!” The
chant would be repeated to fever pitch.
Rieger was an incredible young man,
Roberts said, a son, brother, musician,
friend, colleague and teacher. He was one
of 31 applicants for the job in Seaside.
Graduating senior Gracie Klemp, a
musician, was a student representative at
Rieger’s Zoom hiring meeting. “After his
interview was done, I knew he was the
only person for this job,” she said.
Kara Rieger, Kyle’s 21-year-old sister,
was accompanied by her parents at the
memorial. She recalled his love of music,
inspired by his father, who had been a
saxophonist in his high school band.
There weren’t really any instruments
he didn’t play, she said, from drums to
didgeridoo, accordion, remembering bag-
pipes, singing bowls and conch shells.
“The last gift he gave me for Christmas
was a small kalimba to take on camping
trips.”
She said she had never had seen her
brother as excited as when he received
the off er to teach in Seaside. “Even the
entirety of this interview process was vir-
tual,” she said. “But let me tell you, I’ve
never seen my brother happier than when
he got this job. He was extremely proud of
himself for getting the job.”
She accompanied him on his move
from Missouri to Oregon last summer, she
said. “We packed as much stuff in his car
as possible. And we drove for three whole
Gracie Klemp shares memories of band class.
S
Photos by R.J. Marx
Photos and cards honoring Kyle Rieger.
Students, family, friends and staff at the Seaside High School memorial.
Kyle Rieger remembrance at Seaside High School.
days. Along the way, Kyle saw moun-
tains for the fi rst time in Colorado. As we
got closer, I remember he just kept saying,
‘Oh, my God!’ ‘Oh my God!’ increasingly
louder. He was absolutely beaming.”
Rieger brought with him a love for the
St. Louis Cardinals, dinosaurs, the Ger-
man language and fun facts — and music.
Rieger held a bachelor’s degree in music
composition — he minored in German —
and a master’s degree in music education
and instrumental conducting from Truman
State University in Kirksville, Missouri.
His compositions, some of which were
played at the memorial, have been per-
formed internationally.
In Seaside, looking out from the high
school to the west, social studies teacher
Mike Hawes said, Rieger was awed by the
panoramic view.
Rieger developed an early passion for
nature, surfi ng and seafood, along with his
love of conversation and storytelling until
late hours.
Staff and students shared stories of
Rieger’s energy, enthusiasm and his
amazement at the Oregon way of life.
Science teacher Vinh Pham recalled
asking Rieger if he liked seafood. “He
answered, ‘You have no idea. I’m from St.
Louis. There’s no fresh seafood in Mis-
souri.’ I promised, this summer, to go
crabbing with Kyle, and fi shing and clam-
ming and mushroom hunting, and we had
set plans to go do so later in the summer.”
Rieger was awed by “horizontal rain”
and snow in April.
“I like to show new teachers around
the area when they fi rst show up here,”
math teacher Doug Mitchell recalled.
“And I did the same with Kyle. And one
thing was diff erent. Later on, I saw him
on those trails. One week later, two weeks
later, I kept seeing him there, which really
showed how much he loved the area.”
He encouraged musicians to reach to
their limits, students said in remembering
Rieger, even when it meant taking chances
or going out of their comfort zone.
He showed more excitement on stage
and in rehearsal than anyone, students
said.
“I just loved watching him conduct
because he got so into his music he would
be dancing on the podium,” Klemp said.
The day after his jazz class’s concert,
he was already planning next year’s con-
cert, Pham said. “I think to me, it demon-
strates the skill and the passion that he had
not only for the students, but for his pro-
fession and his craft as a composer.”
Others described how much his atten-
tion and faith in their skills served as an
inspiration.
“Even though you were here for a short
time, you had a big impact on my life,”
wrote a student in one of dozens of trib-
utes at the memorial.
After the memorial, Kara Rieger, a
communication disorders major at Truman
State, said she shared her brother’s love
for education. “It’s so incredibly import-
ant especially today after times of isolation
that kids have mentors they can trust and
grow from in the classroom.”
She said the Seaside memorial refl ected
the spirit of her brother.
“Kyle had a very specifi c type of humor
and intense passion for the things he was
interested in, so it was absolutely amaz-
ing to see how well his students had got-
ten to know almost every aspect of him
within just a short year of teaching,” she
said. “We could absolutely feel the spirit
of Kyle within them.
“Moving out here was a huge change
for Kyle,” she continued. “I think being
here was a big encouragement for him
to be even more adventurous. I probably
would have never pictured him as the surf-
ing type, but he was working on it.”
OP-ED
Let’s keep North Coast wildlife wild
GUEST COLUMN
BETH QUILLAN
oung wildlife are
rarely orphaned, so
leave them where you
fi nd them. The advice you
are likely to hear if you bring
a young wild animal home is
“put it back,” and you might
get a warning or citation from
Oregon State Police, too.
Because of the damage it
can do to both wildlife and
people, removing an ani-
mal from the wild is illegal
under Oregon wildlife laws.
(ORS 497.308 – No person
shall remove from its natural
habitat or acquire and hold
in captivity any live wild-
life in violation of the wild-
life laws.)
Unfortunately, every year
around this time, ODFW
offi ces, licensed wildlife
rehabilitators, and even Ore-
gon State Police are fl ooded
with calls from people who
Y
MORE ONLINE
For more information on
young wildlife visit
https://myodfw.com/
wildlife-viewing.
mal is orphaned because you
saw its parent die, or you
see an animal that is injured,
please call ODFW, a licensed
wildlife rehabilitator, or OSP
for advice.
Deer and elk
picked up a deer fawn, elk
calf, fl edgling bird learning
to fl y, or other young animal
they assumed was orphaned
because it was alone. When
removed from the wild, the
animal misses the chance to
learn where to seek cover,
what to eat and how to
escape from predators and
other dangers.
Here’s how to help
instead:
Keep pets and other
domestic animals away to
help wildlife this time of
year. Pets will stress wild-
life, especially if there are
young wildlife or fl edgling
birds in your yard. Keep dogs
on a leash when recreating
outside.
If you are certain an ani-
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Shannon Arlint
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
Oregon’s deer and elk
give birth from May through
July. It’s natural for mother
animals to leave their
young alone and hidden for
extended periods of time
while they go off to feed, so
never assume a young animal
is orphaned when you see it
alone. The mother will return
when it’s safe to do so, when
people, pets or predators
aren’t around. Deer and elk
see dogs as a threat to their
young so may act aggres-
sively in response to distur-
bance from a dog.
Marine mammals
The advice to leave ani-
mals in the wild applies to
all wildlife—including adult
and young marine mam-
mals that are commonly seen
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Joshua Heineman
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
CONTRIBUTING
PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeff TerHar
alone resting on rocks or the
beach in spring and sum-
mer. Beachgoers should stay
away from resting seals and
sea lions and keep dogs away
from these animals as well.
Marine mammal strandings
should be reported to OSP’s
hotline at 1-800-452-7888.
Birds
Some baby birds, called
fl edglings, may become sep-
arated from their parents as
they learn to fl y. These are
sometimes mistaken as aban-
doned birds. Unless obvi-
ously injured, fl edglings
should be left where they are
or lifted carefully back into
the nest or onto a branch to
avoid predators, so they have
the best chance at survival.
Ducklings and goslings
frequently become separated
from their mothers due to
disturbance from humans or
predators. If you spot young
waterfowl without a mother,
please leave them alone and
leave the area so the mother
can return.
Joyce Hunt
Elk scrambling from the estuary into Seaside after storms.
With the recent detec-
tions of highly pathogenic
avian infl uenza in Oregon, it
is more important than ever
to avoid close contact with
waterfowl (ducks and geese)
this spring and summer. Do
not feed ducks and geese.
Feeding congregates suscep-
tible birds and enables the
disease to spread between
birds more easily. Also, note
that Oregon’s wildlife reha-
bilitators are not currently
accepting sick ducks and
geese to protect other avian
patients and education birds
in their care.
Beth Quillan is public
information offi cer for the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife.
Seaside Signal
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