Honorary Members & Service Award

Norman Dority

Norman Dority, 88, of Lincoln, NE passed away January 22, 2025.  Norman was the first of six children born to Wayne and Wilma (Shormann) Dority, was born on January 11, 1937, in a farmhouse near Shelton, Nebraska. After a few years, the family moved to Lincoln to be closer to the School for the Blind in Nebraska City, where Norman and his sister Alice attended. While he was in high school, he started listening to preaching programs on the radio, most notably Back to the Bible, and he trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior.

After graduating high school, Norman earned his bachelor's degree from Nebraska Wesleyan. While in college, he met Marilyn Sabin in a Bible study on campus, and she was impressed with his knowledge of the Scriptures. They married in December 1959. Norman also earned the equivalent of a master's degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. One of his elective courses taught him how to tune a piano, and that was the beginning of his lifelong career. He was a member of First Evangelical Free Church for almost 70 years. He donated 210 pints of blood. He was a past board member of the National Church Council for the Blind. He was part of a local group of blind believers and also a member of the Lincoln Piano Tuners Guild, and he mentored several boys through Teammates.

Norman was a tuner for Dietze Music and tuned free of charge for the MOP program for many years. 

2024-25: Jo Riecker-Karl

Jo Riecker-Karl received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney specializing in K-12 Vocal and Instrumental Music Education and helped pay her way through school by working as secretary for the Conference on World Affairs. She took post-graduate classes at UNK and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In 1999, she established the Karl Music Studio offering piano, guitar, singing, theory and composition. 

For over 25 years, Jo has served on the Board of Directors for the Lincoln Music Teachers Association (LMTA) in various positions, including president, treasurer and program director. She concurrently sat on the Nebraska Music Teachers Association (NMTA) Board of Directors for 15 years as NMTA publicity chair in addition to a term on the NMTA Executive Committee as secretary and newsletter editor. Riecker-Karl is currently serving consecutive terms as chair of the LMTA Publicity Committee and chair of the LMTA Music Outreach Program (LMTA-MOP). She was a co-founder of the award-winning LMTA-MOP which offers low-cost lessons, instruments and their upkeep, educational materials, tickets to events, and performance opportunities for children in need. She is also on the Board of The Heritage League of Lincoln, an affiliate of the Federation of Women’s Clubs, as chair of the Arts and Culture Department and is also on their communication and fundraising committees. She has been a member of the Living Stones Praise Band for 15 years and directed a group called The Young Lincoln Performers who entertained in the community for 20 years. In 2014, she was honored in Chicago for her contributions to music at the Music Teachers National Association Conference as the MTNA Foundation Fellow from Nebraska. In 2021, she received the NMTA Service Award for her volunteer work with the Nebraska Music Teachers Association and the Lincoln Music Teachers Association. 

She lives in Lincoln with her husband Randy Karl who retired from Celerion.