LA GRANDE — At the age of 8, Mike Frasier found his calling when an aunt, Lillian Stone, decided to give him a shot at conducting the local children’s church choir. Frasier, who sang in the choir, jumped at the opportunity.

From the first notes of that first performance, Frasier knew this was it: This was what he wanted to do with his life.

It was the start of a conducting career that lasted more than half a century. That career ended on June 6, when Frasier led the Grande Ronde Community Choir one last time.

Frasier, 72, a native of Vancouver, Washington, graduated from what was then called Central Washington State College in Ellensburg in 1973 with a degree in music education. He had a job offer in hand from La Grande Middle School.

But before he started that job, he paid another visit to his aunt — Aunt Sis, as he calls her today. He wanted to thank Aunt Sis for giving him the chance to conduct that children’s choir. It changed his life, he told her.

Here’s how Aunt Sis replied: The only reason she had made Frasier the director of that children’s chorus back then, she said, was because whenever he sang, he was so enthusiastic that his voice drowned out everyone else’s.

And that tells you something about Mike Frasier.

‘Singing was my thing’

Frasier comes from a musical family, and his first love was singing.

“Yeah, singing was my thing. I sang with my brother in a quartet. I was probably 12 and he was probably 10,” he said.

“We were sort of a band or opening act.”

Frasier took the offer to teach choral music in La Grande, working from 1973 to 2003 at the middle school and La Grande High School.

After retiring from the public schools, he worked with a number of area choirs and directed a production of “West Side Story” at Eastern Oregon University.

In 2008, he assumed the role of leading the Grande Ronde Community Choir, a nonprofit ensemble that rehearses and performs at Eastern Oregon University.

Whether he’s working with a middle school student or a volunteer singer in the community chorus, Frasier’s focus remains on sharing his love of music through teaching. And at this point in his career, he’s taught generations of La Grande musicians.

“The person that probably I’ve known the longest, as far as the choir students, is one of the ladies in the choir (Susan Knape) who was a ninth-grader when I started teaching,” he said.

“She would have been 14 when I started teaching. She would be about 65 now.”

He showed a photograph from a reunion this year of some of his previous students.

“There were people in that picture who I had the next year and all the way up to the people I had in college,” he said.

Frasier’s focus is on the choir and its members, not on himself. The Community Choir strives to forge relationships among the singers, people from all walks of life. And they are able to do that through a mutual love of music.

“I hope our final concert together can showcase our appreciation of one another and our shared journey as a community of singers,” Frasier said.

‘Music can transform lives’

As he steps back from a leadership role with the chorus, Frasier takes pride in the knowledge that he’s made a difference in the lives of his students, the choir members and his musically inclined family. In fact, his son Devin is a tenor in the Grande Ronde Community Choir.

Frasier said he knows he will miss the choir. That’s probably why he put off retiring last year for one more year of conducting.

After 51 years of conducting and teaching, though, he knew it was time to finally retire. And so, after the June 6 performance, he handed the baton to his successor, Daniel Durrell.

After the music ended, Frasier addressed the audience and reflected on those 51 years. He said, with an uncharacteristically shaky voice, “Music can transform lives. It surely did mine.”

When he took his final bow, the audience erupted into a 2-minute standing ovation.

Frasier says he knows the path before him, even if it’s new territory.

“I know I’m gonna miss it, I really am,” he said of his work with the ensemble. “And that’s why my plan is to sing in the choir.”

That’s right: For next year’s rehearsals and performances, Frasier will stand beside his son Devin, singing tenor.

For those shows, Frasier will just be one voice among many. But if Aunt Sis was right, it should be easy to make out which voice is Frasier’s.

Sopranos — Sarah Anderson, Jamie Baker, Rosie Beith, Sarah Bittick, Shandra Brooks, BJ Brown, Kendra Crosswhite, Lorraine Donivan, Aleah Knape, Colleen McIntosh, Shannon Remily, Lily Troutman, Amber Tyler, Brianna Waddoups, Renee Wells

Basses — Bruce Anderson, Kasen Bomberger, Craig Dixon, Peter Donovan, Chuck Gambill, PJ Hurd, Tyler KirkPatrick, Gaspare McIntosh, Fred Moore, Brandon Smith, Tim Troutman

Altos — Liz Becker, Janet Carlsen, Kate Dewey, Corrine Dutto, Staci Elguezabal, Brenda Gould, Susan Knape, Moira Madden, Karen McConnell, Carol Messinger, Pam Moore, Hope Murphy, Kristi Puckett, Marie Rampton, Ellen Schoenfelder, Juile Troutman, Carol Weber

Tenors — Colin Andrew, Daniel Durrell, Devin Frasier, Roy Henry, Barb Porche, Susan Selman, Kyle Troutman