37 years after his tragic death, Damon Gehlen's memory lives on at Stayton High School

When Damon Gehlen was a 16-year-old sophomore at Stayton High School in 1980, his brother’s country/rock band needed a bass guitar player for a summer full of gigs.

Gehlen had musical experience in choir, drama and as a saxophone player in the band at Stayton, but had never played the bass before. Still, he quickly accepted.

In two weeks, Damon Gehlen learned how to play bass and joined the band to play covers of songs like “Peaceful Easy Feeling” throughout the summer.

“That was just a testament to who knows where he could have gone as a musician,” said Steve Gehlen, Damon’s older brother who convinced him to play in his band.

Damon Gehlen died two years later at the age of 18 on December 24, 1982 at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle after a battle with cancer.

Thirty-seven years later, an arts foundation has donated $25,000 to Stayton High School's arts programs in Damon's honor.

The Keeping the Arts Foundation, which was founded in his honor, gives grants to arts programs for children  – mostly at rural schools  – in Oregon.

The foundation isn’t focused solely on music or theater, but it distributes money to arts programs of all kinds, such as it did to Regis for a pottery wheel last year.

Damon Gehlen had a way of connecting various groups from athletes to musicians, and the foundation that operates in his memory does, too.

“He found a way to connect with people,” said Steve Gehlen, co-founder of the foundation.

Damon Gehlen in the arts at Stayton

Damon Gehlen was active as a student at Stayton.

He played basketball and tennis like his older brothers and was an officer in the student body leadership.

But it was in the arts where Gehlen excelled.

He played saxophone in band – he was first chair – sang in choir and was in frequent stage productions, including "Carousel" in his junior year.

After he died at the age of 18, the family struggled to cope with the loss.

“My parents stayed together, but there were challenges there,” Steve Gehlen said.

“I was in college at University of Oregon. For me, it was just a matter of I was already a pretty serious student. .. I just doubled down on that. I focused on school, doing well in school. I think that’s what helps is to have something to focus on in a time like that.”

Keeping the Arts foundation

After volunteering in a number of organizations over the years, Steve Gehlen founded the Keeping the Beat foundation in 2007 in Damon’s honor.

The organization combined with the Artists for the Arts foundation – which was founded by Valerie Day of 80's one-hit wonder Nu Shooz – in 2010 to become Keeping the Arts.

In its years, the foundation has donated $140,000 to arts programs for children in kindergarten through 12th grade in Oregon, primarily to those in rural school districts.

Stayton High School principal Alan Kirby said the school has had donations or grants for a few hundred dollars in his time, but the $25,000 was the largest since he’s been there.

The $25,000 grant to Stayton High School will be distributed to the school’s theater, choir and band programs.

The choir will likely purchase a new piano to replace the current one which is about 40 years old. The band will purchase a vibraphone (a procession instrument). The drama department is investing in microphones to be used on-stage in plays.

“Those are three kind of big-ticket items that are hard to make happen otherwise,” Kirby said.

The foundation has donated over $40,000 to the North Santiam School District since 2007.

Kirby said the donation helps validate to current students that arts programs can make a difference.

“It was neat to see that connection,” Kirby said. “That’s something we don’t always get anymore is connecting the older with the newer.”

The money for the $25,000 grant came from a donation from the estate of Gehlen’s grandparents Richard and Ruth Bassien and his mother, Patricia Gehlen.

Presenting the $25,000 to Stayton

Steve Gehlen presented the grant money to the Stayton programs prior to the Feb. 22 performance of "Godspell" at the high school.

“I went to school with Damon here and this is a fitting way to honor his involvement in all of the performing arts programs,” said Stayton theater teacher Les Conley, who directed the current production of "Godspell."

The primary fundraiser for Keeping the Arts is the Portland Creative Conference, also known as Cre8con. The conference raised $9,000 in 2017.

Another fundraiser, the American Roots Music Festival, will return for the first time since 2009 on Nov. 2 at the Turner Tabernacle. It will include free admission to youths, youth concerts, workshops, jam sessions and a performance by bands including The Western Flyers.

After Damon's high school classmates at Stayton found out about the recent donation, they donated money in his name to the foundation without prompting.

Those donations will become a scholarship for students involved in the arts at Stayton in his name.

It is a testament to how much of an impact Gehlen made in his short life.

“It was unexpected,” Steve Gehlen said. “It became a new thing, much more than the original idea.

“Then it became this community thing that I think hit at the right time and with a very positive message, and I think people are ready for positive stories. It totally blew me away.”

bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler