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Educator, musician Dario Cassina dies at age 90
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Sonora teacher, musician and community leader Dario Cassina died Wednesday at his Sonora home at the age of 90.
Among his many achievements were starting Sonora High School’s continuation school, which became known as Cassina High School, his early support of Columbia College when he was superintendent of the Tuolumne County Office of Education, and founding of the Symphony of the Sierra. In the 1960s, the state legislature called on all high school districts to be part of a community college district. As Tuolumne County schools superintendent and secretary of the local school district reorganization committee, he helped the movement to align Tuolumne County with Modesto Junior College, which soon became the Yosemite Community College District. In 1967, he founded the community orchestra that soon came under the auspices of Columbia College. He was the orchestra’s first conductor and was its concertmaster for many years. He was also part of a committee that helped raise matching funds for the college’s Oak Pavilion. “He was a wonderful man,” said retired Sonora High School Assistant Principal Roger Francis. “I knew him in several different capacities. I took private clarinet lessons with him as a boy, then worked with him at Sonora High.” Francis said Cassina only served one term as superintendent of schools because he preferred working more closely with students. “He loved his family, music and students,” Francis said. “He kept the Symphony of the Sierra going for years. Later on, I played in that orchestra with him.” Francis was asked to make the presentation when Cassina was inducted into the Columbia College Hall of Fame in 1999. Linda Millhollin, of Sonora, said Cassina hired her and her husband, Orville, to work as teachers in what became the Big Oak Flat-Groveland School District in the early 1960s. “We fell in love with the area,” she said, “but Dario didn’t tell us what we were getting into in Groveland. They were hard working people over there, and they got into knock-down fights at the board meetings. They didn’t quite come to blows, but almost.” She went on to teach at Jamestown Elementary for 32 years, and her husband was superintendent of schools for many years. She said Dario Cassina was a mentor to them and many other people over the years. Cassina moved to Sonora in 1946. He taught music at Sonora Elementary School for six years, served in the county schools office for 14 years before founding Sonora High’s continuation school. Tuolumne County Supervisor Liz Bass worked with him at Cassina High School. “He was enormously talented, not just with music but with people skills, including kids on the outs with society,” she said. “He treated them like regular people, and they started acting like regular people. They loved him.” He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Lorraine, in October. A full obituary will run in a later edition of The Union Democrat |
