Jason Dickert

Band director, musician Age: 48

“Music was everything to him.” That’s what Amy Dickert said about her late husband, Jason Dickert, a 48-year-old band director at Murphy High School in North Carolina who was diagnosed with COVID-19 and later died on Sept. 16, 2021.

She remembers a wonderful man who held his relationship with Jesus paramount and who dedicated his life to music. He was a history buff who also was like a big kid in ways, keeping a collection of Batmobiles.

Amy said he could play every instrument, but not one to blend in with the crowd, his main instrument was the mellophone.

Jason would take his students to as many as six marching band competitions a year, Amy said, including one year when he took them to Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

A national champion marching with Carolina Crown, he also marched with The Spirit of Atlanta.