Each month we connect with alumni who are making a difference in their careers and communities and find out how Baker helped them along their way.
Dr. John Buehler, music professor emeritus, and Dr. Susan Buehler, associate music professor emerita, both taught from 1984 to 2009, Gretchen (Buehler) Bixler, ’91, and TJ Buehler, ’93
What was the first moment that made Baker feel like home?
John: I think the first moment I felt like I was home at Baker, was when President Tanner and Dean Torgersen came to KC to offer me the teaching position at Baker. I had enjoyed a good day of interviews and rehearsals and then waited for the results. When the call came from Baker to arrange a visit with Drs. Tanner and Torgersen, I felt the “Baker Family” sense as we talked about what the choral program might be there. That visit was a memory I’ll not forget. It was awesome!
Susan: In my mind this question is the same as “When did you feel that you made the right decision?” We needed to purchase a home in Baldwin, but first needed to sell our home in Shawnee. We accepted and made an offer and a short time before we needed to make our initial down payment, the Shawnee offer fell through leaving us dreadfully short of funds. Scott Morgan was our realtor, and he visited with Don Nutt, bank president at the time, and Scott presented us with a check for our down payment and told us, “You can pay it back when your Shawnee house sells.” Which we did! We knew—in our astonishment over that generous gesture—that we had, indeed, made the right decision in signing at Baker and coming to Baldwin.
Gretchen: We lived in Baldwin City for three years prior to my attending BU, but it wasn’t until July 1987 when the campus felt like my home. My long-lost friend from junior high, Heather Cooper, was attending Institute (summer camp) and she stopped by Coach Irick’s office, where I worked, to ask if I would like to room with her in the fall! It was cool to have my parents on campus, but Heather’s visit is what helped me feel at home!
TJ: I would say Baker felt like home way before I became a student. Gretchen and I spent so much time there as kids growing up (mostly in the music building) with dad and mom on the faculty, Saturday afternoons in the fall at Liston Stadium as a ball boy for the GOAT Coach Richard, and countless hours hitting a ball against the wall at the BU tennis courts. It was all home.
What was your favorite class to teach or attend and why?
John: My favorite classes to teach were the rehearsals of the choirs. That’s where I really felt I lived, and it was the students that gave me life! My favorite class to attend was whenever I was asked to observe my faculty colleagues in the peer faculty assessment process.
Susan: I loved every class I taught, but since I was a member of the voice faculty, I have to say that teaching voice lessons was especially gratifying. I loved seeing and hearing the vocal growth and development from the first to the last lesson for each student.
Gretchen: Choir was my favorite class, with weight lifting as a close second. Choir is where my people were: friends, family, etc. Choir was also the class that most impacted my decision-making as a teacher. I received some of the best training while singing in choirs at Baker. Weight lifting is a close second because of my musclewomen friends who were with me!
TJ: Look, without sounding like I’m buttering him up, I’d say my very favorite class at Baker had to be Concert Choir with my dad. And honestly, if Gretchen says any different, she’s lying. It was always at the end of the day, every weekday but Friday. A chance to sing with classmates, with dad up front directing, and mom just a few feet away on the piano. And two years of overlap with Gretchen there as well. I knew it was special then, but with each year that passes, those fond memories are easily some of my favorite souvenirs from Baker.
Who made the biggest impact on you while at Baker?
John: Of course, the students made the deepest impression on me through my time there, but I also appreciated the friendship and leadership from my teaching and administrative colleagues, especially each president and each dean with whom I worked.
Susan: For me, the most lasting impact of our tenure at Baker was being surrounded by good people, knowledge, beauty, and the culture of a healthy academic environment. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to work in a university setting.
Gretchen: The music department faculty have been impactful mentors and not only while at Baker. I have been in contact with many of my music professors throughout my entire career! The education department faculty members and my Zeta Tau Alpha sisters were also most impactful while I attended Baker. I made lifelong friends in all three communities (with teachers and students), and the lessons I learned from them are still with me today!
TJ: I could easily say dad here, but by now his head would be the size of Montana, so I’ll pivot. One other person who certainly played a role in molding me into a man during those formative years was my tennis coach at Baker, the late, great Coach Jim Irick. He passed away my junior year, which was a very difficult loss. Prior to his passing, there were a few times during longer road trips where I would be “selected” to drive the team van at night coming home due to coach’s difficulty seeing roads well in the dark. And at the time, all I wanted to do was hang out in the back with my teammates. But coach and I would sit up front and chat for hours, and some of those conversations are still with me. Coach Irick was one of the best examples of how to be a good man that I’ve ever known. And to this day, I’ve still never met a man who could chug coffee from McDonald’s the instant it was handed to him, without so much as a wince. That coffee was literally liquid magma—yet another example of his superpowers as a man.
What are two things that you would tell current students?
John: Given the opportunity, I would love to tell each current student that their time at Baker will be the most important period of time in their lives if they work to make it so.
Susan: (1) Show up, and (2) pay attention.
Gretchen: (1) Challenge yourself to attend a new event, participate in a new club or organization, and support your friends in their activities. (2) Support Baker as an alum: attend BU Alumni events, visit campus during Maple Leaf, attend a BU athletic event, visit campus for Stag and Homecoming festivities, donate on Giving Day and any other day of the year (every little bit helps), visit campus as a guest speaker for your former professors, serve as a mentor to current students, and so on.
TJ: You’re gonna get out of this whatever you put into it, so put your whole heart into being a Baker student. Get a group of friends who will play “capture the flag” on campus at midnight on a weeknight. Just be careful not to raise your voice if you’re close to the president’s house, because undoubtedly, you’ll be standing near the primary bedroom window. And there are infinitely better ways to spend the next afternoon, than standing in the president’s office, apologizing for being an idiot.
How did your Baker experience shape your journey or career?
John: My time at Baker fits nearly perfectly in the center of my life journey thus far. I taught for 15 years in the public schools in Kansas before teaching for 25 years at Baker, and now it’s been 16 years since leaving the classrooms and rehearsal rooms there. My experiences at Baker University have informed my life every day since leaving the campus.
Susan: Professional development was always encouraged at Baker, and that was paramount in developing my area of teaching for 25 years and beyond. Personally, the daily interactions with colleagues were principal in respect, diplomacy, grace, kindness, thoughtfulness, and gratitude.
Gretchen: Upon reflection, I think you can see my experiences shaped my journey to a tee! At BU I served my CMENC music ed community and the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority in several leadership positions; I had the opportunity to attend state and national conventions on behalf of both organizations; I volunteered to work the KSHSAA music festivals each year; I served community organizations as a teacher, singer, and a volunteer; I worked as a University Admissions Assistant; I worked in the music office and in the choral music library; and I helped Coach Irick teach a tennis class one semester. All of this in addition to utilizing the Baker Career Services, financial aid, and registrar’s departments run by our favorite staff members, and Paula Moore was a huge reason we could confidently pursue our first real-life career opportunities!
TJ: I would say Baker prepared all of us to think critically more than anything else I learned scholastically. Outside of that, I credit every single brother I had and have in my fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, for who I am today. When I think about Baker, Sig Ep is usually near the top of every thought.
Can you briefly describe your career path since leaving Baker?
John: When we retired from Baker U in 2009, we moved to Cannon Beach, Oregon, to be closer to family. After a year and a half, I went to work for a vacation rental management company as a customer service agent. I worked there 12 years, but also directed the Cannon Beach Chorus and a local church choir until we moved inland in 2022 to be even closer to family. I now direct a community chorus in McMinnville, Oregon, and sing in another community chorus and a church choir. I remain active in music and choral music education. We live near several small private colleges, and we enjoy supporting the choral music programs in each, but none of them compare favorably to what we remember of Baker U.
Susan: We retired early from Baker to spend more time acquainting ourselves with our grandchildren, so we moved to Cannon Beach, Oregon, where I opened Music Lasts A Lifetime voice and piano studio and taught many students in the 13 ½ years we lived there. I was a chorus member and soprano soloist in several choruses; pianist for community and high school choral groups; organist for two churches; and adjudicator, clinician, and session presenter for my professional organization NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing). Currently, I am still doing all of those things but in Newberg, Oregon, since July 2022.
Gretchen: Teaching I taught 7th-12th graders about vocal music in Kansas school districts for 32 years. I coached tennis and Scholar’s Bowl along the way. Leadership: I hosted KSHSAA regional and state solo and ensemble festivals for 15 years. I am a member of the Kansas Choral Directors Association and the Kansas Music Educators Association, and I have had the great honor to serve both organizations on state and national leadership boards. Singer: I have been fortunate to sing and volunteer with area community organizations every year since I graduated from Baker. New Chapter: I work in the University Advancement Department for Linfield University, where I am constantly reminded how awesome my time at BU was and how increasingly important it is for me to stay connected to Baker.
TJ: I have spent roughly 30 years working in financial institutions, first managing corporate money, and for the last 20 years or so, focusing on a career helping folks manage their individual wealth.
What do you love about Baker the most?
John: I love, most of all, that we still feel and are connected to Baker University, and that it remains a big part of our lives today.
Susan: I genuinely appreciate the size of the university, which allows you to become a part of and aware of the entire system, not just your area. The “good of the order” is always important.
Gretchen: I love my memories of Baker, and I love that Baker still feels like home to me after almost over 30 years of being away.
TJ: It’s not one thing. It’s brotherhood that began in the Baker Greek system and has lasted my entire adult life. It’s having been there with my immediate family and seeing all the honors and accolades they’ve received over the years in large part due to what Baker provided to them. It’s tiny things like the memory of arriving on campus in the fall of 1989, spending freshman nights on my Gessner dorm room floor (room 27), studying alongside one of my best friends and roommate, David Barth, ’93, with SportsCenter on the crappy TV that was sitting on my crappy bed. But maybe the thing I love most about Baker are the John Buehlers and Stuart Dorseys and Trilla Lyerlas and Lee Greens and Doc Fambroughs of that world, who turned me and so many like me, into happy, confident adults. Baker is home.
