Dorothy Burroughs, 2025 Dr. Carlos Messerli Service Award Recipient
Dorothy Burroughs at LSM 2024
Lutheran Summer Music is honored to announce Dorothy Pralle Burroughs—affectionately known by generations of LSM students as “Dean Dot”—as the 2025 recipient of the Dr. Carlos Messerli Service Award. A beloved figure in LSM’s history, Burroughs’ decades of service—as a counselor, oboe instructor, ensemble coach, Dean of Students, and now faculty—have shaped the heart and soul of this community since its founding in 1982.
The award will be presented during LSM 2025 at the annual Board of Directors Reception on Saturday, July 19, at 5:00 p.m.
Burroughs first connected with LSM after seeing that her college band director, Roger Gard, was expected to be part of the inaugural summer. She reached out to Carlos Messerli, LSM’s founding Executive Director, to ask how she might get involved. “Maybe you could be a girls’ counselor,” he offered. That first summer, Burroughs jumped in with both feet—serving as a counselor, directing jazz band, teaching oboe, coaching chamber ensembles, and helping establish the student work program. She returned each year through 1989, including four years as Dean of Students, and now continues to serve each summer teaching musicianship and the music education elective.
Reflecting on Carlos’s influence, Burroughs writes, “He was a mentor and great encourager. He held folks to high standards and expected excellence in preparation and performance. To be able to put his vision into practice is a great joy.”
Burroughs’ commitment to LSM runs deep. “LSM shaped my teaching, my musicianship, and my worship life,” she shares. “I created summer band camps modeled after LSM. I returned to church music with greater resources and inspiration. And I found colleagues who pushed me to grow and supported me through life’s chapters.”
Burroughs at LSM 1985, serving as Dean of Students
At the program’s 40th anniversary, Burroughs recalled feeling “like a proud Mama welcoming her chickies home” as alumni—now serving as counselors, fellows, faculty, and guest artists—shared stories of how LSM had molded their lives.
Looking ahead, she affirms LSM’s continued impact: “Especially in this post-COVID time, LSM offers young people a safe, accepting place where they can be themselves—where they can find themselves in music, in worship, and in the reflection of community.”
Burroughs’ service and spirit have touched generations, carrying forward Carlos Messerli’s vision with joy, integrity, and abiding faith.
Dr. Carlos Messerli Service Award
In 2018, the Lutheran Music Program Board of Directors inaugurated the first annual Dr. Carlos Messerli Service Award. The award is given each year to someone who follows Dr. Messerli's example of outstanding service to the mission of Lutheran Music Program.
Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
—Ephesians 5:18b–20
Previous Recipients
2024: Mark and Kathy Helge
2023: Charles Sukup
2022: John Lunde
2021: Dr. Carl Schalk
2019: Phyllis Duesenberg
2018: Dr. Carlos Messerli