Finishing the Race: A Life of Learning, Service, and Stewardship

Dr. Dean J. Scherer

Professor of Anatomy & Physiology
Chiropractic Physician | Composer

Son • Brother • Husband • Father • Grandfather

All my life I have tried to be the one who helped set the bar—not always by grades or titles, but by achievement, perseverance, hard work, and dedication to see the job through. I wanted to be the person others could rely on, the one who would step forward when something needed to be done, and the one who would stay until the work was finished.

In every institution where I served, my goal was to be a strong team player—what I sometimes think of as the anchor every organization hopes to have. Someone steady. Someone dependable. Someone committed to the mission.

Looking back over the years, I believe I did just that.

But the journey is not finished.

In many ways, this new chapter—building SchererImpact.org and its connected work in education, health, and music—has renewed my focus. It has reminded me that there is still more to do and more to contribute. It has encouraged me to keep growing, keep learning, and keep striving for the next horizon.

I want to finish strong.

Over the next decade, I hope to continue teaching, creating, and sharing what I have learned. Through the students I have taught, through the patients I have helped, and through the music I create, I hope that the influence of that work will continue to ripple outward—touching lives in ways I may never fully see.

If even a small part of what I have done helps someone else serve others in healthcare, understand the human body more clearly, or find encouragement through music, then the effort has been worthwhile.

But the legacy that matters most to me is closer to home.

I want my family to know that I kept striving, that I fought the good fight and finished the race, and that I tried to be a faithful steward of the gifts and opportunities God placed before me. Life did not begin easily, and there were many challenges along the way. Yet those struggles helped shape the determination to keep moving forward.

In the end, legacy is not measured only by titles or achievements. It is measured by how faithfully we use what we have been given to help others.

My hope is simple: to make a positive impact—perhaps small in the scope of the world, but meaningful within the lives I was given the chance to touch.

And if that happens, then the work of a lifetime will have been well spent.