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Donated items tell community's stories CELEBRATION >> Mosaic mural to be unveiled
Stories from the wall
Date published: 7/6/2007 By LAURA L. HUTCHISON A community art project that's been in the works since February will be unveiled this evening. Hundreds of hands created the MOREart! mosaic mural, on the back of a warehouse wall at Roxbury Farm and Garden Center, during its installation last month. Fredericksburg school students began working in February on the mural, designed to promote diversity and understanding. Founding members of the Multicultural OutReach Effort (MORE), members of the youth Art Team, and people who donated in various ways prior to the installation were invited to donate items to include in the mosaic's border. They were asked to share the reasons for choosing the item they did. Here are a few of their stories: Gaye Adegbalola, Musical notesPerhaps the greatest source of pride for the black community in Fredericksburg in the late 1950s and early '60s was the Walker-Grant High School band! It was a time of segregation and a time when blacks were called inferior. Yet, there was a collective hope in our community when we were blessed with a young woman band director, Blonnie P. Tipton. She had a vision and the determination that we could be the best in the state--regardless of the size of the school, the lack of instruments and uniforms, practice facilities, etc. My parents, Clarence and Gladys Todd, helped to organize the entire black community to raise the funds to make Blon's dream, and our collective dream, come true. The Walker-Grant High School "Fighting Tiger" Band was indeed the best in the state--earning a superior ++ rating playing Themes from Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony and innumerable additional awards. I played first chair flute in concert band and piccolo during marching band. Many of us made All State Band several years. At our spring concert in 1959, my parents were given a plaque for "Outstanding Contributions to the Walker-Grant Band." This plaque has adorned my music room for many years. I have removed the notes from it to be placed in the MOREart! mosaic. They represent hard work, the overcoming of adversity, the pride of community. For me, now a professional musician, they also represent how we should all strive to find "PEACE THRU MUSIC." Roy E. McAfee, Fishing lure
Date published: 7/6/2007
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