Courtesy photo by Sarah Curbow Harpist and vocalist Toni Peebles Franks will perform at a fundraiser concert for Decatur Music Club’s scholarships, which benefit local musicians.

Concert to raise music scholarship funds

Wendy’s word

Report cards came home Friday, and with the first one of the year, anticipation is always high at our house. It’s been a guessing game as to what the grades would be.

Have they made the grade, earned the mark? In a talk, days earlier, I asked my daughter what she was expecting. Her innocent reply, “Mama, I feel good about all my classes, and I know the grades will go on my permanent record, but my record is in heaven.”

Caught off guard by her response, I wiped away a tear and just smiled. She was exactly right. May we all walk in a way as to make sure the records that count are marked and scored accordingly, paying little mind as to what the world thinks about whether we live up to the grade.

Now let’s see what the “chatter” is for today ...

Decatur Music Club

The Decatur Music Club will present a fundraiser concert Oct. 28 at 1:30 p.m. at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 3310 Danville Road S.W.

A $5 donation per person at the door will benefit the music club’s scholarship fund, providing annual scholarships to middle and high school students in piano, organ, voice, strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion.

This concert will include presentations by harpist and vocalist Toni Peebles Franks of Somerville, the Lyric Ensemble String Quartet, and adult and student piano ensembles.

Franks describes herself as a folk harpist who also performs pop songs. She plays a lever harp, while classical harpists usually have a pedal harp and play more formal music, such as Bach, she said.

Franks has 25 years of musical training but has played the harp only since 2006, after taking three lessons from Katherine Newman, principal harpist for the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra.

“Originally, I chose the harp simply because I thought it was a beautiful instrument,” she said. “I simply wanted to have a way to accompany myself as I sang, as singing has always been my first love.”

Members of the Lyric Ensemble String Quartet are Valerie Fleming, violin; Laura Elrod, violin; Barbara Pettey, viola; and Desiree Juricic, cello. All are current or past performers with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra.

Martha Bowling, Kim Goree, Connie Pearson, Janet Varner, Kay Grubbs, Marjorie Cox, Linda Webster, Mary Frances Turney, Gayle Metcalf, Donna Turner, Loretta Bonner and Dana McPherson make up the DMC adult piano ensemble. The 12 local pianists, directed by Linda Webster, play in groups of four to six.

Participants in the student piano ensemble are Anna McWhorter, Haley Knable, Ashlyn Riley, Austin Riley, Carly Marks, Patricia Woller, Rachel McMahan, Sara McMahan, Tess Clark, Thomas Calatrello, Jack Calatrello, Mary Beth Snow, Kirk Averitt, Tyler Dennis, Grace Green, Anna Fredrickson, Hannah Smith, Nana Iida, Laura Ann Prickett, Tegan Fuqua and Peggy Payne. These students study with Decatur piano teachers and will perform in groups of six to eight.

For more information, contact Webster at 773-9327, Pettey at 355-7382, Franks at 350-6908 or Bobbie Meier at 350-0088.

BSC pledges

Birmingham-Southern College has finished fall rush, and several local women have gone Greek. Kathryn Pearce and Betsy Qualls, both of Decatur, pledged Chi Omega, while Mary Elaine Williamson, also of Decatur, went Alpha Omicron Pi.

Fall festival

Chestnut Grove Elementary will host its annual fall festival Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. The festival is open to the community and features game booths, a moon bounce, obstacle course, giant slide, food, prizes and a silent auction. Admission is free, but you have to purchase tickets for games and food.

Heading this year’s festival is Jennifer Wood, PTA president, with help from many volunteers, including Sara Watkins and Tammy Abusaleem, coordinators of the silent auction.

AARP

Morgan County Chapter 234 of AARP will meet Tuesday in the fellowship hall at Central United Methodist Church beginning at 11:45 a.m. Decatur Fire Chief Charlie Johnson will speak.

At the last meeting, Don Thomas led the pledge, singing and devotional. Secretary Mae Garner gave the opening prayer.

State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, spoke about his philosophy to do what’s best for Morgan County. Some of the discussion focused on what’s happening in Montgomery, with an explanation of special sessions and the working relationships between the state’s representatives and senators.

Visitor Jean Hardy was recognized, and Allison Towry won the door prize.

The groups talked about a possible petition to the state Legislature requesting an increase in jury mileage.

For more information, contact Garner at 306-1010.

NAMI

The National Alliance on Mental Illness met recently with 21 members present.

President Marilyn Volonino introduced guest speaker Cecelia Graham, director of social workers at North Alabama Regional Hospital. She spoke on the treatment and care of patients from the time they enter the facility until they are discharged.

Graham explained that the facility is a 74-bed acute care hospital, with little control of the numbers of admissions because most are court committals. The average stay is 28 days.

Also attending the meeting were Dr. Duard Bok, clinical director at North Alabama Regional Hospital; Anita Thomas, social worker at North Alabama Regional Hospital; Lisa Coleman, clinical director at the Mental Health Center of North Central Alabama; and Liz Volonino, peer advocate at North Alabama Regional Hospital.

The group expressed thanks to Friends of North Alabama Regional Hospital for providing supplies such as clothing and toiletries.

NAMI will meet Tuesday, with a panel of consumers and patients as the guest speakers.

For more information, contact Secretary Brenda Tinger at 306-0898.

That’s all for now. It’s been great “chattin’ ” with ya! Let me know what is going on in your little corner of the world. If it’s special to you and features any of the great people who live in our community, then it will make a great Chatterbox item. Just e-mail me at ddchatterbox@yahoo.com, or call me at 350-5730. I look forward to hearing from you.

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