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Terry Garrison Lashley and Jerry Smyre took different paths after graduating from Greensboro Senior High School, now Grimsley High.

Smyre, a 1951 graduate, became head of a performing arts school and a professional singer. Lashley, a 1955 graduate, didn't pursue a career in music, but music has always been a part of her life, as she's sung in college and church choirs.

Both credit former Grimsley choral director Eula Tuttle -- affectionately called "Tuttle" or "Queen Tut" by her students -- with fueling a lifelong love of music.

"She knew what she wanted to get from you and how to get it," said Smyre, who now lives in Little Washington. "She made you want to succeed."

Lashley, who still lives in Greensboro, agreed.

"She developed my interest in music into a love, and I've been singing ever since," Lashley said. "She was unbelievably outstanding and kindly demanding."

When Lashley and Smyre heard that a portrait was being commissioned to honor Tuttle, who served at Grimsley from 1943 to 1966, they were thrilled.

"Anytime you can bring back memories that developed you as a young person, it's wonderful," Lashley said. "I wish all young people had the opportunity to have a teacher and friend like her."

The dedication and hanging of Tuttle's portrait in October marked the completion of a project that started in 2000 with a desire by Grimsley historians Harry Bradley and Peter Byrd to honor longtime band director Herbert Hazelman.

The two successfully rallied alumni, parents and friends to have the school's music building named after him. Hazelman served as band director from 1936 to 1942 and from 1944 to 1978. Byrd went on to lead an effort to have portraits done of Hazelman, Tuttle and longtime orchestra director J. Kimball Harriman, who served at Grimsley from 1941 to 1964.

"These three directors truly were musical geniuses, and with their having been gone from teaching at GHS now for so long, we felt their names and reputations needed to be more fully remembered by current and future generations," Byrd said. "It is important to understand that these three, as a group, were synonymous with music at Greensboro Senior High for such a long time, all producing phenomenal work, hence the desire to honor them as a group."

In 1960, the school was awarded the Ford Foundation-sponsored composer-in-residence, which came about as the result of the total excellence of the school's music program.

"I think this, as much as anything, shows the significance of the three of them," Byrd said. "With Miss Tuttle's portrait finally in place, I look at them and go, 'Wow, an eight-year vision is finally done.'"

Alumni and parents, including Boo Stauffer, Martha Leonard Rierson and Jeannie Turner Blackwood helped raise funds.

The portraits were done by Greensboro portrait artist Tom Edgerton and are displayed in the main lobby of the Hazelman Music Building. Hazelman's portrait was dedicated in March 2005, with Harriman's dedication following in 2006 and Tuttle's this past fall.

While working on the project, Edgerton said he learned a tremendous amount about the school's rich history.

"The more I found about the stature of those three music educators, I realized what renowned educators they were, even outside of their immediate areas," Edgerton said. "It was nice sense of completion to have brought the project to a close."

Byrd said he would love eventually to add to the school's portrait collection, which also includes portraits of former principals, athletic directors and George Grimsley, for who whom the school was later renamed.

"I'd love to add some of the other amazing teachers who served for so long at the school," he said.

For now, he finds satisfaction in knowing the portraits of Hazelman, Harriman and Tuttle ensure Greensboro Senior High's music legacy is never forgotten.

"I didn't want the memory of them to be gone," Byrd said. "The impact they had on the historical development of the Grimsley music program is phenomenal."

Contact Jennifer Atkins Brown at 574-5582 or jennifer.brown@news-record.com.