news-record.com

“Get set, get ready, and get going!”

This phrase reflects the planning, enthusiasm and determination of Gloria and Duane Best for their current project: replacing worn-out seats in the Duane Best Auditorium at Morehead High School.

The seats, and the auditorium, will be 50 years old in 2011.

That year is also the Best Auditorium Seat Project Team’s deadline for refurbishing the seating in a space that can accommodate 1,700 people.

Team is the operative word for this project. The Bests, longtime Eden community leaders who are intimately connected with the auditorium’s history, have a long trail of former Best students, Morehead classes and local residents backing them.

Members of the team meet regularly to plan and receive assignments aimed at getting seat donations. Getting backers to pay for 1,700 seats at a cost of $150 each is no small task in a slow economy.

But in 10 weeks, 200 chairs have been sold. Just this week, a donation came in for $2,400 from a local civic leader. Pride in a worthy community project is also a motivator.

Fern Ragan, a retired English teacher from Morehead High School and a close friend of the Bests, asked to buy the first seat.

“I taught at Morehead for 37 years,” she said, “and I’ve earned the right to buy the first seat.”

Tim Newman, the first Morehead Scholar from the high school, said anyone who has attended a baccalaureate service, graduation or school performances will have memories to spare.

“You can’t enjoy a performance if your seat is broken or the upholstery is split,” he said.

The team effort is an outgrowth of the 2003 R. Duane Best Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit organized under the Rockingham County Arts Council and transferred to John Motley Morehead High School in 2009.

The goal is twofold: raising money for a college music major’s annual scholarship and paying attention to the physical needs of the auditorium.

To date, the fund has provided scholarships and $10,000 for sound equipment improvements. When the Steinway grand piano needed refurbishing, the fund came up with $9,000.

The piano was a donation from John Motley Morehead, who gave the piano in memory of his wife.

Morehead, who was 90 at the time, attended the first graduation ceremony in the auditorium.

According to Best, when his students heard creaks and noises in the auditorium, they declared the ghost of “Uncle Mot” was hovering nearby.

The present goal is to have the new seats by 2011. The fund has contacted Bill Moore with GreyStone International to have the seats made.

This 50-year-old auditorium has rocked with entertainment, cheers and tears over its years.

Carol Sparrow, who portrayed Dolly in the high school’s production of “Hello Dolly,” became a successful opera singer.

Those who heard Ralph Graves sing “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat” still marvel at the talent in our community.

When the 82nd Airborne Men’s Chorus performed in the auditorium, people were happy to pick out Doug Nichols, a former student and now a resident of Eden, who sang with the Men’s Chorus.

In the past, Rockingham County Concert Series, Crash Craddock, Ronnie Milsap, the Russian Cossack Chorus and many other performers and performances have shared the spotlight on stage.

Best hopes that with new seating, lighting and stage improvements, that civic groups, Eden Tourism and the Rockingham School System can work together to provide more performances for the school and the county.

The seat project is offering a pledge plan to buy seats. With a $25 down payment, the rest of the $150 can be paid over time.

Seats may be donated as an honor or as a memorial gift.

Rod and Betty Snow (class of 1963) of Denver have donated 13 replacement seats in memory and honor of former teachers, counselors and a principal.

To participate, contact the Duane Best Scholarship Fund for a brochure and donor form at besteden@triad.rr.com or call 623-2932.

Rachel Wright is a native of Eden and a part-time instructor in basic skills at Rockingham Community College.