Holiday events will focus on youth

By Sally Voth -- svoth@nvdaily.com

Various Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemorations across the region will focus on young people.

Shenandoah University, Lord Fairfax Community College, the Timber Ridge School, and United Way of the Northern Shenandoah Valley all have events planned for Monday.

Students at Timber Ridge will watch a screening of "Wit, Will and Walls: The Betty Kilby Fisher Story," which will be followed by a question and answer session with Kilby Fisher and Paulette Moore, said Debbie Vance, the school's coordinator of marketing and public relations.

Moore is the filmmaker behind the documentary, and teaches at Eastern Mennonite University. Kilby Fisher's father, James Wilson Kilby, filed a federal lawsuit to integrate Warren County's elementary and high schools in 1958. Rather than integrate, Warren County High School shut down for several months.

Kilby Fisher was one of 21 students -- all black -- who returned to Warren County High School when it reopened. White students didn't start coming back until the following school year.

She has gone on to become a well-educated author and businesswoman.
"[It's] just an amazing story really, something we're excited to have our kids hear, that they're not the only ones going through some tough times, and how she recovered from that, how she healed and moved on," Vance said.

Down in Middletown, Lord Fairfax Community College will be presenting Walking King's Talk awards and giving out scholarships, said student activities specialist Sarah Ryker. The $100 and $250 scholarships are going to the winners of an essay contest based on a quotation from King.

"It's basically about how they're going to overcome their individual concerns and help the community," Ryker said. "Our first-place winner is going to read their essay."

Lord Fairfax normally only gives out one Walking King's Talk award, but is presenting an additional one posthumously to math professor Evan C. Humbert, who died suddenly in June. Ryker declined to name the other winner ahead of the -ceremony.

Award winners are honored for their community involvement and advocacy for equal justice and opportunity for all.

"They exemplify the peaceful philosophy and faith of Martin Luther King Jr. in the quest for improved human relations," Ryker said.

The event, to be held noon to 1 p.m. in the Corron Community Development Center, is open to the public and will feature guest speaker Easton McDonald, NAACP president for Winchester and Frederick and Clarke counties.

Shenandoah University is canceling its 3 p.m. classes Monday so students can attend a service of remembrance in the Goodson Chapel and Recital Hall, said Emily Burner, director of media relations, marketing and communications. She said the Rev. Clyde Nelson, with Market Street United Methodist Church, would deliver a sermon.

Needy families in Winchester's North End will receive donations of household goods and prescription gift cards from the United Way on Monday, said Joe Shtulman, president of the area chapter. He said about 80 youngsters from the Boys and Girls Club, Girl Scouts and Handley High School will deliver the items to 500 families.

"This is a great opportunity to have young people demonstrate what Martin Luther King thought was important, and that's service to others," he said.

Adults interested in volunteering with the student teams can call the United Way at 536-1610.