Event is largest fundraiser for Rockingham Kiwanis Club
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
The fourth annual New Year’s Eve Gala scheduled for Dec. 31 at Liberty Place in downtown Rockingham will be the first without Gary H. Fisher.
But that won’t stop anyone from remembering him for a long, long time.
Gary H. Fisher
Fisher died Sept. 16 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. He was 72. A lifelong N.C. State Wolfpack supporter and charter member of the Rockingham Kiwanis Club, Fisher and his family helped establish the Gary H. Fisher Honorary Academic Scholarship, made possible through the funds raised from the annual gala at Liberty Place.
Now it’s a memorial scholarship. This past May, the $1,500 Fisher scholarship was awarded to Logan Alexander Northcutt. Northcutt finished 14th in a senior class of 446 students and has entered Morehouse College in Atlanta. He is pursuing a degree in biomedical engineering.
This year’s New Year’s Eve Gala is scheduled from 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31 through 1 a.m. Jan. 1. The menu includes heavy hors d’oeuvres from Rick’s Catering, Laurinburg, along with party hats, favors, a full cash bar and a midnight champagne toast in front of a large screen television to watch the ball drop in New York’s Times Square. Entertainment will be provided by disc jockey King Curtiss of the King Curtiss Beach Club on 102.5 FM — a new addition last year.
“Last year, we danced the whole night,” said Kiwanis Club member Woody Gunter, who noted he used the King’s English “we.”
“I danced a couple times.”
Fisher’s isn’t the only name remembered through scholarships from the Kiwanis Club. The John Nichols Service Scholarship was awarded in May to Samaria Alexander Blyther and, with funds from this year’s gala, will again be awarded to a deserving Richmond Senior High School graduating senior next spring. Blythe was 48th in her class and has enrolled in Richmond Community College to pursue a degree as a physician’s assistant.
Dress for the event is semi-formal. No tickets, which are $50 each, will be sold at the door. Corporate sponsorships and individual tickets are available by contact Kiwanis Club members Rick Byrd at 910-582-5337 or 910-895-2226, Brian Baucom at 910-997-8160, Jeff Hamilton at 910-997-5664 or Gunter at 910-997-5558.
