15th annual Relay for Life
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on May 13, 2004 2:59 PM
Walkers, runners and even moms pushing baby strollers will descend on the track Friday at Eastern Wayne High School for the 15th annual Relay for Life.
The 24-hour event is sponsored by the Wayne County Unit of the American Cancer Society.
More than 90 teams will participate in the Relay. This year's goal is to raise $425,000.
Various ceremonies and entertainment will be held throughout the event. The Relay will end Saturday at noon.
Warren Henderson will be the master of ceremonies for the opening ceremony. Members of Boy Scout Troop 7 of Daniels Memorial United Methodist Church will present the flag, and McGee Creech, past minister of Garris Chapel, will lead everyone in a prayer.
Shari Jones will sing the national anthem, and Goldsboro Mayor Al King will welcome participants and visitors. Dr. Ernest Marshall, Southeastern Medical Oncology Center, will give a cancer update.
The three Relay co-chairmen, Terry Butler, Dr. Lee Adams and Tom Bradshaw, and this year's honorary chairman, Patricia Warren, will then light the Flame of Hope.
The survivor's ceremony will follow at 6 p.m. Members of Girl Scout Cadet Troop 711 and Junior Troop 506 will give each cancer survivor a balloon. Members of Eastern Wayne High School's cheerleaders will lead the Relay cheer, George Davis will release pigeons, and then the cancer survivors will walk a lap. Campsites will be judged at 7 p.m. Friday.
Henderson will also be the master of ceremonies for the luminaria ceremony at 9 p.m. Friday. Jimmy Whitfield, pastor of First Pentecostal Holiness Church, will offer a prayer. Mrs. Warren will talk about dealing with cancer.
There will be a special song, and members of Boy Scout Troop 581 will lower the flag to half mast.
Luminaria Chairman Debbie Pennell will read a poem titled "Every Candle Has a Name." The heart and "hope" luminarias will be lit followed by the lighting of the other luminarias around the track. The ceremony will end with the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" by the Royal Descendants.
For the closing ceremony Saturday, everyone will gather on the track for the final lap and will be led by a bagpiper. Retired Lt. Col. Norm Taflinger will say a prayer, and members of Potters Clay Ministries will sing "Wind Beneath My Wings."
The Relay co-chairmen will give out awards at the end of the Relay.
For the second year, there will be a Relay Idol competition. Seventeen local people will sing songs in honor or in memory of someone, according to Carla Schreiber, entertainment coordinator.
Judges will choose three: One will be the Relay Idol and two will be runners-up. Mrs. Schreiber said the winner will be showcased at the pre-show for the Uptown Country Music Showcase on May 28 and 29.
The contestants are Kristen Campbell, in memory of the Rev. Elmer Mooring; Kimble Pate, in honor of Gale Pate, Sherl Sauls and Alma Bass; Jaime Britt Cox, in memory of grandfather Jimmy Lancaster; Kate Nichols, in honor of Mrs. Pate; LaRue Tart, in honor of John L. Tart II; Justin Smith, in honor of Sherl Sauls; Constance Coram, in memory of David Manuel and Eloise Shealy; Karen Peele, in memory of Meredith Stancil; Vickie Hare, in honor of Ellen Massengill and Sylvia Britt; Stephen Reaves, in memory of Meredith Stancil; Casey Sutton in memory of Mrs. Gardner; Eddy Long and Hayley Garris, in honor of Don Long and in memory of Carol Moore and Lynn Measley; Dolly Witt, in memory of Bertha Rowland and Harold Witt; Nannette Smith and Wesley Newsome, in memory of Meredith Stancil; and Jeff Garris, in memory of Lynn Measley and Jarvis Garris.
The student parking lot at the high school will open at 9 a.m. Friday for equipment drop-off for campsites, according to Jeff Whitener, logistics chairman. It will re-open at 3:30 p.m. for parking for the handicapped and cancer survivors only.
"People will also be allowed to drop others off in the student parking lot by the concession stand," Whitener said. "Golf carts will run through the student parking lot to pick up people who need help getting to the field."
Whitener said the main parking lot for those attending the Relay will be the school's soccer field off Mark Edwards Road. Overflow parking will be at Eastern Wayne Elementary School, two-tenths of a mile east of the high school on New Hope Road.
Shuttles will run through all of the parking lots Friday between 5 and 11 p.m.
During the Relay, no skateboards, roller blades, bicycles or scooters will be allowed on the track.
The schedule of events for Friday and Saturday is as follows:
Friday
*4:30 p.m. -- Joshua Anderson, Kristen Prosser, Katie McCloud, Samantha David, Kellie Schreiber, Bridgett Mooring (Miss Goldsboro).
*6 p.m. -- opening ceremony
*7 p.m. -- Wayne County Relay Idol
*8 p.m. -- Royal Descendants with Denny Sutton, first tenor; Craig Kirby, lead vocals and bass guitar; Gary Burdette, bass; Bobby Norfleet, keyboard; Danny Boone, drums; and Johnny Parrish, sound technician.
*10 p.m. -- Flashback with Kerry d'Hemecourt, guitar and vocals; Jeff Howett, vocals and percussion; Rodger Giasson, bass and vocals; Nick Nunkovich, drums; Ray Holmes, guitar; Randall Rhodes, keyboard and vocals; and Scott Ely, William Anderson and Adrian Asselin, lights and sound.
Saturday
*9 a.m. -- line dancing
*10 a.m. -- Batson and Chase with Terry Batson and Tommy Chase
*11 a.m. -- Potters Clay Ministries with Hannah Smith, Sonja Ginn, Stan Smith, Teresa Peele and Susan Scott.
*Noon -- closing ceremony