Today@Sam Article
Annual Raven's Call To Remember 29 Bearkats
March 28, 2016
SHSU Media Contact: Dawine Bergeron
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| An Orange Key ambassador places a rose on the Raven's Call monument in remembrance of a Bearkat who passed away in 2014. —Photo by Brian Blalock |
The Orange Keys Student Ambassadors will help Sam Houston State University say “goodbye” to those lost over the past year during the fifth annual Raven’s Call on April 15, at noon, in front of the Ron and Ruth Blatchley Bell Tower, overlooking Bearkat Plaza.
Raven's Call is an annual memorial service that honors and celebrates the lives of students, faculty, staff, and retired faculty and staff who have passed away within the previous year.
This year’s memorial service will honor six students and 22 retired faculty and staff members. A portrait and biography of each honoree will be available in the Lowman Student Center Art Gallery April 11-15.
Students from the School of Music will play stringed instruments as a prelude to the ceremony, followed by the SHSU ROTC opening with a presentation of the colors as the Bell Tower strikes noon.
Soloist Chasti Brown will perform “Amazing Grace” as Daniel Contreras plays the piano.
During the ceremony, SHSU President Dana G. Hoyt, along with Orange Keys vice president of programming Jaelan Jackson, will speak, followed by Dean of Students John Yarabeck, who will read the names of the honorees as Orange Keys members place roses in the moveable Raven’s Call monument that was introduced last year.
“The ceremony is incredibly special because it gives families the opportunity to see what their loved one has meant to the university, as well as provides a level of closure they may not get from other sources,” said Jackson.
Orange Keys president Tyler Patek believes one of the most significant portions of the ceremony is when each Orange Key presents and places a rose on the monument.
“This gives time for each Bearkat to be remembered individually during the ceremony and creates a truly beautiful display,” said Patek.
Patek will bring the closing remarks, followed by Brown’s performance of the SHSU Alma mater and ROTC closing with the colors.
The students who will be remembered are Jonathan Callender, Juan Castro, Guadalupe Gonzalez, John Charles Harvey, Dallas Millhausen, and Duangrudee Saleeby.
The retired faculty and staff members who will be remembered are Mary Burwick, Francis Davis, Jesse Davis, Robert Dunning, Charles Galbraith, Thomas Higgins, Ralph Hightower, Ernest “Pete” Jannett, Melvin Johnson, James Johnson, Murdelle Thomas (Martin), Joy Roe, Minnie Sanders, Robert Stewart, Vernon Sweeney, David Taylor, Shirley Tucker, Barbara Tyson, Eugene Weinert, Margaret Westmoreland, Geraldine Williams, and Annie Williams (Johnson).
For more information about Raven’s Call, contact the Dean of Students’ Office at doso@shsu.edu.
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