Ken Godwin: A song in lots of hearts

May 26—Hey, kid, no pressure: but there's the spotlight, and it's time for your big number, so get out there and show 'em how it's done.

That's how it worked for Ken Godwin, the West Virginia music educator who died earlier this spring at the age of 80.

A memorial service is set for 4 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church on Spruce Street.

For nearly of those 60 years, basically the whole of his life, Godwin taught the region to sing.

He turned once-shy freshmen—and varsity football players initially out on a lark—into stars of musical theater.

At least for an afternoon or evening on the stage of their high school auditorium.

Instead of standing static like statues, with their arms glued to their sides while enunciating the lyrics of old, schmaltzy chestnuts, Godwin's charges at Grafton High, where he taught music for 30 years, actually performed on stage.

They sang and they danced, and they acted out little vignettes, all the while engaging their audiences with choral treatments of contemporary tunes.

Because the "show choir " concept was unique and pioneering at the time, Godwin and his GHS "Entertainers " even scored performances at the White House and on the "Today " show.

It was pretty heady stuff for a high school in a railroad town where football and basketball, especially, ruled at the time.

Grafton High alum Clair Bee embodied the latter, as an example.

Bee was a legendary basketball coach and later, an author of sports-themed novels for young readers. He would go on to be inducted to the National Basketball Hall of Fame.

What Bee did for layups, Godwin did for "Man of La Mancha."

"I can tell you, everything I am today, everything I became, is because of Ken, " one his former students, Kevin Dean, said last week.

Dean, who sang in the Godwin-directed show choir at Grafton High School, was even a professional entertainer for a time.

The singer and actor trod the boards in New York City for two decades before returning to his native West Virginia to become a health care administrator.

"I never made it to Broadway, but I was in the Big Town, " he said.

"And I loved every second. Ken would bring his kids up on field trips and we'd always get together."

It all started with "My Fair Lady."

Dean was a freshman at GHS when he landed the role of Henry Higgins, in part because Godwin told him he knew he could do it.

Word got out quick after the educator's death in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital this past March 30.

It took Dean and a group of Godwin's other former students about a second to figure out what they were going to do in response.

Which, as it turned out, was the only thing they could do.

They would offer up musical tribute to their mentor.

Returning the gift of song That's what happens at 4 p.m. today at Morgantown's First Presbyterian Church on Spruce Street. Godwin most recently served as choir director there.

Dean and other alumni of Godwin's past show choir will perform along with members of MACglee, the community chorus that he directed at the Monongalia Arts Center.

"My Home Among the Hills, " "You'll Never Walk Alone, " "Let There Be Peace on Earth " and "Thank You for the Music " are among the songs on the program, which also features a string quartet including players just learning their instruments.

"These are all the things—the songs, students on the stage—that were important to Ken, " Dean said. "I hope he'll be smiling down."

To view a livestream of the service, visit First Presbyterian's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com /FPCMorgantown /.

When Godwin retired from his high school job, he relocated to the Tampa, Fla., area—but he didn't "retire " from music. Not hardly.

The educator was always working on productions for churches in the Sunshine State (he was in demand when it came time for Christmas and Easter cantatas), plus there were countless musicals at community colleges to stage.

In the ways of a lot of ex-pat West Virginians, though, Godwin, who was the state's Teacher of the Year in 1982, didn't stay that way for long.

He eventually moved back, bringing the music with him.

Let's go on with the show Many people in Morgantown knew Godwin as the genial director of MACglee, where the "auditions " were laid-back affairs.

Sing a few lines of something, he'd say. Whatever you know. Let's see where your voice fits in. Don't be nervous. This is supposed to be fun.

It was all part of his prowess as a teacher, Dean said.

At Grafton High, as the former student said, even the jocks got jazzed by choir during Godwin's tenure.

In keeping with his role as a teacher of music, a scholarship has been set up in his honor.

Donations may be made to the WVU Foundation at 1 Waterfront Place, 7th floor, P.O. Box 1650, Morgantown, WV 26507-1650.

You may also make an offering online at give.wvu.edu. Just designate The Kenneth O. Godwin Jr. Scholarship (3S614).

For Dean, the designation is easy, as applied to his old teacher.

Godwin, the ever-pupil said, was a teacher who turned into a mentor who turned into a friend for life.

"Ken taught me how to 'see past my eyes, ' if you know what I mean, " he said.

"He taught me how to see beyond my self-imposed limits, and the limits that might have been imposed on by others, for whatever reason. He taught me how to dream."

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