Out of the attic
Family members still honor the memory of the late Margie Grady Paderick Purvis, who would have celebrated her 80th birthday today. She died May 31, 2011.
“We love and miss her very much,” said Deborah Paderick Potts of Kinston, a daughter who submitted the photo on her family’s behalf.
Purvis was married to the late Joshua “Babe” Paderick and the late Aubrey Douglas Purvis. She had two daughters, Potts and Patsy Paderick Barwick, a son Donnie Paderick, and a stepdaughter, Tina Purvis Alvarez, all of Kinston. She had seven grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and 8 step-great-grandchildren.
Her siblings are Glenda Braswell and Robert Earl Grady, both of Princeton; Eugene Grady of Kinston; Linda Howell of La Grange; the late CF Grady, who lived in Kinston; and the late Hazel Phillips, who lived in Dover.
Concert to continue Black History celebration
A gospel concert, co-sponsored by Friends of the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library and the Community Council for the Arts, will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at the library, 510 N. Queen St. The event is free and open to the public.
Gospel music has played a big part in the lives of African-Americans, from Negro Spirituals and hymns to the contemporary gospel. Concert performers will sing songs that influenced all other forms of music that came after gospel music’s creation, including blues, jazz, rock and roll, and rhythm and blues.
Kinston has had its own part to play in this history, with many local groups and national recording artists performing in various venues. Some details of Kinston’s history in gospel music and the African American Music Trail will be revealed at the concert. Regional performers and recording artists who will perform include Bonita Burney Simmons, Elder Booker T. Wiggins Sr., Chris “Da General” White and the United Community Gospel Choir.
Simmons is a 1989 Kinston High School graduate with 20 years of private musical voice training and appearances at the Apollo Theatre in New York City to her credit. She is co-pastor/outreach coordinator of the Family Worship Center Church, Ministry of Restoration in Kinston.
Wiggins, an N.C. native, has been pastor of Greater St. Paul United Holy Church for 31 years. He is a former member of The Wiggins Gospel Airs.
Other performers include Wanda Hall, Lessette Kornegay, the Kinston High School Gospel Choir and Chrystal Cheyenne.
For more information, contact 252-527-7066, ext. 120 or neuselibrary.org.