'Amazing Gracie' Celebration Video Available, Funds Dispersed

Members of the Monmouth Rotary Club, which sponsored the celebration with Monmouth College, announced Monday that a portion of the concert proceeds will be used as seed money for the establishment of a Grace Gawthrop Peterson Prize in Music at Monmouth College. Peterson has been playing piano weekly for the Rotary Club since her graduation from Monmouth College 80 years ago. When fully funded, the prize will be used to provide an annual stipend awarded to a talented piano student in the MC music department, where Peterson taught piano from 1922 until 1972.

Additional funds will be set aside to create a commemorative marker near the old Rivoli Theater, where Peterson staged elaborate musical revues during the 1940s and '50s, Rotary president Randy McElwee said.

Also at the meeting, Peterson was presented a framed letter with birthday greetings from President George W. Bush. It arrived in the mail just following the celebration concert, which was held at Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 600.

A video of that evening is now available for $25, which includes shipping. The tape is approximately 90 minutes and includes virtually the entire program, with opening and closing performances by Gracie, and selections by the Rotary Choir, the Monmouth Chorale and Monmouth alumni Carroll Toal '52 and Floyd Hershberger '49.

To order a video, send to Chuck McClurg, 510 E. Fifth St., Coal Valley, IL 61240. Allow two weeks for delivery.