Donation made in James King’s name to his elementary school

Pam Pruett, Naomi Orr, and Becky Rhodes at St Paul School

Back in January, we wrote about the custom engraved headstone installed at the gravesite of legendary bluegrass singer James King after a group of volunteers raised the money required through social media and an online pledge site. Owing to ongoing illness prior to his passing, James died without the means to have a stone erected right away.

Much of the work to raise money for James’ stone was done by his cousin, Pam Pruett, good friend Chipper Covington, and Becky Rhodes, his companion and caretaker during the last years of his life. All along they had promised donors that any funds raised in excess of what was needed for the monument would be given to the elementary school James had attended in Cana, VA to foster their music education efforts.

As it turned out, the remaining funds amounted to under $200 so Pam and Becky contacted St. Paul School music teacher Namoi Orr about making a donation. It was determined that what they needed most was new strings for their guitars, so Becky reached out to GHS Strings, for whom King had been a long time endorser.

Getting into the spirit right away, GHS donated three boxes of strings, so both the strings and a check were recently presented to Naomi at St. Paul.

Pam also had a plaque made up to display at the school to honor him and his achievements for the sake of the students.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2004 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.