(Posted 9-22-99)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News Service Contact: Deborah Durkee, 336-334-5371

UNCG SCHOOL OF MUSIC GARDEN TO BE
DEDICATED TO GARDEN, MUSIC LOVER ON OCT. 2

By Deborah Durkee

        GREENSBORO--The lush backyard at Betty Herring's home in Browns Summit is a vivid reminder of her lifelong interest in gardening.
        Despite the visual reminders, Herring's gardening days are over. A rare form of Alzheimer's disease, which renders its victims physically and mentally incompetent, has made gardening impossible.
        But her husband, Dr. William B. Herring, has found a way to keep her love for gardening and music alive. Dr. Herring has donated the Elizabeth Herring Garden to the School of Music at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It will be dedicated in Betty's honor in a private ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 2. The garden will be open for tours on Sunday, Oct. 3, the day the building will be officially dedicated and the public will be able to tour the 130,000 square foot educational performance facility.
        "I made the decision to give a garden to the new music school in 1996," Bill said. "Betty was physically disabled but mentally competent at that time, and she was pleased at the idea of a garden bearing her name."
        Betty's interest in gardening has been lifelong. She acquired a broad knowledge of plants that can be summed up by the inscription in a book on wildflowers given her by a friend, "To a dear friend who has a deep understanding of all flowers." Another interest of Betty's has been mentally handicapped persons. For 20 years she worked with the Happy Hearts class of the First Baptist Church in Greensboro.
        Betty and Bill moved to Greensboro from Chapel Hill in 1967 so Bill could implement an affiliation between the Moses Cone Hospital and the UNC School of Medicine to develop educational programs for medical students and physicians. Bill, professor of medicine, emeritus, retired in 1994.
 Since their move to Greensboro, the couple has been associated with the School of Music, both serving as officers in the Musical Arts Guild.
        "The Elizabeth Herring Garden will add a most welcome aesthetic touch to our new music building," said Arthur Tollefson, dean of the School of Music. "The Herrings' long association with the school will be memorialized through this garden tribute to Betty."
        The garden, now under construction, is located on the south side of the building. "Hopefully it will provide an opportunity for faculty, students and visitors to be inspired in a tranquil, beautiful setting," Bill said.
        Betty and Bill have been married for 49 years. Before they were married, Betty studied voice and Bill studied piano, in addition to their majors in sociology and pre-med, respectively. Betty's interest in folk music led her to ask Bill to write an accompaniment for a traditional Southern folk song called "Garden Hymn."
        "So I wrote something and sent it to her, and she never acknowledged it, never sang it," he said. " Many years later I came across that song among some old manuscripts. I then realized why she never acknowledged it — it was terrible. I immediately tore it up and sat down to write the present one." Betty had stopped singing by this time, so the piece was never performed.
        The current version of "Garden Hymn" met with Betty's approval. It will premiere on Oct. 2 at the private ceremony in the School of Music. The song, which is dedicated to Betty, will be sung by Dr. Nancy Walker, an associate professor of music, with Tollefson at the piano.

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