30th Walk for Awareness
Appalachian State University held its 30th Walk for Awareness last week, recognizing the 30th anniversary of the tragic events of 1989 when Jeni Gray was abducted and brutally murdered, and Leigh was abducted and sexually assaulted by the same man five days later. Leigh’s escape and subsequent actions in putting Daniel Lee away for good made her a hero in the high country of North Carolina. The things she did with her life following that event – coaching, teaching, mentoring, counseling, and advocating for victims, made her an icon.
Leigh’s family, Chris, Jacob, Haleigh and Rob attended this year’s Walk, as did Louise and I and two other grandchildren, Cade and Findley.
The 30th Walk was a little different this year. It was the culminating event for the week-long Safety, Wellness and Prevention Week that included a Fun Run, two “Why Walk” videos for the campus community, and a luncheon recognizing those who have been a part of the Walk for Awareness since its inaugural event in 1989. Also, this year it was a “walk into the light,” a daytime event, rather than at night. Still, a silent walk with speeches before and after. Another significant change was that this year the Walk, to include speeches and skits afterwards, was totally student-conducted. There were pros and cons to that. While it is great to have students actively involved rather than just observing, none of the students were alive in 1989 when the tragedy occurred. Thus, none of the participants had an emotional investment in the event. The main speaker, the student government president, mispronounced Leigh’s name, calling her “Lay.” That was embarrassing to the speaker when he was corrected and a bit of an insult to everyone who knew Leigh. Obviously, if they want to continue to have the students conduct the event, more of an effort must be made by the university staff to ensure the students are prepared and motivated. I know that the administrative staff is serious about continuing this event and I’m confident they will continue to work to make it better. It’s very encouraging that Appalachian State University is still intent on preserving the legacy of Jeni and Leigh and that Leigh continues to have an impact through this event.
On another note: I realize that I have been lax lately in posting to this blog. I guess I’ve been suffering a little from “writer’s block,” as it has become harder to come up with something meaningful to write about. I vow to improve on that. My goal is to post something at least once per week. One benefit of going to the Walk this year was that Chris presented us with a big box of Leigh memorabilia, to include scrapbooks, letters, pictures, medals, and newspaper clippings. These items have given me some ideas for future posts. For example, my next post will include excerpts from a speech that one of Leigh’s runners made at her Memorial Ceremony, as well as comments from other runners. I’ll also try to get back to a little humor in some of my posts, along with occasional updates of life here in Clemson. In that regard, things are going well with the Tigers as they pursue another 15-0 season and national championship. Some of us extreme optimists are even talking of the possibility of breaking the all-time NCAA football winning streak of 47 games, set by Oklahoma between 1953-1957. I’ll be the first to admit that we’ve got to play better in order to get anywhere near that, but it’s not out of the question.
