![[Nameplate]](http://www.claycountydemocrat.com/images/nameplate.png)
RSS
Print
Email link
Respond to editor
Post comment
 Craig Morris |
 Mike Gaskill |
Paragould Mayor Mike Gaskill, known for his quick wit, will be the guest speaker. Entertainment will be by Piggott native Craig Morris and his wife Donna Rhodes, both Nashville recording artists, who now reside in Paragould. The two will be joined by their children, Savannah and Sam, who are following in their parents' footsteps as entertainers.
Many local residents have seen the Morris family perform at "Ultimate Oldies" doo-wop shows held in Paragould.
The banquet will open with The Star Spangled Banner, sung by the Rector High School Choir. The event also will feature a number of drawings for great items donated by area businesses and individuals. Tickets for the drawings will be sold at the door at 25 cents each or five for $1.
Two grand prizes, to be given away at the end of the night, will be drawn from dinner tickets. The dinner tickets are available at $15 each at the Northeast Arkansas Innovative Training Center (NEAITC) office on Main Street and at the Rector Water Department.
Dinner, catered by Bowden Family Restaurant of Rector, will include pulled pork, chicken, pork steak, scalloped potatoes, baked beans, slaw, rolls, chocolate cobbler, peach cobbler, tea, water and coffee.
Banquet decorations will follow a patriotic theme. Photos of current and future community projects will be on display throughout the room.
Gaskill Background
Gaskill grew up in Paragould and was elected mayor in November 1997. He served as president of the Arkansas Municipal League in 2007-2008, has been chairman of the Northeast Arkansas Regional Solid Waste Management District since 2000 and is active in several other community organizations, including Kiwanis Club of Paragould, which named him Business Person of the Year in 1998 and Distinguished Citizen of the Year in 2002-2003, the Paragould/Greene County Chamber of Commerce, which named him Member of the Year in 1996, and United Way of Greene County/Greene County Community Fund (formerly United Way).
Gaskill also is on the board of the East Arkansas Planning and Development District, received a Governor's appointment to the Local Police and Fire Pension Board (which he serves as vice chair), is on the board of 4-Lane 412 Now Inc., chairman of the Workforce Investment Board, a member of the Arkansas Good Roads board and was recipient in 2007 of a Presidential Citation from Arkansas Recreation and Parks Association.
Musical Morris Family
Morris and Rhodes met when they both worked on the Nashville Network's show "Nashville Now." Rhodes already was firmly established in the business as a part of the famed Rhodes Family, which had a TV variety show out of Memphis, and had sung with stars such as Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Charlie Rich.
when Morris joined "Nashville Now," he had just left a job playing piano for Marie Osmond and the Osmond Family.
While playing the piano at Litte Rock clubs and restaurants during his college years, he caught the attention of an Opryland producer who invited him to perform at the theme park. He later toured with Ronnie McDowell, Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn.
Many famed artists have recorded songs written by Morris, including Reba McEntire, Ray Charles, the Oak Ridge Boys, John Conlee and Gene Watson. A song he wrote for McDowell, "Step Back," climbed to No. 2 on the charts in 1982, and McEntire recorded a song Morris wrote, "If I Had Only Known" as a tribute to her band members who died in a plane crash.
Morris was the lead in a group 4 Runner, which still plays at the Paragould Loose Caboose Festival, and he still plays the piano for Loretta Lynn in Nashville every other weekend.
He played a lead role in the movie "The River Within," released last year, and performed in Rector in the fall of 2009 when the movie was shown here as a fundraiser for the Rector High School Helpings Hands Foundation.