Wilson Flora, Jr. '48
(Year Awarded--1998)

Raised on a farm in Rural Currituck County, North Carolina, this member of the Class of 1948 traveled a hard road as he followed his dream to come to Davidson. His dream became reality thanks to great perseverance, support from Davidson, and the helping hand of a Davidson professor who took him into his home to live for three years as the living expenses were just too high at the College. With a grateful heart, this young man brought to Davidson a resounding sense of harmony as he submersed himself wholeheartedly into music. Though his greatest love was the pipe organ, his fellow Wildcats heard him as musician and leader as he was both a participant and president of the Football and Concert Bands.

After receiving degrees from both Louisville Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary, this holy harmonizer served as youth minister at First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC. There he remained, altering his position several times serving as both minister of education and later associate pastor. Though he remained in Greensboro, he later left the church to serve as the Presbyterian Campus minister at UNCG for seventeen years.

Throughout these years in the ministry he kept harmony as he weaved his love for music through all he did. In the church he was instrumental in organizing and directing both adult and children's choirs and on a larger scale became known in Greensboro as a "dreammaker for the music community." Just as he brought his dream to come to Davidson a reality, he realized another dream in the establishment of the Greensboro Music Academy. Not only was he the co-founder of the academy, but he was the founder of a board foundation to initiate and handle scholarship funding so that no young person had to put aside their love for music due to limited funds. Once again, he shared his love for music with others just as it had once been shared with him here at Davidson.

Because your life sings with notes of harmony and service, and because you have shared with your community the virtues of generosity and compassion you learned here at Davidson, we honor you, Joseph Wilson Flora, Jr., and name you the recipient of the John W. Kuykendall Award for Community Service on the occasion of your 50th Reunion.