'Hamilton' star Chris Jackson surprises his former Cairo High band teacher with video tribute

'Hamilton' star Chris Jackson surprises his former Cairo High band teacher with video tribute

MOLLY PARKER The Southern

CAIRO — The lights were dimmed as Phillip Matthews fiddled with a laptop.

From the darkness, Chris Jackson’s face appeared on an overhead projector — and the award-winning actor, songwriter and composer was transported to the Cairo Junior/Senior High School from which he graduated in 1993.

In his recorded message, Jackson told his former high school music and band teacher, James Davis, that the influence he had on his life and career is “immeasurable."

“We always knew that you cared about us. We always knew you had our best interest in mind,” Jackson said in the video message.

Davis was surprised by the guest appearance that Matthews coordinated as part of the “Lifetime Achievement” awards program Saturday night in Cairo honoring six longtime educators.

In the video, Jackson, who plays the role of George Washington in the smash Broadway hit “Hamilton,” and Chuck Palmer, a courtroom stylist on CBS’s “Bull,” notes that he has been nominated for a Tony and won Emmy and Grammy awards.

The Emmy he won in 2010 was for co-writing the “Sesame Street” tune “What I am.” He’s been part of casts — including most recently that of “Hamilton” – honored with three Grammys. The 2016 Tony Award for which he was nominated also was for his role in “Hamilton.”

Jackson said he only highlighted his accomplishments to let Davis know those awards “are all a part of your legacy.”

As the lights came back on after Jackson’s message and the applause subsided, Davis said, “Its things like that that make life worth living.”

Davis began his career at Cairo Unit School District 1 in 1973 and served for 20 years as a music instructor and band director.

He was dean of students at Cairo Junior High for 13 years and spent a few years each coaching freshman/sophomore basketball and serving as director of the vocational education cooperative. Davis retired in 2006, and returned for one year as the band director in 2010 before retiring for a second and final time.

As part of Saturday night’s touching ceremony, Davis also served as guest director of a choir and band consisting of former students. Their praise music raised hands, nodded heads and brought the audience to its feet on numerous occasions, a fact noted by Alexander County State’s Attorney E. Zachary Gowin.

A special guest introduced each honoree prior to Cairo Mayor Tyrone Coleman presenting him or her with their lifetime achievement award, which was followed by others bearing flowers and gifts.

Gowin introduced Jane Adams, whose education career began in 1980 in Cairo teaching family and consumer sciences for 14 years. In 2000, she was hired by Egyptian School District in nearby Tamms, where she has since taught music — general, instrumental and vocal — and also family and consumer science. She’s preparing to retire in a few weeks after a long career in education.

Gowin said that as he waited for his turn to introduce Adams, he got to thinking about the wonderful music that was playing, and how it seems "they just don’t make music like that anymore."

“Think about what was the state of music programs in public education back when that music was happening,” he said. “They weren’t cutting funding.” Teachers such as Adams taught children “how to put your heart and soul into it,’ he said.

“If you bring back music education and art education you will enrich lives and you make better people across society,” Gowin said. He also noted Adams’ influence on Jackson, Cairo’s rising star. She is his mother.

James Watkins, another of the honorees, said he was touched by the award. “I never dreamed in 70 years that this would happen to me,” he said. Watkins, a native of Greenwood, Mississippi, was Cairo High’s industrial arts teacher.

Watkins said he almost quit after two years on the job when he caught wind that the students were calling him G.I. Joe. Watkins said he thought it was disrespectful. Seeing he was frustrated, Watkins said one of the students clarified to him it wasn’t meant to be disrespectful at all — that, just the opposite, the students admired the Army veteran and considered him among their heroes.

“I’ve had a wonderful life in this little town,” he said to applause.

The three other honorees were Constance Williams, Larry Baldwin and Phyllis Halliday.

In introducing Baldwin, the longtime dean of students, athletic director and head boys basketball coach, one of his former students, Joseph Oliver, called him caring, original and inspiring. He recalled the coach even keeping up with him after he graduated high school and started attending school and playing ball at McKendree College, as he followed in Baldwin’s footsteps.

Baldwin spent 25 years with the Cairo school district, coaching numerous successful teams over the years. But the heart he had for his players extended far beyond the court, Oliver said. “He always checked on me. He always made sure I was good. He treated me like his own son,” he said.

Williams, who serves on the city council as finance commissioner and mayor pro tem, said she was surprised and honored to receive the unexpected award. She was introduced by her friend and former colleague Mable Hollis, who said that Williams has given many years of honor, love and dedication to the city and school.

Williams began teaching at Cairo’s Emerson Elementary School in 1973. She taught for 19 years before becoming principal of the building. After receiving her administrative certificate, Williams said that in addition to serving as principal, she also served in various other roles including interim superintendent, grants writer, curriculum coordinator and mentor to new principals. She retired in 2007 after 34 years with the district.

Williams said there is no greater place she could call home than Cairo.

Honoree Phyllis Halliday expressed a similar sentiment. “Cairo is a good place to live and work,” she said. Halliday graduated from Cairo High in 1961 and returned to the school four years later as a teacher. She took time off after her daughter was born, and when she returned to the workforce, served as director of one of the first Head Start programs in the area and then as a court reporter at the Alexander County Courthouse.

After returning to teaching, Halliday slowly transitioned from teaching business classes to teaching American and English literature to juniors and seniors. She also served as sponsor for several extra-curricular activities over the years, including for a newly formed pom-pom squad.

Matthews said Halliday had a reputation as being a tough teacher. But years later, he said, students would look back and realize how much they learned, and how integral the reading and writing skills she taught were to the success in their lives.

Superintendent Andrea Evers delivered the closing remarks on Saturday.

“When you talk about embodying what God wants for all of us — this community is the most bountiful, abundant place in all of the world for genuine love, for caring about thy neighbor,” she said. Evers congratulated all of the honorees and applauded them for the inspiration they have provided to countless people.

“Thank you for living a life that will be a legacy for multiple generations,” she said.

molly.parker@thesouthern.com

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