Lucia PoweOnce in a while you come across a truly one-of-a kind person, and “Grandma Lucia” Powe is surely one of those people. You can read more about this special lady in her book, You Can Take it with You, which is full of hilarious stories from her amazing life; however, for our Getting to Know You Profile, we want to describe her achievements through the program she created, Kidznotes.
In the 1950s, right out of college, it all started with her favorite job although she prefers to refer to it as a “five-day-a-week party.” She was a teacher, “Miss Lucia,”playing games and musical instruments on Romper Room on CBS station WNCT in Greenville, NC. After two marriages, four daughters, volunteer hours in multiple activities, teaching and performing, we learned how Kidznotes came to be.
We would be remiss in not mentioning her first, beloved husband, Judge Elbert Peel (also known as “Junie”), a state senator with whom she had four daughters. Years later, in July of 2008, she was watching a 60-Minutes episode featuring “El Sistema” (The System) with her second husband, attorney E.K. Powe. El Sistema is a method of teaching underprivileged children to play classical music as a way of helping them to have success in school and life. It was started by Dr. Jose Antonio Abreu in Caracas, Venezuela where he taught basic violin to 11 underprivileged children in an abandoned garage.
As Lucia watched the episode, her husband who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, heard her mumble, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have that in Durham?” Barely able to speak, he managed to whisper “Why don’t you start it?” Lucia had jokingly replied that she was 77 years old!
The next morning the Durham Herald-Sun carried an article on the Duke brain-science department which was sponsoring a conference with Dr. Oliver Sacks, author of Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, as the main speaker. Lucia quickly made sure she had a ticket to attend the conference to learn more.
Some time later Lucia met a NC Symphony violinist, Katie Wyatt, who had won a fellowship to attend the New England Conservatory to train people from all over the world in the El Sistema program. Things seemed to be moving in the right direction until she discovered the cost for the fellowship was $40,000.
While racking her brain on how to raise such a sum, Lucia received a telephone call from the TED Foundation, which was so impressed with Katie Wyatt that it was sending the money for her to go!
When Katie Wyatt returned to North Carolina, she joined Lucia in launching the El Sistema program in Durham, naming it “Kidznotes.” Later expanding to Raleigh and Chapel Hill, Kidznotes began to touch and change the lives of hundreds of at risk/ underprivileged students, grades K-12, which it continues to do today.
There’s a lot more to the story and the many amazing accomplishments that Grandma Powe has achieve, but space won’t allow it. When her book, You Can Take It with You, comes off the press, pick it up and read more about this remarkable lady. We assure you that you won’t regret it. For more info, visit www.Kidznotes.org.