By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.—Members of the late Sonny Melton’s family presented a check for $30,077 to the Henry County Schools board of education Thursday night to be used for safety measures for students in the district in his memory.
Presenting the check was his widow Heather Melton and parents Susan, James and Janie Melton, representing the Sonny Melton Living the Dream Foundation.
Melton was killed October 1, 2017, in the mass shooting in Las Vegas. He died shielding his wife, Heather, from the bullets that killed 58 and wounded hundreds who were attending a music festival that night.
In her presentation, Heather Melton noted Thursday night was “just days away from the second anniversary of the worst day of my life.” She said Sonny loved not only the Big Sandy community where he was raised but the Henry County community where he worked as a nurse at the hospital.
When the family started the Sonny Melton Living the Dream Foundation, they knew they wanted to use the foundation to help people and did so last year by helping several families over Christmas, she said.
Over time, the family still didn’t know how to use the money being raised. She said she left the television on and woke up to gunfire from the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla. “and I knew then what Sonny would want” and that was to use the money for school safety.
Monies collected for the Foundation “will be dedicated to protecting our children. It’s a sad time in our country when we have to do things to protect our children in school.” The money donated to the county school district will be used to employ safety measures in every school, starting with Lakewood, she said. “Henry County citizens should really be thankful to the people who have donated” to the Foundation, noting that the Foundation matches the donations.
Thursday night’s meeting was a busy and lengthy one, with several presentations during the session, which was held at Grove School.
–Jayme Nance presented GEM of the Year recognition to Annette Frampton, custodian at Harrelson School; and Gem of the Quarter recognitions to Daryl House of Grove, Sherry Hilliard of the high school and Maria Gonzales of Henry.
–Students Alexander Elliott, Barrett Watkins and Emma Jane Murphey presented robots they constructed, along with STEM Teacher Tim Burkhart. Director of Schools Dr. Leah Watkins steered the robots around the floor herself.
–Teachers Alex Cox and Karen Dukes, along with Student Sydney Cooter presented information on the AVID college readiness program.
–Grove Assistant Principal Lisa Wyatt and Rachel Petty updated the board on the Intervention program.
–Mattix Sorensen presented the flag at the beginning of the meeting for the Pledge of Allegiance.
–District Maintenance Supervisor John Akers provided an update on ongoing building projects.
Photos: Director of Schools Dr. Leah Watkins and Board Chair Jill Coker hug members of the Melton family during the check presentation; Dr. Heather Melton makes presentation to the board; Dr. Watkins tries out the students’ robots. (Shannon McFarlin photos).
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