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Point University’s Parr House was packed with students, trustees and community members for the second Monday in a row to recognize the honorees and recipients of three new Music Scholarship awards. 

The three awards came along with a fourth, the Amelia and Elhora Dell Music Award, which was honored last Monday. 

“We are honored to be here. We’re honored to have you as our donors,” said Dean Collins, President of Point University.

The honorees of the Elizabeth “Bettie” Biggs Music Award, the Austin and Dan Cook Music Award and the Hunter Music Award got the chance to meet the three Point University music students who would be receiving their scholarships this year.

The Bettie Biggs Music Award honors Bettie and her husband, Ed Biggs, who served many years in LaGrange as International Sales Director at Milliken. The couple, both choristers and lifelong lovers of music, have fostered that love in the Troup County community ever since. Bettie oversaw the elementary music education for Troup County elementary schools for many years. 

On her retirement, the Choral Society of West Georgia, for which she served as director for many years, created the Point music scholarship in her honor. 

Rebekah Dell, a senior music major, said she found her place in the music program late in her education. Since then, she has never looked back. As a member of the choral society herself, Dell said it felt like a full circle moment to receive the scholarship.

Because Point’s music program is smaller than most, Dell said, “Your education is very personal. We have a very, very special relationship with all the professors, how much they pour into us, like sometimes switching things or changing things to make sure that you’re successful in growing in the ways that you need to be growing.”

Another couple of active members of the music community of LaGrange are Dan and Austin Cook. The brothers, which the Austin and Dan Cook Music Award honors, have spent their lives deeply involved in the musical society. 

Dan performed for many years in church choirs and played many instruments. Austin, a self-taught musician, was a devoted organist who practiced from his school-age years. Until an accident in 2021 that deprived him of the use of his arm, he served 17 years as the organist for West Point Presbyterian Church.

Brayden Pearce, a senior music major at Point, is a Troup County alumnus and lifelong lover of music. Like his honorees, he developed a love for music in middle school thanks to the passion of a teacher. 

After graduating, Pearce hopes to continue to pass on the joy of music as a band director or music professor. With his time at Point nearing its end, Pearce gave the music program high praise.

“With the talent we have, I would put us up against any big-name school,” Pearce said, adding that what Point’s music program lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality.

The Hunter Music Award honors Sylvia Hunter, wife of the late Wayne Hunter, retired Division President for Milliken and Co. 

Hunter began learning the piano and the trumpet as a young child, fostering a hope of one day becoming a band director. After many years of being an active member in LaGrange, she has served on the board of the Choral Society of West Georgia for six years. 

Point music major Daniel Stitch had the opportunity to meet Hunter and hear stories about her late husband at the award event on Monday. Stitch, who has always fostered a love for music, has enjoyed the personalized approach that he has found at Point.

Stitch said it was an honor to meet his honoree and he was proud of the musical performance last year which spurred the four music scholarships. 

“We worked really, really hard on the program we did last year,” Stitch said. “And then to see it pay off, and then people got to come and see a good product that we put on and wanted to give to it, that was really, really cool.”