Students honored as essay winners
Franklin County students who won awards in the Dr. Frederic Rosemore 4-H Patriotism Essay Contest posed for a picture with their teachers, state officials and members of the Rosemore family. Front row L to R: Belgreen teacher Kay Taylor, Kacie Fleming, Peyton Lindsey Bingham, Brooke Brown and Ricky Garcia; Second row L to R: Homeschool teacher Phoebe Fleming, Franklin County 4-H Agent Assistant Kathy Borden and Dr. Martha Morrow; Back row L to R: Tharptown teacher Derek Ergle, Sen. Greg Burdine, Sen. Roger Bedford, Franklin County Extension Coordinator Katernia Cole, Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow and Marion Rosemore.
State and local officials met at Northwest-Shoals Community College’s Shoals campus on Monday to honor the winners of the Dr. Fredric Rosemore 4-H Patriotism Essay Contest held in schools throughout Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale and Lawrence counties.
The essay contest was first established last year as a way to honor the memory of Dr. Fredric Rosemore, who was the father of Russellville optometrist Dr. Martha Morrow.
Rosemore was a man who had a strong love for his country and was proud to be an American.
He served the United States during World War II as a B-17 navigator in the European Theater where he completed 22 combat missions.
Rosemore served bravely before his aircraft was shot down behind enemy lines in Hungary and he was made a prisoner of war – a situation few were lucky to survive through.
Rosemore was eventually freed and he returned home to the United States as a decorated war hero. He received the Air Medal Oak Leaf Cluster, the Presidential Unit Citation, five Battle Stars, a Prisoner of War Medal and two Purple Heart awards.
The things Rosemore endured during his time of service, however, never shook his faith in his country and his desire to see it prosper.
When he returned home, Rosemore desired to become a productive member of the American society so he enrolled at the Southern College of Optometry to pursue a career that would allow him to help other people, especially in underserved areas.
Rosemore went on to serve as an optometrist for 32 years before retiring, but Rosemore didn’t slow down. He went on to lead several successful businesses in his retirement because Rosemore never stopped believing in making the place he lived a better place for others.
Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow (D-Red Bay), Dr. Martha Morrow’s husband, introduced House Resolution 263 on April 12, 2010, officially recognizing the Dr. Frederic Rosemore Patriotism Award.
“If it had not been for the World War II veterans, the world would be a different place today, there is no doubt in my mind,” Morrow said. “But the Frederic Rosemores of this country answered the call.
“When Martha told me he had this dream of having children under learn to appreciate their country by writing essays about what they love America, I knew I wanted to make that happen… to honor his legacy.”
Morrow got in contact with Katernia Cole, extension coordinator for Franklin County, and they decided the essay contest would best be administered through the 4-H programs in each school in a four-county area.
“We had over 70 essays turned in for this year’s contest,” Cole said. “That is a great number and these students really made it hard for the judges to decide on a winner because the essays were all very good.”
The theme of this year’s essay contest was “Why I love being an American: America the Beautiful,” a theme which sought to recognize the students who shared Rosemore’s love for America.
The contest was separated into a junior division and a senior division to make it fair for all the students who participated.
From Franklin County, Brooke Brown, a sixth grader at Vina High School, received an honorable mention in the junior division; Kacie Fleming, a sixth grader who is homeschooled in Franklin County, received a fourth place award in the junior division; and Peyton Lindsey Bingham, a sixth grader from Belgreen High School, placed second in the junior division.
In the senior division, Ricky Garcia, an upcoming sophomore from Tharptown High School, came in second place.
“It makes you proud to see these young children talking about their love for their country and showing patriotism at such a young age,” Sen. Roger Bedford (D-Russellville) said. “The 4-H program reconnects us to our roots and that history is what sets us apart [as a country]. I know our future is bright with these children being future leaders.”
Martha Morrow added the things the students had written would have made her father proud.
“When I was thinking about the 70 children who entered this contest, I thought that even if that didn’t win an award, at least that was 70 children who thought about what it means to be an American, and that’s what my father would have wanted,” she said.
