SECOND PHOTO TO COME

WATERLOO --- Fifty years ago today, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at West High School's auditorium.

As far as West Principal Gail Moon is concerned, it is about time the school commemorated the slain civil rights leader's only visit to the Cedar Valley. That is why Moon worked to create a King memorial in the foyer of West's recently renovated auditorium.

A bust of King sculpted by Waterloo native John Jago and built into the podium he spoke at will be unveiled Sunday during a 2 p.m. grand opening of the renovated auditorium, completed this spring. Local civil rights activist Anna Mae Weems, who brought King to Iowa, will be the guest speaker. The bust and podium will be placed in a specially designed area of the foyer, remodeled separately from the auditorium. The event is open to the public.

For Moon, just how closely the memorial's unveiling coincides with the 50th anniversary of King's visit to the school makes the grand opening even more special.

"He came here Nov. 10, 1959. We're commemorating the auditorium in his honor on Nov. 15, 2009," she said. "We're trying to get anybody that might have been there that day to come."

Moon expects Sunday's event to be an unforgettable experience. It will feature West's fine arts departments, showcasing the talents of band, choir, orchestra and drama students along with Weems' speech.

Jago will unveil the bust, which is 1-1/2 times life-size, on stage before it is put in place in the foyer. He took apart the podium and refinished it before rebuilding it around the bust. The West graduate, who lives in Colorado, has created other sculptures in the community, including a statue at the school of wrestler Dan Gable.

The sculpture will be placed in an inset area of a foyer wall finished with black granite. Parts of King's Aug. 28, 1963, "I have a dream" speech are engraved on the granite. Three original auditorium seats will also be included in the memorial.

Moon credited West students for raising the funds needed to pay for the sculpture. "It's about $35,000 for the bust, and everything's been raised by the students," she said. Funds came from a school coffee house and other student activities.

"I'm just so excited she's brought this all together for us," Weems, 82, said of Moon's effort. Weems added that she is "so glad and thankful that the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King is alive here" at West.

She met King at a late 1950s White House conference led by Vice President Richard Nixon. Weems was so impressed by King's invocation that she invited him to speak in Waterloo. Twenty-five local white and black business, labor and community leaders joined him on the auditorium stage.

King and his wife, Coretta, stayed overnight at the Hotel Russell-Lamson. Palace Clothiers' Burton "Bud" Field provided the couple with warm winter dress clothes. Field's son is among those being given a special invitation to the event.

Moon said the memorial is "designed around commemorating a significant person in a moment in time." That does not mean a change in the auditorium's name. It was named in 1980 for Edgar W. Kersenbrock, who had been West's vice principal since 1954. He died five years ago at age 88.

The renovated 1,586-seat auditorium is almost completely different from when it first opened in 1956. "The only thing that's left original is the stage floor," said Moon.

The $3.78 million project by Cardinal Construction replaced the roof, expanded lobby restrooms and installed new lobby windows plus mechanical and electrical systems. Balcony stairs were modified, seating was replaced, theatrical lighting and sound was upgraded, acoustics were improved and minor repairs were made to the rigging.

"We're reopening this as a performing arts center," said Moon, rather than a concert hall. "Now it can house anything that we can bring in. ... This is a significant contribution to the Cedar Valley."