The Winthrop University Medal of Honor in the Arts acknowledges and recognizes the unique roles of individuals and groups who have made a significant contribution to the arts, as well as those who have positively impacted the quality of the cultural life in communities across the Carolinas. First established in 2001, The Winthrop University Medal of Honor in the Arts is not limited to a single arts discipline or area of artistic endeavor.   This award honors those who have encouraged the arts and offered inspiration to others either through their distinguished achievements, artistic excellence, support, or patronage.

The President of the University authorized the College of Visual and Performing Arts to award this important Medal of Honor "to individuals or groups who, in the President's judgment, are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts" at Winthrop University and across the state of South Carolina and beyond. The President of the University selects the recipients of the Winthrop University Medal of Honor in the Arts.  The Dean on the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the Winthrop University Medal of Honor in the Arts Steering Committee annually assist with the selection process by soliciting nominations for the medal.  These nominations are reviewed by the Steering Committee.  A list of the most highly qualified candidates is then forwarded to the President for final consideration along with candidates of his own choosing.

This celebration of the arts, culminating in an exclusive awards ceremony presentation, takes place in the college's state-of-the-art main stage in Johnson Hall.  The proceeds go to a scholarship fund to help support talented students who have an interest in pursuing careers in the visual arts, dance, music, or theatre at Winthrop University.

The Medal
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Alf Ward, Winthrop University Professor of Art and Design and an internationally renowned gold smith who created Winthrop University mace, among numerous other important commissions, designed and makes the Medals.  Born in London, Ward studied silversmith at Canterbury College of Art and completed his National Diploma in Design at Birmingham University in 1963.

As a consultant designer to Spink & Sons in London, and by Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen, he designed many presentation pieces for The Royal Air Force, The Royal Family of Saudi Arabia, Revlon of Paris and individual awards for Margo Fontaine and the Covent Garden Opera House.

Since his arrival at Winthrop in 1989, among other commissions, Ward has designed and produced silverware for the American Crafts Council, ceremonial maces for the University of Tennessee, Coastal Carolina and designed brooch pins for the last 10 First Ladies of South Carolina.

PAST RECIPIENTS
of the Winthrop University
Medal of honor in the arts award

2002
	MacArthur Goodwin President of the National Art Education Association, he is an educational consultant in the arts. He retired in May 2000 from the South Carolina Department of Education, where he helped develop arts academic achievement standards, established the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project based at Winthrop and established a center for dance education. He gained national recognition for South Carolina as a leader in arts education reform and is a recipient of the 1994 Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award for Arts Education.
William Ivey Long   This Tony Award winning costume designer has four shows running on Broadway and has been involved in providing costumes to more than a dozen plays, rock concert performances and other events. From a theatre family, Long is the son of William Long, who established the theatre program at Winthrop.
	Loonis McGlohon   This internationally acclaimed jazz musician and composer (posthumous award) stayed in his home state of North Carolina despite the allure of big entertainment centers. The Charlotte resident was known as a gifted pianist and composer who wrote songs recorded and performed by such great entertainers as Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Eileen Farrell and Jose Ferrer. More than 40 artists have recorded his song, “Blackberry Winter,” written with Alec Wilder.
Lib Patrick   This philanthropist and arts patron grew up in Rock Hill and graduated from Winthrop in 1958. She and her family, the late Wayne Patrick, and daughters, Trish McGuinn and Kathy Wilson, have supported the university’s arts programs and sports teams. One of Winthrop’s three exhibition spaces is named for her - the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery.
	Dolores Lewandowski This patron of the Winthrop University Galleries is a long-time supporter of the Department of Art. Her late husband, Edmund Lewandowski, chaired the department and worked as a mosaic artist, a painter of marine and coastal views and a community activist. The Edmund D. Lewandowski Gallery is the main gallery space for the university’s student exhibitions.
2003
Guy and Margaret Lipscomb   As founding members of the Lipscomb Family Foundation, the Lipscombs have established an endowment in the Department of Art and Design at Winthrop University. The name Lipscomb is synonymous with the visual arts in the state of South Carolina. Mr. Lipscomb, an artist himself, helped found the South Carolina Watercolor Society in 1977 and wrote a watercolor instruction book, Go With the Flow.
	Mary Mintich   Ms. Mintich has been a pioneering art educator and artist whose work has helped to establish an understanding of sculpture in the region. She has been a steadfast supporter and advocate of Winthrop University Art and Design students, the Department of Art and Design, and the Winthrop University Galleries. In addition, she has established a scholarship for students majoring in sculpture or jewelry/metals design.
Robert Manson Myers Dr. Myers has a colorful history. He is an historian, playwright, author, and winner of the National Book Award for The Children of Pride, an archive of letters from the Civil War. As an educator, Dr. Myers has taught English at the University of Maryland, the University of London, and a number of other institutions.
	B.S. Plair As a jazz musician and founder of the family-based band “Plair,” Mr. Plair has “years of music writing and performing experience that is unique to the world of contemporary music”. He has spent over 30 years as a music educator and band director in the public school system. Mr. Plair has been a vital member of the Rock Hill community.
David and Diane “Tweedie” White   The Whites have long been advocates of Winthrop University and the arts in York County. Mr. White served as both member and chair for the Winthrop University Board of Trustees and Mrs. White has served on various committees and has been involved with multiple arts organizations. Through their generous sponsorship, the Department of Music has been able to establish a new series of departmental recordings on compact discs entitled Eagle Editions.
2004
Vivian Anderson   Mrs. Anderson, a native of Spartanburg County, S.C., graduated from Winthrop in January, 1945. She taught home economics at both Reidville and Roebuck high schools in the Upcountry of the Palmetto State before devoting her talents and time to raising four children. One of her children, Elaine Anderson Sarratt, graduated from Winthrop as well. The College of Visual and Performing Arts at Winthrop is honored to be the home of the Vivian Brockman Anderson Endowed Scholarship in Interior Design.
	Andie MacDowell   Ms. MacDowell is a native of Gaffney, S.C., and attended Winthrop in the 1970's before establishing herself as an accomplished actress that has resulted in worldwide recognition. She recently completed filming  "Beauty Shop" with Queen Latifah and the CBS telepic "Riding the Bus with My Sister" directed by Angelica Huston.  She also starred in the poignant drama "Harrison's Flowers, " about photojournalists behind the scenes in the war-torn Balkans with Adrien Brody.  She earned praise for her performance as a repressed young wife in Steven Soderbergh's "sex, lies and videotape."  The film won the Palme D'or at Cannes and garnered MacDowell the Los Angeles Film Critics' Award for Best Actress as well as a Golden Globe Nomination. Additionally, MacDowell was presented with the coveted Cesar D'honneur for her body of work and the Golden Kamera Award from Germany's Horzu Publications.
John and Jane Spratt, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Spratt both hail from York County and are Winthrop Gallery Patrons. Born in Filbert, S.C., Mrs. Spratt received her B.A. in history from Winthrop and an M.A.T. from Smith College. She also studied fine arts at the Corcoran School of Art. She began her career as a history and English teacher in the Fairfax County Schools of Virginia and for the past 15 years has been a practicing visual artist. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums in Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, PA, Maryland, Virginia, and in the Carolinas. Mr. Spratt has been in the U.S. Representative for the 5th District of South Carolina since 1983. The Honorable Congressman from York, S.C. is currently the assistant to the Democratic Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. As a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus, John Spratt has supported, every year since his first joining Congress, an increase for Federal Funding for the arts and for the arts in education. This past year, he signed onto a letter supporting funds for American Masterpieces, a new initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts. Congressman Spratt's annual 5th District Congressional Art Competition highlights the visual arts of high school students in the region.
	Leo Twiggs Dr. Twiggs received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Claflin Unicersity, a Master of Arts from New York University, and his doctorate from the University of Georgia in 1970 where he was the first African American to receive an Ed.D. in art. Twiggs served on the task force that helped establish the Smithsonian Institution's National African-American Museum, and he chaired the planning committee for the African-American Museum Association. Twiggs' Accomplishments and honors include the first visual artists bestowed with the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award, and inductions into the Claflin University Hall of Fame, the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame, and the National Black Alumni Hall of Fame in Atlanta.  Twiggs' career and a visual artist has brought his work to the Studio Museum in Harlem, American embassies in Decca, Togoland, Sierra Leone, Rome, and to Winthrop.  His unique batik paintings and other artworks are currently touring the eastern United States in the exhibition, "The Art of Leo Twiggs: A Retrospective."  Twiggs serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Arts in Basic Curriculum, a project of Winthrop's College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Virginia Uldrick Dr. Uldrick is a native of Greenville, S.C. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Furman University and a Master of Arts in Music Education and Administration from Columbia University.  Uldrick taught choral music, theatre and stage productions in every level of elementary and secondary education and was the supervisor of music and director of fine arts for the Greenville County School District, as well as the founding director of the Fine Arts Center of Greenville County. She was appointed by the Honorable Carroll A. Campbell, governor of South Carolina, as the founding president of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.  Uldrick's awards and honors are extensive.  She most recently was honored with the Jim Bray and Lillian Press Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her dedicated service to governor's schools and gifted education in South Carolina.  She received the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award and was presented honorary doctorates from both Furman University and Columbia College.  Uldrick also has a distinguished career as a musician, singer, and conductor.
2005
	Ray Doughty Born in Columbia SC, Ray Doughty earned his Bachelor in Music Education degree from the University of South Carolina, a Master Degree in Music Education from East Carolina University, and an Education Specialist Degree in School Administration from Western Carolina University. Mr. Doughty has been an influential music educator and arts education advocate throughout his professional career. He founded the instrumental and choral music programs at Southside High School in Florence, SC, was the band director at TL Hanna in Anderson, SC, and was employed at West Market Elementary School as a music educator until he served as the Anderson District Five Music Coordinator. Some years later he joined Winthrop University as a professor of music, lecturer in music education, and the project director for South Carolina’s Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project - a nationally recognized arts education reform model. Mr. Doughty is a member of the South Carolina Music Educators Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Arts in Education Award and the South Carolina Arts Alliance’s Scottie Award. Currently, he is composing songs for an upcoming play celebrating the history of Fort Mill.
Harriet Marshall Goode A native of Rock Hill, and a graduate from Winthrop Training School, Harriet Marshall Goode is devoted to the community in which she and her family live. She established the Children's Education Program at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC and has created community spirited programs locally. She has served on the board of the Rock Hill Arts Council and the board of the Culture and Heritage Commission. Currently she is a member of the Patrons of the Winthrop Galleries and supports the annual undergraduate juried exhibitions and serves on the Rock Hill Downtown Board of Directors. She is a recipient of the Rock Hill Arts Council Volunteer of the Year Award, a Career Achievement Award from Converse College, and the Keeper of the Culture Award from the Cultural and Heritage Commission. In addition, since 2001, Harriet has been owner of Gallery 5, a contemporary art-space in Rock Hill. Harriet's award winning paintings have been exhibited regionally and nationally and are owned by collectors throughout the US and abroad.
	Charles Randolph-Wright Charles Randolph-Wright, native of York, SC, has built a dynamic and diversified career in directing, writing, and producing for theatre, television, and film. Once a pre-medical graduate from Duke University, he turned to the arts after studying acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and dance with the Alvin Ailey School in New York City. His directorial film debut, ON THE ONE, recently swept the feature film prizes at the ninth annual American Black Film Festival. Credits for theatre include direction of SENIOR DISCRETION HIMSELF (in D.C.), GUYS AND DOLLS (national tour with Maurice Hines) and ME AND MRS. JONES (starring Lou Rawls, which he also co-wrote). Mr. Randolph-Wright’s play BLUE, starring Phylicia Rashad, broke box office records at Arena Stage, the Roundabout Theatre in New York City, in Los Angeles and subsequently has had productions throughout the United States. His new play CUTTIN'UP premieres at Arena Stage this fall. On television, he was producer and writer of Showtime's acclaimed series LINC'S, directed the international Freestyle campaign for Nike, and most recently directed the new series South of Nowhere.
Walter B. Roberts and Georgina Wooton-Roberts (posthumous) Born in Centralia, Missouri, Dr. Roberts studied music at numerous institutions; including New York Institute of Musical Art and Chicago Musical College. He became Head of Piano and Theory at Kansas State Teachers College, Fort Hayes, where he met his wife Georgina Wooton, then Head of the Art Department. He was Dean of Fine Arts at Phillips College in Enid Oklahoma and later taught in Los Angeles. David B. Johnson, founder and first President of Winthrop University, brought Dr. Roberts to the college as Head of Music in 1925. Dr. Roberts, who remained chair for 38 years, established a master class in piano and voice which ran for 25 years. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Missouri, a master’s degree in music from Columbia University and an honorary doctorate degree from the Birmingham Conservatory of Music. Roberts served as president and board member of the S.C. Music Educators Association and established the Rock Hill Choral Society. Georgina Wooton-Roberts, born in Auburn, Indiana, studied art at De Pauw University, Chicago Art Institute, and Church School of Art, Chicago. She established a career as Professor of Fine Arts at Kansas State Teachers College in Fort Hays and later at California Christian College in Los Angeles. In 1923 Ms. Wooton-Roberts exhibited in a Tri-State Art exhibit which included Kansas. Ms. Wooton-Roberts also exhibited at Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art and was a member of the California Watercolor Society. She came with her husband to Rock Hill for him to work at Winthrop but could not be employed at the same college.
	Scott Shanklin-Peterson Scott Shanklin-Peterson has a Bachelor of Art Degree in Visual Arts from Columbia College and graduated from Harvard University's Institute of Arts Administration. Her work in the arts and arts education has advanced the area of policy at both the state and national levels. Ms. Shanklin-Peterson’s service as Executive Director of the South Carolina Arts Commission from 1980 to 1994 and as Senior Deputy Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1994 to 2001 made an impressionable impact upon the arts community by broadening arts excellence and opportunities. Currently Ms. Shanklin-Peterson serves as Director of the Arts Management Program at the College of Charleston. Her present service includes the South Carolina Arts Alliance, Creative Spark, Southern Arts Federation, the American Craft Council, International Arts & Artists, and the International Advisory Board of the Arts Council of Mongolia.
2006
	Harry and Becca Dalton Harry and Becca Dalton are known throughout York County for their generosity and volunteer efforts. The two Charlotte, N.C., natives helped save Nanny's Mountain near Clover and the Worth Mountain area on the Broad River; participated in the restoration of two historic buildings on Main Street in Rock Hill; and provided funding for the Dalton Gallery at the Rock Hill Center for the Arts, Clinton Junior College library art gallery, Winthrop University Galleries and Winthrop's Department of Theatre and Dance. They are participating sponsors for the new Dalton Downtown Arts Initiative to encourage collaboration among area galleries.
Shirley Fishburne Music and Winthrop have both played a major role in the life of Shirley Fishburne. She earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in organ performance at Winthrop before earning an Ed.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She also attended the Haarlem Organ Academy in Holland and is a certified Orff instructor to teach music to children. Fishburne taught music at Winthrop for 17 years, in addition to teaching at other area colleges and schools. She served as co-chair for the steering committee to restore the D.B. Johnson Memorial Organ in Byrnes Auditorium, volunteering her time to present eight organ recitals throughout South Carolina and Georgia to raise awareness of the organ.
	Roy Fluhrer Roy Fluhrer, who was “born in a trunk” in Chicago to parents touring with the Federal Theatre Project in the latter stages of the Great Depression, has spent his life in the arts. He won an acting scholarship to Northwestern University as a junior in high school, earning a degree from there and later a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University. He worked as artistic and managing director of a theatre in Ohio, as chair of the theatre department at the University of Idaho and as vice chancellor of the N.C. School of the Arts. Since 1989, he has headed the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, S.C. the State’s first secondary school for gifted students in the literary, visual and performing arts. For the nearly 17 years he has spent in South Carolina, including part of the time as president of the S.C. Arts Alliance, he has worked on various local, state and national committees to lend his voice to fulfilling the belief in the power of the arts to transform not only our lives and our educational system but the very fabric of our culture. He is a long-time member of the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project housed at Winthrop.
Pearl Fryar Since 1984, Pearl Fryar has not stopped molding the shcrubs and trees in his 3-acre yard in Bishopville into topiary art with a gas-powered hedge trimmer. The first recognition of his talents came in the mid-1990s when Fryar was included in a series of art exhibitions at Winthrop and the South Carolina State Museum to spotlight self-taught artists. With an exhibition at Spoleto USA in 1997 and a feature in Art in America, Fryar’s reputation grew. Tour buses began arriving at his garden by the dozens. He has since appeared on ETV and Home & Garden Television and also has been featured in Sandlapper and Southern Living magazines. Fryar has won numerous awards including being named a S.C. Ambassador for Economic Development by Gov. Mark Sanford in 2003.
	Susie Surkamer For more than 30 years, Susie Surkamer has dedicated her career to the development of a thriving arts environment in South Carolina. Her work with the S.C. Arts Commission began in 1974 when she joined the agency as dancer-in-residence. She moved to the areas of arts development and a dministration before being named executive director in 1994. Since then, the S.C. Arts Commission has earned a national reputation as a leader in arts education reform, rural arts development, design arts and other initiatives. Surkamer’s work in strengthening partnerships has led to her service on numerous state, regional and national boards and alliances, including Winthrop’s Board of Visitors. She has served on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and for other organizations.
2007
Mark Coplan Born in Columbia, SC, Mark Coplan's greatest contribution was his extensive private collection and promotion of fine and outsider art of South Carolinians. A lawyer and real estate developer who restored many buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, he helped change the way the state's residents look at art and architecture. Coplan earned a bachelor's degree from Duke University and a juris degree from the University of South Carolina. Upon his death in 2002, he had more than 450 works of art. Much of the art is now on exhibition in the State Museum of South Carolina.
	Beryl Dakers Beryl Dakers has served as director of cultural programming at South Carolina Educational Television since 1982. She currently works as host of ETV Forum and ETV Roadshow and as on-air talent for fundraising. Dakers earned a bachelor of arts degree from Syracuse University and complete additional graduate coursework at Harvard University and the University of South Carolina. She has won a National Black Journalists Association award, as well as an Emmy nomination. She is a 2002 inductee into the S.C. Black Hall of Fame and received the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award for the Arts in 2000.
Carlisle Floyd Born in 1926, Carlisle Floyd is one of the foremost composers and librettists of opera in the United States today. His operas are regularly performed in this country and in Europe; at least two of them-"Susannah" and "Of Mice and Men"- have entered the permanent operatic repertoire.  Floyd earned B.M. and M.M. degrees in piano and composition with Ernst Bacon at Syracuse University and at the Aspen University. He began his teaching career in 1947 at Florida State University, remaining there until 1976, when he accepted the prestigious M.D. Anderson Professorship in the University of Houston. He is co-founder with David Glockey of the Houston Opera Studio. Floyd was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001, and in 2004 was awarded the National Medal of Arts in a ceremony at the White House.
	Betty Plumb Betty Plumb is widely respected as a leader and arts advocate for South Carolina. Since 1994, she has been executive director of the S.C. Arts Alliance, a statewide nonprofit agency, whose mission is to serve the arts through advocacy, technical assistance and leadership development.  Educated at St. Petersburg Junior College in Florida, Plumb is past chair and current council member of the State Arts Action Network. She has been president of State Arts Advocacy League of America and the National Community Arts Network. In June 2007, The Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, presented Plumb its 2007 Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award. Plumb also presents to educators and arts leaders throughout the nation, frequently giving workshops on how citizens can advocate for arts funding. She is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities on arts advocacy.
Dan Wagoner A native of West Virginia and the youngest of 10 children, Dan Wagoner knew from an early age that he wanted to dance. He came to the attention of Martha Graham at the American Dance Festival and danced with her company before eventually forming his own company in 1969- Dan Wagoner and Dancers. The company performed to wide critical acclaim in hundreds of U.S. cities and on four continents, as Wagoner's works became known for their speed and style shifts and an uncanny sense of weight and balance. During a four-year period beginning in 1984, the company was selected by the S.C. Arts Commission to maintain a second home in the Palmetto State, making the first such dual residency for a modern dance company. After the company disbanded in 1994, Wagoner began teaching dance at Connecticut College, while continuing to choreograph for companies around the world including recent commissions by the Chinese International Dance Festival.
2008
	Vivian Ayers Born into a family of educators in Chester, S.C., Vivian Ayers has spent her life embracing languages and their relationship with the arts. One of her most treasured accomplishments was a Pulitzer Award nomination in 1952 for her poetry. Trained as a librarian at Rice University, Ayers was granted faculty status in 1965, becoming the first African American to do so. In 1972, her work, "Workshops in Open Fields," was hailed and recommended to the nation as a "prototype of grassroots programming" by the director of the National Endowment of the Arts. Ayers established the Adept New American Museum- a museum for art and history of the American Southwest. Ayers reared a successful family, with three of her children going into the performing arts- jazz musician Tex Allen, Tony-award winning actress Phylicia Rashad, and famed dancer Debbie Allen. Her younger sister is Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence, of of the first African-Americans to earn tenure at Winthrop.
Johnny King As long as he can remember there has been music in Johnny King's life. A musician now for 50 years, King has traveled the world playing music. He moved to New York in the late 1960's, and then joined the Bill Doggett band. A few year's later, he and his friends put together the Fatback Band. Some of King's best memories involve opening his first guitar school in 1975 in St. Albans, N.Y.. He returned to Rock Hill where has has operated an electronics shop for 18 years as well as a Gospel recording studio for young musicians. Eager to recognize other musicians' contributions, King helped form the Rock Hill Musicians Club. The group has celebrated other Rock Hill musicians' work through performances and establishment of a park. King continues to play with a combo of Winthrop faculty members for area events, and he says, "The music is stronger than ever."
	Michael Marsicano Early in 2008 the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce handed out its innovator of the year for the city of Charlotte. The winner: Michael Marsicano. He won earlier awards for building economic empowerment and bridging racial divides from the Urban League of Central Carolinas, as one of the city's most influential leaders from Charlotte Magazine, and for his philanthropic commitment to the Latino community. For the past two years, Marsicano has been invited to the Sundance Preserve with about 30 other public and private sector leaders to explore national arts policy issues. As president and CEO of the Foundation of the Carolinas since 1999, Marsicano oversees a 50-person staff and a $5.8 million annual budget. His organization administers funds for the Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, the United Way Legacy Foundation, and Foundation for the Charlotte Jewish Community. He holds a doctorate degree in public policy sciences, a master's degree in counseling psychology and a psychology degree, all from Duke University.
Philip Simmons Fascinated by the ironwork in his home community of Charleston, SC, Simmons is now the most celebrated of Charleston ironworkers. He received his most important education from local blacksmith Peter Simmons, where he learned the values and refined talents that would sustain him through his long metalworking career. Moving into the specialized fields of ornamental iron in 1938, Simmons fashioned more than 500 decorative pieces of ornamental wrought iron: gates, fences, balconies, and window grills. From end to end, downtown Charleston is truly decorated by his hand. In 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him its National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor that the United States can bestow on a traditional artist. The S.C. legislature followed with a "lifetime achievement" and commissions for public sculptures by the South Carolina State Museum and the city of Charleston. Pieces of his work have been acquired by the National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Institution, among others. His downtown church, St. John's Reformed Episcopal Church, has dedicated its grounds with a commemorative landscape garden as a tribute.