Free Piano Concert on October 1 at Mount Hermon AME Church to Honor Ruth T. Giles

Lauderdale pianist, Kris Nicholson and Mrs. Ruth T. Giles 

By Yvette M. Giles, EdD

Acclaimed pianist Kris Nicholson will provide a free concert to honor the late Fort Lauderdale pioneer and esteemed lifelong educator, Ruth Taylor Giles, who passed on June 13. Nicholson will play at 4 p.m., on October 1, Giles’s 99th birthday.

Nicholson meticulously refurbished and donated two baby grand pianos in Giles’s memory to Fort Lauderdale’s historic Mount Hermon AME Church. He will play a mix of gospel, ragtime, and boogie woogie tunes in the newly renamed “Ruth T. Giles Dining Hall,” located in the Family Life Center across from the church.

Nicholson played a brief medley of Giles’s favorite songs during her homegoing celebration on June 25.

“We could have listened to him play all day,” said longtime Fort Lauderdale resident and retired educator, Viola Jerkins, who viewed Giles’s livestreamed celebration of life with her daughter, Wendy. “We wished he could have kept on playing,” Jerkins said.

Nicholson’s free concert is a gift intended to honor Giles’s legacy of service to her church, Mount Hermon AME; her schools, Deerfield Park Elementary and Braithwaite Junior High; and the Broward County community, as well to celebrate the official renaming of the Ruth T. Giles Dining Hall on her birthday.

“Mom was captivated, and her face lit up watching Kris play,” said Giles’s daughter, Yvette, about Nicholson, who visited the Giles home. “Kris is a Divinely gifted performer with a passion for the piano.”

Mount Hermon’s pastor, the Reverend Henry E. Green III, announced during Giles’s eulogy that church officials transferred the name of the original Ruth T. Giles Dining Hall, formerly located on the second floor of the main church building, to the dining and kitchen areas of the Family Life Center.

“Everybody overwhelmingly agreed that transferring (her) name to the Family Life Center is the fitting thing to do to honor Sister Giles for her service,” Green said. “After all, she was a member here for more than 86 years, and she placed the kitchen in her heart.”

Church trustees named the original facility in Giles’s honor for initiating and establishing the Sunday Morning Breakfast Program under the leadership of the Reverend J. Richard Campbell in 1979-80.

“My mother turned a large, sparsely decorated yellow room into a beautiful, fully equipped dining facility bursting with life and joy and serving delicious food on Sunday mornings,” said Giles’s daughter, Yvette. “She assembled and trained a team of devoted members who tirelessly served Mount Hermon AME in the kitchen.”

“You taught me how to cook!” a smiling Henry McNair exclaimed to Giles last year. McNair is a retired Air Force veteran, longtime church member and husband to the late Katharine McNair, who served as the church’s loyal historian. Both offered cheerful wishes to Giles at her gala 98th birthday drive-by celebration, initiated by the church last year.

Giles was active in coordinating Mount Hermon’s food ministry, including event meals,
bereavement repast services, dining room renovation and “Senior Tuesdays.”

“She set up the kitchen with commercial-style appliances and served meals of excellence for all occasions, including conventions, Vacation Bible School, receptions, conferences, and weddings, etc.” Dr. Judy Johnson, church recorder, said in Giles’s resolution, signed by the Reverend Green.

Sunday breakfasts were an ongoing source of income for the church and interdenominational fellowship. Church boards and other groups would alternate months serving breakfasts to church members and guests.

“I take great pride in knowing my beloved mother’s extraordinary contributions made a difference in the lives of so many in her church, schools and community,” Giles’s daughter, Yvette, said. “We were exceedingly blessed to have Mom in our lives for nearly 99 years, and she is now with my dad – her beloved ‘Al’ (Alphonso Giles).”

 

About Carma Henry 24481 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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