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Del Tech gets its Motown on for Starry Night

Event raises more than $200,000; two new science labs supported
Estelle Parker-Selby served as event chairman for the 2011 Starry Night gala.  Shown with this group are (l-r) Doris Price, featured artist for the event; Ivan Johnson; Selby; and J. Cagney France. BY DENNIS FORNEY
April 22, 2011
This is an example of Millsboro artist Doris Price's jazz and blues paintings on display for Starry Starry Night and still on display outside the Del Tech Theatre. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Peg Hertrich and Matt Haley talked food and '60s hairstyles during the Starry Night reception. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Members of the Wiggins family enjoyed the Starry Starry Night festivities.  Shown are (l-r) Craig Irvin and Cheryl Wiggins Irvin along with Cheryl's mom and dad, Barb and Donnie Wiggins. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Del Tech President Dr. Orlando George and Campus Director Dr. Ileana Smith were among the hosts for the evening's festivities. Shown in this group are (l-r) Paul and Keena Ross, George and Smith, Mitzi Perdue and Shelly Grabel. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Debbie Garrison, Sherry Thomas, Sabrina Balentine, Delema Lott and Carla Phillips caught up on the news during the reception. BY DENNIS FORNEY
Decked out and enjoying themselves for the gala are (l-r) Joel and Trish Schechtman, Phil Burton, Patty Grimes, Bill McGowan and Joann and Joe Conaway. BY DENNIS FORNEY
June Rose Futcher, with the help of Noble Prettyman, assembled a display of historic items to help illustrate the history of African-American culture and education in Sussex County. The display was part of a wide variety of items which helped revive a sense of the '60s for the event. BY DENNIS FORNEY

With a Motown theme providing mojo for the night, Del Tech's Owens Campus in Georgetown hosted its annual Starry Starry Night gala April 16.

A crowd of more than 500 people enjoyed trips down memory lane from 1960's Georgetown - including a reprise of Henry's Newsstand - and chapters out of black history.

The evening started with a reception in the gymnasium of the old William C. Jason High School, which, after desegregation in Sussex County,  eventually became the first building for the Delaware Technical and Community College.

Later in the evening, as a powerful thunder and lightning storm rumbled across the campus, the Eturnity Band Orchestra had the crowd on its feet in the Del Tech Theatre as it played a wide variety of Motown classics.

By evening's end, the festivities had raised more than $200,000 of private money to support education at the Owens Campus. Part of those proceeds will fund creation of two new science labs to address a shortage of lab space on the campus.

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