Beth Mitchell

A Message from Nancy Lee Mitchell

 

Past Recipients of the Scholarship

(Left to Right)

Nikki Kontoulas, Leslie Melton, Lee Ann Best, Mandy Holt &

Christina Woodruff 

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2008 Winners

 

Junior Div

 

Left to right back row: Sammy Clelland; Bethany Tedder; Nancy Lee Mitchell; Kayla Henley; Will Dallas; Gina Pummill

Junior Division

1st Place: Bethany Tedder & Sammy Clelland

2nd Place: Gina Pummill & Will Dallas

3rd Place: Kayla Henley

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Left to right back row: Marsha Rose; Jim Osborne; Vickie Warden; Allan Grider; Robin Powell & Patrick Rhode. Front Row: Nancy Lee Mitchell  

Non-Pro Division

1st Place: Robin Powell & Patrick Rhode

2nd Place: Vickie Warden & Allan Grider

3rd Place: Marsha Rose & Jim Osborne

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Left to Right Back row: Leslie Melton; Krystal Taylor; Geoff Burdick; Ricky Shoemaker & Debbie Rickard

Front Row: Jeff Hargett & Nancy Lee Mitchell

Pro/Hall Of Fame Division

1st Place: Leslie Melton & Jeff Hargett

2nd Place: Krystal Taylor & Geoff Burdick

3rd Place: Debbie Rickard & Ricky Shoemaker

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Donations continue to be accepted for the Beth Mitchell Memorial Scholarship Fund - Donations accepted through out the year for this great charity!

If you would like to know more about being a sponsor please send me an e-mail @

mmadrin@hotmail.com

Sponsors Needed!!!

Individual Sponsors

Business Sponsors

Sponsor a Dancer

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Read about Beth Mitchell and the Charity

http://www.thirstys2.com/beth_mitchell.htm

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Quilt made in Honor of Beth

Special Note from Nancy Mitchell

Dear GTSC Members and Thirsty's 2 Staff,
   A simple "Thank You" is not enough to express what we feel in our hearts for each of you.  I wish that all of you could have known our Beth.  She always tried to make the best of any situation.  She would be pleased that you took a terrible tragedy and did something wonderful in her memory.
   March 20th will mark our 6th year without Beth.  We are thankful for  the 25  years we had with her.  Each day is a struggle to try to understand and learn to live with our loss.  Friends and family help us to keep going.
   I am blessed with a great husband, a wonderful son and daughter-in-law and two of the greatest grandsons on earth.  I am also blessed with many friends. Now I am blessed with you, new friends in the shag community.  The memory of Beth has now become a part of your life.  I am honored to share my daughter and best friend with you. Keeping her memory alive is very important to me.
   Thank you for all you have done. Thank you for allowing me to be your friend.  All of you and your support play an important part in my healing as I continue my journey thru grief.

With much appreciation and love, 
Nancy Lee Mitchell

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The Beth Mitchell Memorial Shag Contest........

On 21 February 2004 shag history was made at Thirsty’s 2 in Greensboro.  Not only did the club host the first Beth Mitchell Memorial Shag Contest, but the attendance eclipsed any previous event since the club’s opening.  (For those not familiar with Beth, she was the victim of a tornado in Stoneville, NC some 4 years ago; a school teacher; a former junior shagger; co-winner of the Non-Pro Championship at Nationals and a slick little gal.  A memorial scholarship fund has been set up by Beth’s parents, Nancy Lee and Worth, to award higher education scholarship assistance to a deserving dancer (regardless of age).  The winner is traditionally recognized at Nationals in March.  Good cause, indeed.

Joey Sogluizzo/Jennifer Beaver and Michael Norris/LeAnn Best started the day off with two afternoon workshops attended by over fifty people, then performed exhibition dances for all attending.  Barbeque was served following the workshops to the music of the ol’ Southern Gentleman, Bobby Snyder, and the evening’s events kicked off about 8:00pm.  (In the shag world, time is an approximate commodity.)

Eleven junior couples competed in two divisions including a seven year old little lady, Kelli Floyd, who captured everyone’s heart.  There was even a dance-off in one division to break a tie.  Both couples involved in the dance-off, Will Dallas/Sydney West and Brady/Kalin Ellis were also competing in their very first competition.  (Sydney’s dad, Sam, was cranking a camera with one hand and pumping air in support with the other; his feet aren’t his only super-coordinated features.)  All the junior dancers handled themselves like pros and proved the dance is in good hands for the future.  (All WE have to do is continue supporting them.)  This gathering of junior shaggers for such a competition was the largest most of us could remember in many years.

While final scores were being tallied for the juniors, the audience was treated to an exhibition by the National Shag Dance Team, and they displayed their typical talents which simply make them the best, period.  Sam West and Nancy Lee were introduced to do a spotlight dance, and although Sam complained to me he “wasn’t dressed for the occasion,” his dancing and Nancy Lee’s dance floor “personality” had us watching anything but fashions.  One of the best dancers I know with one of the best people I know - how could it have been anything but good.

Fifty four people entered the mixed doubles, forcing time limits on music to one and one half minutes each.  (To their credit, this was the first competition for many of those dancing.)  During the halfway break and again following the last couple, hordes of people covered the floor dancing to some of the most fabulous music you’ll hear.  As usual, legendary Butch Metcalf again proved why he is one of the premier contest DJ’s around - music like no other, a smoothly orchestrated contest, great microphone voice, and always a professional presence in the booth.  Great dancing fun to great music.

Sponsorships for the event, sponsors for dancers, a 50/50 raffle, door receipts, donations and workshops NETTED over $8,000.  (Mike Harding and Tom Sawyer together garnered dancers’ sponsors exceeding $1,300, a very enviable effort, and were duly recognized.)  Not bad for a day’s work.

As old tapes of Beth dancing in competition flickered on Thirsty’s big screen, many of us shared the emotions Nancy Lee and Worth were experiencing.  Beth would have been very proud of the efforts in initiating this event, donations of time and talent for workshop instruction, exhibitions, the many dancers participating, the crowd’s support for the junior dancers, the record-setting attendance (estimated at 500+), but most of all, carrying on the tradition of the music and the dance in such a positive way and for such a worthy cause.

As they say back home....... “It just don’t get no better.”  Simply put - no, it “don’t.” 

Archer Joyce

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