ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060017
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-43 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
Two diverse events - a tonsilectomy and the melodious sounds of a pipe organ - started two William Byrd High School seniors on quests that became dreams they hope will last a lifetime.
The tonsil operation at age 8 started Georgia Rakes on a medical career, and the pipe organ launched a music dream for Jon Johnson.
Rakes and Johnson are among 222 seniors who will be awarded diplomas June 12 at William Byrd graduation exercises at 5 p.m. at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Rakes will share valedictorian honors with Kenneth T. Wilkes; and both will be among the event's featured speakers.
Rakes said she got started on a medical career - though she didn't know it at the time - when she had her tonsils removed while in the second grade. Now she is working toward becoming an anesthesiologist.
Johnson, too, was a small child - younger than 8 - when he first heard an organ at First Baptist Church on Third Street in Roanoke.
"I liked the sound of it," he said, "and I liked singing the hymns."
That also has given him an ambition to be a singer on the operatic level in addition to being a college music professor and a touring concert organist.
Rakes and Johnson, both 18, have similarities in the pursuit of their dreams.
They decided early what they wanted to do, they set their sights high, and both won large scholarships.
Rakes won up to $8,000 annually from the State Farm Companies Foundation, an affiliate with State Farm Insurance Co., where her father, John Rakes, is employed. The scholarship is for four years to attend the College of William and Mary.
Johnson has been awarded about $28,500 to cover four years at East Carolina University. His scholarship funds came from the university, which put up $24,000, and from several groups in Roanoke that awarded a total of $4,500.
Rakes said she had problems with the tonsilectomy and a reaction to the anesthesia. She did not know it at the time, but it planted a seed in her mind that would develop into a desire for a career in medicine.
When she entered William Byrd High she also became a student at the Governor's School, where she took a heavy load of courses in biology, chemistry and science.
"I took everything offered in that field," she said.
In addition, she has received 50 hours of surgery observation at Community Hospital as part of William Byrd's gifted-student program. For the past two summers, she has taken two-week chemistry classes at Roanoke College.Rakes, 18, said there will be about 12 years of study and internship before she can qualify as a doctor but she plans to work toward that degree with periods of travel -- preferably to France.
"A lot of medicines have come out of France," she said, "so I hope to visit there."
Also, she said, "Ijust like to travel."
Eventually she hopes to work in the medical field in a western state where the climate is moderate.
Rakes is a daughter of John and Sandy Rakes of Roanoke.
After being introduced to the pipe organ at First Baptist Church, Johnson began attending First Church of God in Vinton with his family. It was there that he began picking at the piano and organ keys and in a short time taught himself to play simple pieces.
He said that even though he was only about 9 years old, church officials allowed him to play some of the simpler musical pieces that went with the church's Sunday services.
It was a great learning experience for him, he said. And when he was about 12, he began formal organ lessons at First Baptist Church.
Four years ago, when he entered William Byrd High School, he began organ lessons with Donald Moe at Roanoke College. He was also taking piano lessons from Byron Petty and Hugo Watanabe.
At about that same time, Williamson Road Church of the Brethren needed an organist. On the recommendation of Moe, Johnson was hired even though he was only a freshman in high school. He remains the church's organist today.
He also has been active in music at William Byrd High.
"A large part of my ambition springs from Deborah Wiley," he said. She is choral director at William Byrd, and Johnson said he is that group's accompanist.
Georg
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Rakes 2. Johnson (headshots)by CNB