By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The long-running television classic that made the likes of Minnie Pearl and Lulu Roman household names is coming to Tipton-Rosemark Academy.
Well sort of, on Sept. 21 on the campus of TRA in the Fine Arts Building, the department is going to bring to stage “Hee Haw.” The performance of singing, musical numbers and sketches will be part of the first Fine Arts Alumni Event honor a past Tipton-Rosemark student.
This year Class of 1981 graduate Terry Goulder will be recognized for his work in the communication field.
“We’re going to use it as an fundraiser as well and a chance to honor an alumnus who has gone on to do great work in field of fine arts,” Fine Arts Director Lalania Vaughn said. “This is more centralized on the fine arts. There are so many wonderful people from our school we could recognize but with this being our fundraiser, we wanted to find somebody within our branch. Recognizing them as a graduate of TRA is first and foremost.”
Since Vaughn’s arrival on campus TRA has become a national power in Fine Arts with major stage productions, multiple college scholarship and various awards.
“People should come out Sept. 21 to just support TRA Fine Arts, we work so hard year after year,” she said. “Anyone who has done any research on our program or looked in the newspaper over the years knows we just have some excellent students doing great things.
“We’ve had students who were All-West Honor Choir, All-West Region Honor Choir, All-State Honor Choir, All-National Honor Choir,” Vaughn added.
In 2019, TRA received the spotlight as one of top shows in the Orpheum Awards with 12 nomination for “Crazy for You” winning best choreography.
The students of TRA have shared their talents off campus in recent years performing at the annual Military Appreciation Breakfast, Taste of Millington, local churches and more.
“We want our students to get out being a blessing to others and the community,” Vaughn said.
Before the current group of students join the ranks of TRA alumni, Vaughn wants them to learn about the rich history of Fine Arts at the school. Goulder’s success post-graduation made him the ideal choice to be the first alumnus to be honored.
Goulder grew up in Brighton. He attended Tipton-Rosemark Academy for all of his early education. He played football, basketball and was also involved in theater, acting in two school plays. He graduated from Rosemark in 1981.
Goulder went on to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He was awarded the department’s first distinguished alumni award in 2012.
In 1985, Goulder began working in television production at WMC-TV 5 and he was a studio camera operator for news and wresting.
In a few years, he worked his way up to the title of producer where he won three regional Emmys and two National Gabriel awards for his local Prime Time specials.
In 1994, he and his wife with 1-year-old in tow, moved to Chicago. There he began what would become a 23 year journey with Oprah Winfrey.
Goulder produced some of the most memorable Oprah Show moments, including the big car giveaway: “You get a car!, You get a car! Everybody gets a car! Oprah said it….Goulder wrote it….but he didn’t get a car!
Goulder helped develop some of the most successful experts in daytime TV while working at Oprah… Dr Phil, Dr. Oz, (Dr. Dre, well no not Dr. Dre) Suze Orman, Rachel Ray and Nate Berkus.
After sunsetting the Oprah Show in 2011, Goulder began creating shows for OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Goulder created Iyanla: Fix My Life…which is still on the air after nine seasons and is one of the networks most watched and award-winning shows. He won a National Emmy as executive producer of Oprah’s Lifeclass, he was also EP of Oprah Where Are They Now, and co-executive producer of Super Soul Sunday.
“Looked at the history of the work he has done,” Vaughn said. “He went to UT-Martin and studied communications. Soon after that he was picked up and now he has three Emmys. He was picked up by Oprah Winfrey and worked with her for 20 years.
“I was so amazed we had a graduate who has reached that kind of success,” she added. “It needs to be recognized. We need to bring him back and have him reconnect with our school. Just proud of his work and it’s good for our current students to see there are people who come out of Rosemark doing great things.”
Vaughn said Rosemark will be doing great things that night with the production of a “Hee Haw” themed show. Maybe TRA Head of Schools Bobby Baker will come dressed as Grandpa Jones.
“Some of our grandparents and parents remember the show Hee Haw,” she said. “It was a big show. It was just a fun TV show. It kind of reminds me of your The Carol Burnett Show. It was a fun variety show. It showcased actors, singers and musicians. And that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing. It’s a variety show for Rosemark.”
Hee Haw was a comedy sketch show with country music started in 1969 and had its longest run from 1971-1993.
First Fine Arts Event to recognize a TRA Alum who has gone on to pursue a career in Fine Arts. The Fine Arts Alumni Event is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. costing $15 for adults and $10 for students. Hee Haw comes to Rosemark will feature masters of ceremonies John Roundtree and Cary Vaughn. Also joining the mix will portrayals of Dolly Parton, LeAnn Rimes, Conway Twitty and Patsy Cline.
“The Athletic Booster Club does a golf tournament every year and that’s their thing,” Vaughn concluded. “And our PTO does the carnival every year and that’s their thing. We’ve never had our own thing. We never really had one event. We hope this will be our first of many more to come.”
For more information, call 829-6500.
