Les Paul-Signed Les Paul to Be Raffled Off for Charity
Sean McDevitt | 11.06.2007
www.gibson.com
Guitar Musician | Gear Musician | Piano Musician
The holder of a single lucky raffle ticket will own something that for many guitar aficionados is simply beyond imagination: a beautiful 2005 Gibson Les Paul Standard that’s signed by none other than Les Paul himself. To honor his late daughter and raise scholarship funds, Earl Hurrey of The National Association for Music Education’s is giving you a chance to win his autographed Les Paul Standard.
The raffle is a fundraiser for the Caitlin Merie Hurrey Memorial Scholarship Fund, named in honor of Caitlin Merie Hurrey, who was nine years old and in the fourth grade at Huntingtown Elementary School in Maryland when she died in an automobile accident on October 31, 1995. The fund, which honors Caitlin’s love of music and education, supports four scholarships annually.
The guitar is being raffled by Caitlin’s father, Earl Hurrey, who is the deputy executive director for business development of Reston, Virginia-based MENC: The National Association for Music Education. Hurrey calls the autographed Les Paul “one of my most prized possessions” and is raffling the guitar this year to mark what would have been Caitlin’s 21st birthday. He hopes to raise $25,000 for the scholarship fund by selling 1,000 raffle tickets for $25 each.
“I’d like to raffle this guitar rather then auction it because I would like all guitar players, regardless of income, to have the opportunity to win it,” Hurrey explains. “It will be a very special guitar for a deserving guitar player, and Caitlin would have wanted it that way.”
The guitar, a Heritage Cherry Sunburst design with a ’50s-style neck, is autographed on its pickguard. It was given to Hurrey by Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz just months after Les Paul’s 90th birthday concert, which took place in June 2005 at Carnegie Hall in New York.
“I had mentioned to Henry that I had been taking guitar lessons as a lifelong dream,” Hurrey recalls, “and that attending the concert gave me great incentive to work even harder at learning to play the guitar. Shortly after our conversation, I received the guitar as a gift from Henry. He said, ‘If you’re going to learn guitar, you might as well learn on the best guitar in the world.’”
The instrument is currently housed in a decorative display case on a wall in Hurrey’s home.
The Caitlin Fund was approved by MENC as part of MENC’s Fund for the Advancement of Music Education. It’s a 501(c) (3) charitable fund that supports the greater good of music education. All donations to the Caitlin Fund are 100% tax deductible.
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