By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune contributor
The undersized auditorium at Bellevue High School was filled to overflowing Tuesday night as more than 200 people from this small community came out to support one of its families.
Gracie Randolph, will graduate with 44 other seniors from Bellevue high on May 22, but Tuesday, in a very special ceremony, she received her diploma a few months early.
Julie’s Randolph, Gracie’s mother, has terminal breast cancer that has spread throughout her body and doctors say she probably will not survive until the formal graduation in the spring.
When Julie was diagnosed more than two years ago, one of her wishes was to live long enough to see Gracie graduate.
When word spread in the close-knit community, friends and family members came together and, in just a few weeks, organized the One Hundred Twenty-Seventh Commencement Ceremony Honoring Gracie Elizabeth Randolph.
Julie has difficulty speaking because of the illness and was a bit overwhelmed by all of the activity, but her sister, Linda Taylor expressed the family’s gratitude.
“The support people have for Julie, Justin and Gracie has just been overwhelming,” Taylor said. “This all blew up so quickly, and you can see by the crowd in here, it’s just wonderful what people are willing to do.”
When the NKyTribune first reported on this story last week, graduation plans were well underway, but as word spread, the ceremony became a media event.
Justin Mendell, 27, Gracie’s brother and also a Bellevue High graduate, was thrilled that so many people showed an interest in his family’s story.
“I knew it was going to be a big deal, but this is amazing,” Mendell said. “When we got here and I saw (three) news vans outside, I couldn’t believe it. This story has obviously touched a lot of people and that’s great.”
About 30 members of the senior class attended the ceremony and Gracie’s teachers wore gowns. The group entered the auditorium to “Pomp and Circumstance,” preformed by the Bellevue High School Band of Gold.
The ceremony included speeches by members of the senior class and a Commencement Address by Dr. David Draper, an oncologist at Good Samaritan Hospital and Julie’s doctor. It was an emotional night for Draper who also lost his mother to breast cancer when he was in high school.
“This is such an honor and pleasure for me to do, because we become very attached to our people,” Draper said after the ceremony. “Way too often we lose a patient and we don’t get a chance to say goodbye to them, so this is an absolute honor for me to be asked to be here and do this.”
David Eckstein, principal at Bellevue High School, said one of the advantages of being a small school is that it provides an opportunity to go off the script for events such as this.
“It’s an example of the special nature of this community and the school system,” Eckstein said. “We know all of the students and their families and it allow us to come together for an evening like this, for a good cause.”
There were a few tears throughout the night, but most in attendance held it together pretty well until Gracie Randolph gave her heartfelt closing remarks. By the time Randolph fought through her own sobs to deliver an impassioned message to her mother, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
“You’ve always been my number one fan – you are the reason I stand here today,” Randolph said. “You are an amazing person. Thank you. I love you.”
Gracie, 17, shares Julie’s determination, and has maintained a 3.8 GPA, played softball and soccer and held down a part-time job throughout her mother’s illness. She plans to attend Northern Kentucky University in the fall.
Randolph also received a $1,000 scholarship from the Sally Meng Memorial Scholarship Fund. Meng, a basketball and volleyball coach at Bellevue High School for more than 30 years, who died in 2010, coached Julie Randolph when she was a student there.
Photos by Mark Hansel
See NKyTribune’s earlier story about Gracie and her mom:
Mom’s dying wish comes true; she’ll see daughter’s graduation thanks to caring folks in Bellevue