P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525
|
P.O. Box 691 Sebring Florida USA 33871 Tel: 863-382-2525 |
 |
Janelou Buck By: Roy Riedy |
Ms. Buck was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 2, 1920. She was a former radio actress in Detroit, a stage actress for the USO and a Powers model in New York City. At one time in her life she was a fashion show commentator; a director and writer in Minneapolis; and a teacher at the Patricia Stevens School.
Her career in journalism started in 1967 when she became the editor of the Steuben County Courier in Bath, New York. This was followed by positions on the Gulf Beach Journal in Treasure Island, Florida and the Union County Journal in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1974 she came to Sebring to be the editor of The Sebring News.
Her qualifications for the Significant Achievement Award were just as formidable as her journalistic abilities. Not only was she instrumental in the founding of the Highlands Little Theatre in 1974, but she also served as an officer of the organization in one capacity or other from its creation, and served as its secretary for the last eight years of her life. At the time of the Significant Achievement Award presentation, Ms. Buck had directed 14 of the 47 shows presented to that time; she would find time and strength to direct 4 more for a total of 18 before she succumbed to cancer in 1993. Janelou also acted in 8 additional productions directed by others, giving her the enviable record of either having directed or acted in 26 of the 81 shows done by HLT during her lifetime, just 3 plays short of one-third of all its productions.
Her work as a supporter of theater activities was not limited to the Playhouse. In her role as editor of the News-Sun for seventeen years and her chatty column "View from the Square", HLT activities and events stayed in the news and in the minds of the readers of our county. When it was realized that her illness had numbered her days, the officers of The Little Theatre decided to honor its first recipient and rename "The Significant Achievement Award" as "The Janelou Buck Significant Achievement Award", making the announcement at the 7th Annual Zenon Awards Ceremony, on October 3, 1992. Ms. Buck died at the age of 72, the following summer, on July 16, 1993.
Her influence does not stop here either. Recently, the Highlands Little Theatre has inaugurated The Janelou Buck Scholarship Fund in which a scholarship is presented in her name to a student who shows interest in the theatrical arts. As long as there are students who value the theater, her spirit seems destined to be with us for many, many, years to come - a closeness devoutly to be wished.
