TheJournalNJ.com | JUNE 2020 25
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CBA Graduate Gets a Bagpiper Surprise
BY JOANNE COLELLA
The COVID-19 quarantine may have canceled many traditional
events this season such as high school graduations, but for one
local mom, it was not going to get in the way of creating a special
celebration for her deserving son.
Pat Wotton, of Fair Haven, is the proud mother of Rodney, a graduating
senior at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft. Each year, CBA
has a tradition of shepherding the graduating class out of the school
to the accompaniment of bagpipers. With schools locked down for the
remainder of the semester, the class of 2020 would not have that opportunity.
Ever resourceful, Wotton found a bagpiper of her own, Derek
Midgley, and enlisted his help in putting together a surprise for Rodney.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Midgley is a professional bagpiper
who learned his skills while living for four years in Glasgow, Scotland,
and now teaches and plays at events throughout the tristate area. Wotton
made arrangements for him to appear at her house, out in the front
yard, on the afternoon of May 5. She tipped off a few family members
and close friends who she knew would want to share in the surprise.
At the appointed hour, just as Rodney was heading down the
stairs, the music began and he caught a glimpse out the window. He
grinned with embarrassment as he took in what was happening and
saw the group of well-wishers, all wearing masks and standing safe distances
apart, cheering while holding banners and balloons. As the bagpiper
played, his beaming mother hugged him tightly and laughed.
The Wottons’
circle of family
and friends were
equally delighted
as they enjoyed
the opportunity
to honor Rodney,
who will be going
on to Stevens Institute
of Technology
next year to study
computer science,
following in the
academic footsteps
of his father for
whom he was named. Rodney Wotton, Sr. was killed on Sept. 11, 2001 –
just a week before his son’s birth, also leaving behind his wife and their
little girl, Dorothea, who now attends Tufts University.
For Pat Wotton – and undoubtedly for other area families whose lives
were impacted by the events of Sept. 11 – having a special closure to the
the last generation of high school students who were born in 2001. And
this time, it was the jubilant music of celebration, not mournful tunes, that
the bagpiper played for them.
/TheJournalNJ.com