Scholarship in memory of slain Charlotte woman to help generations of musicians

CHARLOTTE — The family of a Charlotte woman is continuing to honor her memory 50 years after she vanished and was later found dead by providing students with a music scholarship.

In 1972, Sylvia Newman disappeared from her north Charlotte home and her body was found more than 1½ years later. Police say she was murdered and there still have not been any leads in the case.

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Newman, the oldest of five children, once dreamed of being a pianist in a home where music resonated through her family.

“We all got started playing strings on grandpa’s fiddle,” said Sara Johnson, Newman’s sister. “We all started on violin, but she moved to the cello in junior high, I believe, and really enjoyed playing the cello.”

Newman played cello in the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra in the mid-60s and was a member of the Garinger High School Orchestra.

Johnson said her family wanted to find a way to create something positive in her sister’s honor that will last for generations.

The Newman family endowed a music scholarship that bears Newman’s name through the arts training program, Arts+, which was once known as Community School of the Arts.

Delvin McNeil, the executive director at Arts+, said they got a call out of the blue.

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“You think, ‘Oh my gosh,’ and then with the explanation of the story, you immediately call and want to get more information,” McNeil said.

The scholarship was created after that.

“Being a music teacher, I, of course, thought about Sylvia’s love for music and piano and cello, so many friends in the orchestra that she had and then in the marching band over there at Garinger,” Johnson said.

The Sylvia Newman Scholarship recipient will receive a weekly lesson in piano or strings for a full year.

“This scholarship makes us all feel so much better about a positive spin on her life, and it supports what we really cherish about her,” Johnson said.

(Watch the video below: Scholarship open for Charlotte public housing students)

Scholarship open for Charlotte public housing students

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