Event honors late Magnet student

February 24, 2008

By Mike Pizzolato

It was but one improbable day Sharron Settlemire's life in 2000, and it was also Rose Condon's last day of life. Settlemire's voice quivered and her eyes watered.

Settlemire, a retired teacher originally from Arkansas with 23 years of teaching at Caddo Magnet, took a moment's rest amid the clatter of fencing weapons and the buzz of electronic scoring equipment in the spacious Bossier Civic Center at the eighth annual Rose Condon Memorial Fencing Tournament on Saturday.

She talked about the day at the hospital when former Caddo Magnet student Rose Condon died of injuries from a car accident, just after high school graduation.

"I thought life is unfair," she said. "Why take such a wonderful person? Am I even worthy to be here, when you have someone like Rose (taken)?

"When she died I was at the hospital. I saw her mother's face. I thought, I have to do something to honor her."

The loss rippled through the Caddo Magnet family, and Settlemire, who had started Magnet's fencing program, did what she knew best —fencing.

She began a scholarship program that rewards character to honor Rose, and so the tournament was created.

In its eighth year, it offers an annual $1,000 scholarship for the Caddo Magnet fencer and student with "Rose-like" character.

No one on the committee of about 12 people is paid, nor are the volunteers at the tournament.

Each year, they all come — the fencers, the referees, the unpaid volunteers, the silent auction workers — to participate in the tournament, but more importantly, to honor the character of a special young woman taken from their fencing family all too soon.

"I loved her," Settlemire said. "She was a very unique person. She had a warmth that drew people to her — a magnet— she was a magnet."

The event, which continues today, has grown from a gaggle of a gathering in a local college gym to one of the most significant sports tournaments in the area, drawing fencers from all over the country, including New York City.

Matthew Zich of the Manhattan Fencing Club finished first out of 37 competitors in the senior men's saber.

Evelyn Scarborough of the Caddo-Bossier Foundation Sword Sports took the senior women's foil. Bethanie Rich-Reyes of the Caddo-Bossier Foundation Sword Sports took second and Amanda Hock of Caddo Magnet Fencing took third.

Gary Van Der Wege of the All Texas Athletic Center won the mixed wheelchair epee.

©The Times

February 24, 2008