CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 29 910.868.5131 | 3200 Cliffdale Road, Fayetteville, NC 28303 | www.fayacademy.org Empower your journey. Elevate your future. FAYETTEVILLE ACADEMY Fayetteville Academy admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation in administration of its educational policies, admissions, financial aid, and athletic and other school-administered programs. Visit www.fayacademy.org for more information. • Ranked by Niche.com as the #1 Best Private K-12 School in the Fayetteville area • Three state-of-the-art STEAM SmartLabs ® • 71% of students who take the AP exams score a 3 or higher. • More than $500,000 in need-based financial aid awarded annually to qualified applicants. • The 26 members of the Class of 2022 were offered more than $3 million in college scholarships and grants. Like Randolyn, Paul is professionally trained and has pursued a music career. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in viola performance at Indiana University and played with the North Carolina Symphony off and on for a couple of years. "Funding for the position dried up at the symphony, so I got into teaching school. I really wanted to get back to playing," says Paul. "I was in violin repair and found myself coming to Fayetteville and working for the Fayetteville Symphony in an administrative position." At the time, the orchestra was just trying to grow so he worked at McFadyen Music repairing string instruments. "When you do luthier work, it kind of goes and comes based on the season. When the schools are in season, it would be steady. When schools are out, there's no work to be done. If there's no work, you're not getting paid," Paul says. In 1989, both Randolyn and Paul were living in Cary. Randolyn was asked to play with an orchestra in Rocky Mount and was told she could carpool with another musician. "You might want to look him up. His name is Paul Emerson," Randolyn was told. "Oh great; it's the jerk," she thought. When Paul swung by to pick up the new violinist, his heart skipped a beat. "Oh my gosh, it's that really good looking, really good violinist," he remembers thinking. "at was a long time ago," Randolyn says with a blush. Over time, they carpooled together going to Rocky Mount and to gigs with the Fayetteville Symphony. eir friendship grew, and he eventually evolved from jerk to husband. ey married in June 1990. Paul found steady work at a major airline in Raleigh. "ey are a very music-friendly company and supporter of the arts. at allowed me to work around my playing schedule. I'm able to keep up with playing and support Randolyn's playing as well," he says. e full-time job offered everything they needed, and they started a family. Neither of their two sons inherited their love for the strings and chose to play woodwind and brass instruments. "Have you seen my gray hair?" asked Paul.

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