More than 200 local dignitaries, longtime friends and family converged Monday on Greenville City Hall to dedicate a center after community pillar Lucille W. Gorham.

The ceremony culminated in the unveiling of a portrait of Gorham to be displayed in the Lucille W. Gorham Intergenerational Center on West Fifth Street.

T. Scott Batchelor/The Daily Reflector (ENLARGE)

Lucille W. Gorham gestures during the unveiling of her portrait Monday at a ceremony dedicating the city's intergenerational center that bears her name. Surrounding her are, from left, Mayor Don Parrott, Councilwoman Rose Glover, Mayor Pro Tem Mildred Council, and artist Richard Wilson Jr.

The center is located in buildings formerly occupied by St. Gabriel's Catholic church and school and is owned by the city of Greenville. The center is a partnership of the city, ECU's College of Human Ecology and Pitt Community College.

"We're so excited that all of you are here to celebrate this dynamic lady," said Mildred Council, mayor pro tem.

Gorham is a longtime member of St. Gabriel's, and even has her hand depicted in one of the church's stained-glass windows.

"She has made a tremendous difference in the lives of so many people," Mayor Don Parrott said.

Her generosity and outreach to members of the community won her the name "Mother Gorham" by those who came to know her, Councilwoman Rose Glover said.

Shortly after graduation from Jacksonville, Fla.'s Edward Waters College in 1930, she became a member of St. Gabriel's.

She began working in the church and was employed as a playground supervisor, where she worked until the late 1980s with the children in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

She also served as an ambassador by opening her home for numerous families who visited St. Gabriel's Catholic Church and School.

Gorham was "a longtime caretaker for numerous individuals, families, children — both rich and poor ...," Glover said.

In 2005, Gorham received the Best-Irons Humanitarian Award from the Greenville Human Relations Council. The Girl Scout Council of Coastal Carolina selected her as one of the 10 "Women of Distinction" in March, and she has been inducted into the East Carolina University Education Hall of Fame.

For 14 years in the 1970s and 1980s, Gorham served as the first black female member on the Pitt County Board of Education.

"Thank you for setting the mark really high, and we hope that we can live up to it," said Virginia Hardy, interim chief diversity officer at ECU.

During the ceremony held in council chambers, a pastel portrait of Gorham painted by Greenville artist Richard Wilson Jr. was unveiled to a standing ovation.

"God has been good to me," Gorham said to the audience. When she looks around and sees all the people coming out to support her, that shows "God is really present in this house," she said.

"Let your light shine," Gorham told her audience.

Gorham's granddaughter, Luchara Sayles-Wallace, said she was there to represent her grandmother's "extended family" of friends and others whose lives she had touched.

People came to the assembly Monday "because you have experienced the love and the joy of Lucille Gorham," Sayles-Wallace said.

The family presented the center with a check for $3,000 donated by those who want to support the new endeavor.

In 2004, when St. Gabriel's moved from the west Greenville location, Gorham helped lead the church congregation to its current location at Dickinson Avenue Extension, and she currently serves as the church's pastoral associate.

With characteristic spunk, Gorham declined to provide her age Monday night.

"It ain't nothing but a number!" she said with a smile.

PCC and ECU began leasing space in her namesake facility in September.

The center will offer classes, tax preparation, counseling, home design, nutrition and other services. Students and faculty members will provide the programming. Eventually, a health clinic may join the center's existing offerings.

The Little Willie Center for latchkey children also leases space there.

T. Scott Batchelor can be contacted at sbatchelor@coxnc.com and 329-9567.