When you have a passion for your artistry, it shows. So it was no surprise that the expert guitar playing by junior music student Lyndall Vickers filled the lobby with joy while guests were entering Stetson University’s Gala in October at the Westin Hotel in Lake Mary, Fla. The event kicked off a comprehensive campaign to raise $150 million for the university.

Several items were on display in the silent auction area, including a Hofner arch top electric jazz guitar which Vickers had been playing to help greet the Gala guests. It was donated by Stetson Alumni Board President Scott Bruin and his wife, Ann. “We donated the guitar to the Stetson Gala,” Bruin said. “I enjoyed having the guitar, but I only played it a few times. Hofner is the same company that makes the renown “violin shaped bass guitar” which Paul McCartney of the Beatles made famous.”

When the auction was complete, the winners were Marty and Mary Dzuro, whose own son, Marty Dzuro, Jr., is a senior music major at Stetson. His mother servers on the School of Music Advisory Board. The Dzuro family has a long history of assisting other music students with stipends and scholarships when they travel to various concerts representing Stetson.

The elder Dzuro thought the Hofner guitar would be a great addition to his own guitar collection. Yet, as the story goes, when Thomas Masse, D.M.A., dean of the School of Music, told him how much Vickers enjoyed playing this type of guitar, Dzuro instantly knew what he had to do.

“He leaned over to me,” recalls Mary Dzuro, and asked, ‘What if we donate the guitar to Lyndall? He plays it so well.’” She agreed.

Vickers, who hails from Miami, Fla., was eight when his godfather bought him an electric guitar as a Christmas present. His mother insisted he get lessons and enrolled him in Miami-Dade Community College where music teacher Nancy Flores taught him guitar until he finished high school.

He chose to apply to Stetson after visiting the campus, attended a student tour and fell in love with the guitar program and the people, including his acclaimed guitar professor Stephen Robinson, D.M. “Lyndall is an extremely talented musician who approaches all that he does with grace, passion, integrity and exuberance,” Robinson said. “A versatile performer who is equally fluent on both jazz and classical guitar, Lyndall is certainly worthy of the Dzuros’ generosity. I am especially proud of Lyndall as he continues to be a leader in our guitar program and an ambassador for the School of Music.”

Vickers, who will graduate in 2017 with a Bachelor of Music in guitar performance, was honored to be asked to play at the Gala. When he was informed that the Dzuros had decided to gift the guitar to him, he was thrilled. “I was beyond words,” he said. “It was an overwhelming experience!”

“I had asked Lyndall to attend the Gala and to play the guitar so potential bidders would have a sense of the great qualities of the instrument,” Masse said. “I would have never guessed that Lyndall would go home with the instrument himself. Lyndall has been one of our great students at Stetson and I cannot imagine the instrument going to a more deserving individual. It was a great surprise of the evening!”

Marty Dzuro, Sr., believes if you can do something that makes a positive difference in a young person’s life and enable him or her to be significant, you have had a part in making this world a better place. “There was only one small catch,” he added. “I told Lyndall he would have to come to my house and play for me!”

Vickers’ plan after college is to continue his non-profit arts work which he started in high school, combining chorus, band, dance, photography and multimedia groups into various events, concerts and performances.

By Mary M. McCambridge