Cynthia Haring is back home for the weekend and will perform Saturday night at the River Music Experience in Davenport. She also will give a free music workshop this morning at the River's Edge, also in Davenport

To raise money for scholarships in her mother's name, Cynthia Haring followed her guide for improving the education of the next generation.

Caryl Haring, who died May 11, 2012, began teaching at the age of 19  and was a kindergarten teacher "for as long as I could remember" at Eisenhower Elementary School in Davenport, her daughter said from her home in Spring Hill, Fla.

"She put children first in everything she did," Haring said. "She just believed so much in what they were capable of."

Haring is back in Davenport this weekend to present the first Caryl Haring Memorial Scholarships — $1,000 for one student, $500 each for two others, with all recipients being education majors — at the Davenport  School Board meeting Monday night.

While she is in the area, Haring will show and share her musical talent. She will perform 7-9 p.m. Saturday on the Community Stage at the River Music Experience, 129 Main St., Davenport. Admission is free, but all donations and a portion of CD purchases will go to the scholarship fund. She also will conduct a free music workshop at 11 a.m. today at the River's Edge, 700 W. River Drive, Davenport.

Her most recent album both involves and benefits children. “Cruisin’ in My Wagon: A Journey Through Doo Wop, Pop and Swing” features songs with doo wop singers Bobby Hendricks, Steve Horn and Richie Merritt. The 18 songs, including the classics “Mr. Sandman,” “Up On the Roof,” “Summer Place” and “Under the Boardwalk,” include two original compositions co-written with her collaborator, Katia Valdeos. Valdeos also will be in Davenport for the workshop and concert.

"I really wanted the kids to hear this music, enjoy something that was upbeat, rhythmic, has a lot of harmonies," Haring said. "I call it a nostalgia album. Some of the song selections were shaped by my mother's musical interests and my father's musical interests."

That includes the 1910 song, "Oh, You Beautiful Doll," her mother's favorite. She died before hearing the recording, Haring said.

The album, released nationally this month, is Haring's ninth. Her previous album, "The Life and Times of Destiny Quibble," was released in 2011. It's a compilation of music she recorded under her stage name from 1982 to 2011. Haring followed her mother's path and has been a teacher, mostly of English for Speakers of Other Languages.

She is also the producer-director of World Nation, a group dedicated to "uplift humanity by providing a positive outlet for the creative expression of talented, but often overlooked, young people," Haring said. Several of the World Nation youth participate in the album.

Haring founded World Nation in Muscatine, where she formerly taught, more than 25 years ago. Her work, she said, keeps her mother's spirit alive.

"She was always encouraging her own kids, and she was just as encouraging to other peoples' kids," she added. "They were all important. If you were her student, you knew she cared about you and could see something in you and bring it out."

Content was pulled from the Go section of the Quad-City Times, Davenport, Iowa on June 6, 2013. Article by David Burke.