The art work of Randolph "Randy" Rabenold, who taught art in the Jim Thorpe School District for 37 years, will be displayed in a special event Sunday at the Mauch Chunk Opera House.

The show, honoring Rabenold, will be 1-4 p.m. Rabenold turns 84 this month.His daughter-in-law Kim Rabenold said, "The Randy Rabenold Art Show will exhibit the collective works of local area educator, known to many as a living legend and an inspiration to many who have pursued art in their life, Milan Melicharek, Doug Rontz and Tracy Everett among the many."Rabenold, a resident of Lehighton, was named "Educator of the Year" by the Lehighton Chamber of Commerce in 1993 and Carbon County's "Veteran of the Year" in 1997 by the Marine Corps League.Rabenold submitted local sports cartoons to the Times News during the 1970s.He was a tutor for the Carbon County Volunteers for Literacy for six years in the 1990s.Randy also remains active in the Carbon County Senior Games.He and his late wife, "Ruthie," raised six children: Rebecca, writer and author; Randall a former secret service officer who owns an investigation firm in Charlotte, North Carolina; Rhonda of Allentown; Richard, an accountant for Redner's Markets; Ronald, a teacher in Lehighton; and Zach, a counselor with Behavioral Health Associates.They also have eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter."Rabenold's art roots were anchored in the Great Depression and baptized in the cruel winters of the Korean War," Kim Rabenold said. "His works bear witness to a soul born in stark loneliness, his subjects often faceless forms traversing shadows toward a destination unclear."Rabenold's art also intersected the sporting world. A founding member and director for 50 years of the Jim Thorpe Summer League and a basketball coach most of his life, Rabenold published over 100 sports cartoons featured in the Times News.Showing the lighter side of life, noting the milestones of athletes and their coaches, these cartoons contain snapshots into the feats and heartbreaks of the late 1970s sports scene.The show will include the pencil sketches of Rabenold, which he created while serving in Korea during the Korean conflict of the early 1950s. The drawings capture the daily life of defense of remote ridges of an unforgiving and rugged landscapeHe graduated from Lehighton High School in 1948, where he lettered in football, basketball and track. He was class historian and feature writer and cartoonist for the Leni Lenapian school newspaper. In high school, he was a Morning Call carrier and worked at Bowman's Rug Mill.He enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he served four years, including a year in Korea with the "First Marine Brigade," winning five battle stars and achieving the rank of sergeant.After discharge in 1952, he worked for a year at Blue Ridge Pressure Castings as a furnace man and married the former Ruth Haas. They were married 53 years until her passing in 2008.He then enrolled at Kutztown State Teachers College.He started teaching art in Jim Thorpe in 1957, where he remained until 1993, teaching all grades. He started coaching basketball in 1963 at the junior high and freshman level, and continued coaching until 1991.He was inducted into the Jim Thorpe Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, and remains on the induction committee.He was the supervisor of the Kemmerer and Memorial Park summer playground programs during the 1960s and early 1970s. He is the commissioner of the Jim Thorpe Adult Mens' Summer Basketball League at Memorial Park, which he has been with for 53 years. In 2009, the court was named the Randolph 'Double R' Rabenold court in his honor.