Drive under way to save Rayen School mural

YOUNGSTOWN —The drive to save the 65-foot long mural that adorns an auditorium wall at The Rayen School is moving into full swing.

Harry Mays of Boardman, president of the Class of 1958 at Rayen that raised money to have the historic painting done, is heading up a fund drive to raise money to save it from the wrecking ball.

Rayen, erected in 1922, is scheduled to be razed at the end of this school year to make way for a new middle school.

Mays brought up the plight of the mural at a city board of education meeting in August, asking the board to take steps to save it — pointing out that it depicts 100 years of Rayen and Youngstown history from 1858 to 1958.

It was painted by John J. Benninger, an art teacher at Rayen at the time, and Mays said his class raised the $600 to $700 needed to buy the materials. Student artists assisted Benninger, he recalled.