Graduofion
Exercises
Conducted
In New
Jesse Helms
Center
One hundred ninety-eight students receiv
ed degrees and diplomas and an Ahoskie
resident, Randy Britton, accepted the
Distinguished Alumni Award as Chowan
College closed its 133rd year with com
mencement exercises Sunday, May 17 in
Helms Center.
Commencement speaker, Dr. Raleigh
Godsey, left the graduates “lessons about
time,” in his words. He said that human
triumph does not he merely in living a long
life, but in the quality of life a person lives.
“We are not likely to be known by the
number of days we lived but by the way we
lived those days,” noted Dr. Godsey. “I
judge it to be a serious distortion of the truth
to say that we live in time. It would be bet
ter to say that time lives in us.”
The Mercer University president said that
human triumph lies in becoming a “ force
for love, integrity, humaness, hope and
respect.
“In the face of all of our progress, in the
face of all of our achievements, in the face of
computers and space probes, genetic codes
and cancer cures, we are left with this sim-
pleTmatter - the course of our own lives, the
course of our history depends on what you
and I judge to be important and there lies
the human triumph.”
The morning toccalaureate speaker and
Murfreesboro resident, Dr. Ben C. Fisher,
reminded the graduates “there is a power
and resource available to you over and
beyond the power of wisdom, knowledge,
teaching, books and learning.”
He said that by remaining close to this
transcendent power the graduates would
receive the strength needed to meet their
own personal needs and also to make a con
tribution to a world desperately in need of
love, light and hope.
The retired chief executive officer of the
Southern Baptist Convention’s Education
Commission said the world’s great need is
for Christians to show concern for those in
need, including the aged and mentally and
physicaUy ill, and to fight prejudice and
work to improve race relations.
The Distinquished Alumni Award is
presented to alumni for their contribution to
Chowan and religious, educational and civic
causes. Britton is vice president and general
manager of Carolina Aluminum Co. in Win-
ton.
In presenting the award to Britton, Dr.
Whitaker stated, “Chowan is proud to claim
Randy Britton as an alumnus and to com
mend him to you for his dedication and ser
vice to his community, alma mater, and
church.”
He continued, “In all of his many com
munity endeavers, he keeps the interests of
Chowan College in mind.”
A Menola native, Britton graduated from
Chowan in 1%0. He is a former chairman
and present member of the Hertford county
commissioners. His community service also
includes chairman of the March of Dimes
for many years; vice chairman of the
Roanoke-Chowan Technical Institute Board
of Trustees; member of the Finance Com
mittee of the State Board of Education; and
director for the Gaston Carolina Chamber of
Commerce.
Britton is a member of the Ahoskie First
Baptist Church where he has served as
chairman of the Board of Deacons and Sun
day school director.
His service to Chowan includes past presi
dent and member of the Board of Directors
of the Alumni Association. He is currently a
member of the college’s Board of Trustees.
He is married to the former Mary Anne
White of Aulander and they have one son,
Timmy and two daughters, Malinda and
Michelle.
Noted Dr. Whitaker, “Randy Britton has
made a significant contribution to improv
ing the quality of life in Hertford County and
northeastern North Carolina through his ac
tive participation in the life of the communi
ty.”
Graduate Receives Second
'Outstanding Teacher' Award
Chowan graduate, Patricia Elizabeth Watson Keith, Class
of 1961, received the Hardbarger Junior College of Business
“Outstanding Teacher” Award diu'ing graduation exercises in
June in Raleigh. The award is based on annual student body
evaluation and vote prior to graduation.
Mrs. Keith was also the recipient in 1978. She is an instruc
tor in the General Studies Curriculum, teaching Old Testament,
New Testament, psychology, sociology, philosophy, and
English courses.
She also graduated from Greensboro College and
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mrs. Keith also
teaches philosophy and logic in the Campbell College
Transferee Program at Central Carolina Technical College in
Sanford.
Mrs. Keith and her husband Marvin, son Owen, and
daughter, Nicole, live in Fuquay- Varina. They are members of
Fuquay- Varina Baptist Church, where Mrs. Keith teaches a
Sunday School class.
'A*
Wootens Establish
Memorial Scholarship
Mathematics professor, Ed Wooten, and
his sister, Greta Wooten Price of Hollywood,
Fla., have established the J. Sherrill Wooten
Scholarship at Chowan College in memory
of their father.
The academic scholarship will provide an
annual gift of $250. The recipient will be
selected by the College’s scholarship com
mittee, with preference given to students
from Yadkin, Surry and Wilkes counties.
J. Sherrill Wooten was bom in 1912 in
Yadkin County. He was employed by the
Chatham Manufacturing Co., in Elkin for 45
years. He was an active member, leader
and Sunday school teacher in the First Bap
tist Church of Jonesville for most of his life.
Wooten died December 24,1980.
Mrs. Vesta B. White,
Class of 1918, Dies
Chowan alumna, Mrs. Vesta Benthall
White, 82, class of 1918, died May 21,1981 in
Southampton Memorial Hospital, Franklin,
Va. She lived in Conway and was a member
of Conway Baptist Church.
A native of Northampton County, she was
the widow of Dr. R. Kelly White, Baptist
pastor and the first president of Belmont
College in Nashville, Tenn. He served as a
Chowan advisor.
She worked ;losely with young people,
both at the four churches pastored by her
husband and at Belmont College.
Mrs. White received the Distinquished
Alumni Award from Chowan College during
graduation exercises in May, 1970.
Survivors include nieces and nephews.
Happiness at Graduation
With degree in hand, Kathy DeHart is congratulated by her mother immediately
following graduation exercises in the new Jesse Helms Center. Kathy received
her associate degree in Printing Technology.
For July, 1981
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