Every year, in May, we present the Betty McCluer Lee Distinguished Service Award. The Betty McCluer Lee Distinguished Service Award acknowledges members for “high standards of diligence and dedication” to the well being of UUCT. Nominations for the award come from our congregational members, and the Board of Trustees votes to confirm the nomination.
Past award winners include:
1982 Harry Albertson
1983 Joyce Glauser
1991 Patricia McCracken
1992 Joyce Formica
1993 Hazel Peterson
1994 Gene Pizzo
1995 Jay Palmer
2005 Kathy Albury
2007 Ed Benedict
2008 Judy Lehman
2009 Pat Benedict
2010 Ara Rogers
2011 Bill Blymiller
2012 Joan Lund
2013 Fran Davin and Tempie Taude
2014 Marla Frazer
We are honored to have Ann Cook, the original Gerber baby, as member emeritus. After retiring from teaching, Ann Cook became a mystery novelist with her stories based in the Florida Gulf Coast. Ann was recently interviewed and you can learn more about her at:
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/26014496/meet-the-gerber-baby-87-years-later
MSC Chair
Joan Lund served on the Florida District Board of Trustees for six years culminating as the President of the District for two years. She continued her service for the next six years as the District Annual Program Fund Chair. In 2003 Joan was elected to the UUA Board of Trustees and continued her Trustee service until June, 2013. The Florida District awarded her the Lifetime Achievement Award for long and dedicated service to Unitarian Universalism at the April, 2014 District Annual Meeting.
Russell Kirby, Ph.D., M.S. is a USF Distinguished Professor. Dr. Kirby is the Marrell Endowed Chair in Community and Family Health, with a joint appointments in several departments in the College of Medicine. In April 2014, Dr. Russell Kirby was named a “Distinguished University Professor.”
UUCT member Fran Davin and her family relocated to Tampa in 1970. Her Florida professional career was centered on government service: She was elected to the Hillsborough County Commission in 1974 , serving eight years. She was a founding member of the Tampa General Hospital Authority, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, and the Tampa Bay Center for the Performing Arts. She was Vice President of Development at Tampa General Hospital before serving as Executive Director of the Tampa Parkway Association. In 1998, she was appointed to complete a term on Tampa City Council . Subsequently, she served as Special Assistant to Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio for four years.
Her commitment to community health and welfare issues is reflected in her former board memberships on The Spring, a center for battered women; the County Mental Health Center; the Tampa Housing Authority; Hillsborough County Hospital; Governor’s Council on Medicaid Reform; Florida Dept. of Education Advisory Council; and the Hillsborough County Homeless Coalition. She currently serves as Board Chairman of the MacDonald Training Center, Inc. Foundation, which serves the developmentally disabled. She was recognized for her business and civic accomplishments by being listed in the “Blue Book of Who’s Who in Tampa Bay”. I’m sure we left something out!