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CMC to Honor Five Alumni This Weekend

Editor
Posted 4/21/04

Five Central Methodist College alumni ' including a former publisher of the Fayette newspapers ' will receive Alumni Awards Saturday during reunion ceremonies at the college. The alumni awards are …

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CMC to Honor Five Alumni This Weekend

Posted
Editor
Five Central Methodist College alumni ' including a former publisher of the Fayette newspapers ' will receive Alumni Awards Saturday during reunion ceremonies at the college. The alumni awards are among the college's highest honors.

Recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award will be:
' Kay Callison of Columbia;
' Arthur Ray Cushman of Denver; and
' John Hert of Fayette.
' Receiving the Young Alumni Award will be John W. Brown of Springfield.
' Receiving the College Service Award will be Paul W. King of Springfield.

All will be honored at an Alumni Reunion Banquet, which begins at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, in the Parish House on the CMC campus. [It is the culmination of the college's annual Alumni Reunion Weekend. Classes to be honored this year include 1934, 1939, 1944, 1949 and 1954, in addition to those who served here during World War II in Navy V-12 units.]

The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to former CMC students who have distinguished themselves in their professions and in their service to the college and to society.

The Young Alumni Award is presented to alumni who have been out of college less than 15 years and have strong commitments to community and college service and have demonstrated high personal achievements.

The College Service Award is presented to an individual being recognized for 'exceptional, extensive and extraordinary' service to Central over a period of years.

The recipients are chosen from candidates nominated by the alumni, faculty, staff and friends of CMC.

John Hert

John Hert, retired publisher of The Democrat-Leader and The Fayette Advertiser
John Hert is the retired editor-publisher of The Democrat-Leader and The Fayette Advertiser. For 35 years, with wit and insight, he chronicled newsworthy events of Howard County and spearheaded Fayette community betterment efforts.

In 1938, he began his association with the Fayette newspapers, then published by Wirt Mitchell '16 and Bertie McClintic Mitchell HP'11, working part time as a Central College student doing general reporting.

He had intended to transfer to a school of journalism after two years at Central, but found he received invaluable training (and a pay check) at what he and others called 'the Mitchell School of Journalism.' He completed the bachelor of arts in 1942, while gradually assuming a larger role on the Fayette papers.

After working for United Press, later UPI, in Chicago, St. Paul, and Detroit for six years, Hert returned to the Fayette newspaper desk as a partner of the Mitchells in 1948. Following the death of Wirt Mitchell in 1955, he continued in partnership with Mrs. Mitchell until 1964, when he became sole owner.

Under his editorship, the papers received regular citations as 'Blue Ribbon Newspapers' by the Missouri Press Association. Other awards recognized the fine quality of the papers, however Hert found the most satisfying rewards were successful community projects such as the Howard County Courthouse remodeling, CMC fund-raising campaigns, school bond issues, or tax increases for city water and sewer projects.

One of the most significant was the campaign for construction of Keller Memorial Hospital. The full editorial support of the newspapers combined with the work of many Howard County citizens resulted in an enthusiastic six-to-one approval for the needed bonds. Hert did not regularly write editorials, fearing they might 'degenerate into mawkish praise or needless criticism' under the pressure of deadlines, but he did not hesitate to produce an editorial when he deemed the occasion demanded one. Once while traveling in Rome, he received via airmail the newspaper report that the city council was considering parking meters. He immediately wired home an editorial opposing the meters.

As the newspaper editor-publisher, Hert worked in many community organizations and served as president or secretary of most. Service included the Fayette Library Board, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Fayette Rotary Club, as well as many ad-hoc fund-raising drives to attract businesses and services.

During Fayette's sesquicentennial in 1973 he published a yearlong series of historical articles. For many years he faithfully served CMC as an Alumni Board member and as an Alumni Awards Committee member. Under Hert's tutelage, dozens of Central students with aspirations as journalists received training and practical experience in the business. For many years the newspaper did the composing work for The Central Collegian.

Born in California, Mo., Hert attended public schools there, establishing a high school newspaper, modeled perhaps on The California Flower, the newspaper he hammered out via hunt and peck on an old upright manual typewriter at the age of eight. At Central he was a four-year member of the staff of The Central Collegian and was its editor in 1941-42. A member of the Marching and Concert Bands, he was active in Scribblers and Phi Rho Kappa, a philosophy honorary. He served as class president one year.

Hert and his late wife, the former Mary Byrd Bloom, are the parents of three children, William F. of Fayette, Carolyn J. of Columbia, and Dr. Susan E. of Seattle, Wash., and two grandchildren, Tyler and Alice of Columbia. His sister, Margaret Hert Harper '40, was also a Central graduate. Although his wife was not an alumna, she had close ties to the College. Her father, Dr. William A. Bloom, was on the medical staff for many years, and her mother, Frances McMurry Bloom '26, was a daughter of Bishop William F. McMurry, Central president from 1924 to 1930.

Over the years Hert's hobbies have included golf, tournament bridge, and crossword puzzles. In retirement (he sold the newspapers to H. Denny Davis '48 and Barbara Davis in 1984), he created crossword puzzles for Dell Publishing Co., the primary publisher of puzzle books, until his eyesight failed. Always an omnivorous reader, particularly of mysteries, histories, and biographies, he continues to read via audio books.

Reflecting on his career, John Hert commented, 'I am one of the lucky ones. I'm doing exactly what I always wanted to do.'

Kay Callison

Kay Callison is the founder, director, producer, and publisher of the American Audio Prose Library (AAPL), an internationally recognized, award winning, nonprofit arts organization in Columbia. AAPL has recorded the first and only comprehensive and accessible audio collection of contemporary American prose artists reading and discussing their work.

Callison founded AAPL in 1980 to help preserve and promote the writings of American prose artists through in-depth interviews and author readings. For 18 years she successfully secured grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Missouri Arts Council, the Missouri Humanities Council, and other foundations to fund AAPL.

She recorded 137 contemporary prose artists including Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, National Book Award winners Alice Walker, Robert Stone, and E.L. Doctorow, and Pulitzer Prize winners John Hersey (one of only two interviews he ever granted), Wallace Stegner, N. Scott Momaday, Jane Smiley, and William Kennedy (recorded three days after he won the Pulitzer).

From the beginning Callison sought interviews with a broad range of writers ' celebrated writers, minority writers, women writers, emerging writers, writers as diverse as James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, Norman Mailer, Grace Paley, Chinua Achebe, and Erskine Caldwell. Many she interviewed before 'they became cultural icons.' The AAPL format is a reading by the author of a mutually agreed upon, unabridged selection of prose, followed by a thoroughly researched, in-depth interview. The interviews establish a permanent record of working writers' lives.

Callison was determined to disseminate the recordings as widely as possible. AAPL produced and Callison hosted a weekly spoken word radio program on KOPN in Columbia for 20 years. 'Different Voices' featured programming produced from the AAPL collection. AAPL also produced an ongoing series of 59-minute radio programs, 'The American Prose Series,' for national distribution to more than 100 public and community radio stations and to reading services for the blind.

The Missouri Review published print versions of 28 AAPL interviews and the University of Missouri press published a collection of 17 of them, Conversations with American Novelists, in 1997. AAPL interviews are cited, excerpted, and printed in anthologies, scholarly publications, and reference works.

Callison is an active community volunteer. She has chaired the Columbia Commission on the Arts for five years, served on the Missouri Arts Council Literature Panel, and volunteered for the Columbia Humane Society. She is a founding member of the Missouri Center for the Book and coordinated its first annual celebration. She has served on the board of KOPN and as interim general manager. Currently she serves on the State PAIMI Advisory Council for Missouri Protection and Advocacy Services and on the Boone County Mental Health Board of Trustees. A past president of the Columbia Muleskinners, she is active in the Democratic Party.

At Central, she earned the bachelor of music cum laude with a major in voice in 1963. A member of Phi Beta, national professional fraternity for women in music and speech, she sang in the Choir and in College operas and musicals. Following graduation, Callison studied voice at the New England Conservatory of Music. She earned a master of arts in English literature from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1968 and later completed all requirements except the dissertation for a doctorate in American and Modern Literature. MU honored her AAPL work with the College of Arts and Science Distinguished Service Award in 1998.

Currently Callison is a grants officer for the Missouri State Library. She and her husband, Michael Naughton, live in Columbia.

Arthur Ray Cushman

Arthur Ray Cushman, class of 1930, had a successful career as merchant and realtor, but his life's work is community and charitable service, first in Maryville, and now in Denver, Colo. Daily, he lives the Central Methodist College mission of social responsibility ' service to make a difference in the lives of others.

Cushman came to Central in 1926, graduating with the bachelor of arts in biology and education in 1930. At Central he joined Company M, 138th Infantry, Missouri National Guard, attaining the rank of second lieutenant. He excelled in athletics earning letters in three sports, football, basketball, and track. An active student, he served as vice president of the C Club, assistant business manager of the Ragout, treasurer of the student body, and treasurer of the Aristotelian Literary Society. His fellow students voted him Mr. Popularity in 1930.

In 1931 he joined the newly created Missouri Highway Patrol. Then he worked as a college admissions officer for William Woods College, where he met his first wife, faculty member Cathran Furby. Called to active duty at the beginning of World War II, he served with the Army Air Corps in Hawaii and Guam attaining the rank of major, later lieutenant colonel in the Reserves.

After the war, he opened Cushman Tire & Appliance in Maryville, with his brother Orum 'Bud' Cushman and then in 1968 established Cushman Realty, which he operated until retirement. In Maryville he helped organize and led progress-oriented groups which worked to improve schools, parks, and services, to attract industry, and to beautify the city. He joined the Lions Club. He worked tirelessly to improve his community. In 1977, the Maryville Chamber of Commerce honored him with the Distinguished Service Award and in 1979 the State of Missouri awarded him the Governor's Certificate of Merit.

Ray Cushman and his late wife, Cathran Furby, are the parents of two children: Ann Lovell Cushman Scott of Box Elder, S.D., and John Douglas Cushman of Lewisville, Tex. In 1982, Cushman returned to Central for Reunion Weekend a widower and renewed the friendship of college days with Florence Moser Downing '32, a widow. Later that year they married and Cushman moved to Denver.

In 1993, Mrs. Cushman received the Distinguished Alumni Award and she and Ray established the Cushman Scholarship at their alma mater. Over the years, he has also served Central as class agent, campaign class chair, and reunion organizer.

In Denver, Cushman continued his good works. A lifelong Methodist, he transferred his membership from the First United Methodist Church of Maryville to Christ Church in Denver. He began volunteering at Warren Village, a community program of the United Methodist Church that provides transitional family support services, affordable housing, and quality childcare for low-income, single-parent families. In 1999, Warren Village dedicated their administrative and community service building as the Ray Cushman Family Center, honoring his two decades of devoted leadership and service. He continues to serve as trustee.

Cushman has also long volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. In 1994, Habitat recognized that selfless service by establishing the Ray Cushman Award to honor outstanding volunteers.

With fellow Denver Lion, Bob Appleman, Cushman initiated the campaign that after 10 years culminated in a $6 million donation from the Lions Clubs of Colorado and Wyoming to establish the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Institute on the University of Colorado Health Sciences Fitzsimons campus in Aurora. The Institute, dedicated in 2001, serves as a clinical care center for patients with diseases affecting vision and provides advanced education for residents, graduate medical students, and ophthalmologists in the region. The Melvin Jones Fellow designation recognizes Ray Cushman's service and 57 years of perfect attendance at Lions' meetings and functions. The State of Colorado has honored him as the 1994 Volunteer of the Year. Today at age 96 Ray Cushman still devotes full time to serving others.

Young Alumni Award

John William Brown, class of 1994, is the lead news anchor at television station KSPR, an ABC affiliate in Springfield, Mo. He anchors 'Springfield 33 News Live at Five' and 'Springfield 33 News at Ten.' He also co-hosts a morning radio show on KADI, writes for business publications, and keeps a demanding speaking schedule.

After graduating from CMC in 1994 with the bachelor of science degree in biology, Brown modeled and worked in health club sales in St. Louis. He moved to Miami, Fla., to pursue opportunities as an actor and model and 'fell in love with the radio broadcasting industry.' He landed a job at Sports Radio 560, WQAM, where he broke into professional sports broadcasting in his first year. He became a producer for the Florida Panthers the year they played in the Stanley Cup (1996), the Florida Marlins the year they won the World Series (1997), and the Miami Dolphins Radio Network with head coach Jimmy Johnson. Later he produced the morning show on WQAM and worked as a sports reporter and anchor.

Brown moved back to St. Louis in 1997 to work at KSD-FM with two successful radio personalities and entrepreneurs, JC Corcoran and Smash. He also worked as a network radio reporter for Metro News Networks. In March 1999, Brown moved to Pennsylvania to host his own morning radio talk show on WZWW. Months later, in October, the opportunity to work as a news anchor at KSPR lured him to Springfield. 'The Morning Scoop' debuted in January 2000 and the evening news position opened in June 2001.

In addition to his regular broadcasting, Brown does in-depth reports on personal money and business financial issues in a weekly business series called 'Springfield 33's First on the Money.' He also hosts special programs. Last year KSPR received the Special Program Award from the Missouri Broadcasters Association for their Sept. 11th memorial, 'Springfield Remembers.'

John Brown has developed popular presentations on professional development, 'The 9 Keys to Personal and Professional Success.' Last year he spoke to thousands of students and seminar attendees at numerous programs and seminars. He is working on a book and tape series dedicated to the '9 Keys' and is currently writing three other books: 'How to Use the Media to Grow Your Business,' 'Famous Faces, Missouri Places,' and 'Springfield 365.' All the books are scheduled for publication this year or in 2005.

At CMC Brown earned varsity letters in golf and basketball. He was active in the Student Government Association, in Alpha Epsilon Delta, the national pre-medical honorary, and in Alpha Phi Gamma social fraternity. As a CMC alumnus, Brown has actively supported his alma mater by serving on the Alumni Board for three years, including the year 2003 as vice president, and by hosting tailgate parties in Springfield for the CMC-Evangel College football games.

In addition to his volunteer work with CMC, John Brown works with a number of charities in Springfield. He serves on the local boards of the American Red Cross, the Boys and Girls Club, the American Heart Association, the Sertoma Club, and the Special Olympics. The Sertoma Club recognized his professional achievements and volunteer work by naming him Springfield Man of the Year in 2001. Brown has continued graduate studies at Saint Louis University and at Barry University in Miami. He and his wife, Teresa, have a 17-month old daughter, Lauren.

The College Service Award

Paul Wendell King, class of 1968, is founder and senior partner of King & Dade, a law firm in Springfield which exclusively represents management clients in the field of labor and employment relations law.

King's primary practice areas include the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements and the related enforcement of those agreements through binding arbitration proceedings; defending businesses against employment discrimination claims before federal, state, and local agencies and in any subsequent court litigation growing out of those proceedings; representing companies in both federal and state wage-hour investigations; and the day-to-day counseling of clients concerning personnel and employment relations issues.

King is admitted to practice in the State of Missouri and before the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He has been a member of the Missouri Bar and the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association since 1973. Since 1974 he has been a member of the Missouri Bar Labor Law Committee. In addition, he shares his expertise through seminars and management training programs in the areas of collective bargaining negotiations, federal wage-hour law, sexual harassment, employee discipline and discharge, and general personnel administration.

A scholarship student at Central, Paul King graduated with the bachelor of arts cum laude in business administration. Between college and law school he served in the Army, stationed at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he helped implement the Academy's first private fund-raising program. He received the J.D. degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law in 1973.

At CMC, King participated in many student activities. He was president of the senior class and of Woodward Hall council. For four years he played varsity football and baseball. He served as president and secretary of Sigma Alpha Chi social fraternity. An honor student, he earned membership in Phi Beta Lambda, national business fraternity; Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, national men's music fraternity; Pi Gamma Mu, national social science honorary, and Omicron Delta Kappa, national leadership honorary.

As a senior, he earned recognition in Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges and Sigma Epsilon Pi, senior scholastic honorary, and received the Estes Prize for athletics, the Noble Emmett Baskett Prize in Business for the outstanding research paper, and the Selecman Achievement Award for outstanding senior. His fellow students elected him Homecoming King and his fraternity brothers named him 'Sigma Alpha Chi Man of the Year.'

King continued his interest and involvement after graduation. He hosts events for CMC alumni and friends in the Springfield area and helps to recruit students. He helped organize the 1960s 'Undistinguished Alumni' who gather at an annual reunion, usually at the Lake of the Ozarks.

In 1980, he established the Paul W. King Scholarship at the college, increasing it to a Hall of Sponsors Scholarship in 1986, and thus becoming Central's youngest Hall of Sponsors donor. CMC's Beta Mu Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia honored King with it Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1987.

In 1992, he established the James M. Luetjen Scholar Athlete Award to honor his coach and teacher, now professor emeritus of physical education and director emeritus of athletics. In 1998, King delivered the Gaddis Lecture on 'Modern Aspects of Collective Bargaining.' Since 1987, he has served three four-year terms on the CMC Board of Curators.

King grew up in St. Louis and learned about labor-management issues from his father, James R. King, who was a field examiner for the National Labor Relations Board.

He enjoys singing bass with the Springfield Music Company Barbershop Quartet, a comedy quartet he helped found in 1974. King and his wife, Gail, and their 11-year-old triplet sons, Brian, Eric, and Todd, live in Springfield.

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