Jacksonville College Crowns Homecoming Queen


By Samantha Swindler - Progress City Editor
January 30, 2005


Jacksonville College's 106th homecoming weekend crowned both past and present student royalty.

During halftime of the men's basketball game against Lee College, sophomore Patricia Mayo was named the school's 2005 homecoming queen.

And, before the game, the Jacksonville College Ex-Student Association named its own "coming-home" royalty during a program Saturday morning.

This year, former student and teacher Kenneth Sheppard received the award.

Sheppard served in the public school system for 20 years and came out of his retirement to teach chemistry at Jacksonville College when a fellow teacher was injured in a car accident. He is active in the alumni association and is a charter member of the Purple & Gold Club.

"It's the greatest honor there is," Sheppard said of his award. "(Jacksonville College) has just been everything. I couldn't have done anything if I hadn't come to Jacksonville College to get started with my education. I just love being here. It's a family."

The alumni also presented President's Awards to pastors Harold Brunson and J.C. Henderson for their contributions to the community since graduating from Jacksonville College.

The college involved alumni in almost every aspect of its homecoming celebrations. A reception Friday night at the Norman Activity Center invited both past and present mens' quartet members to the stage.

The Senior Moments, a quartet made of up former Jacksonville College quartet members from the 1950s, performed old-fashioned Christian music, while their younger counterparts put new twists on the quartet tradition, singing their version of "Man of Constant Sorrow."

Jacksonville College Director of Admissions Johnnie Ross said the school relies heavily on the enrollment of alumni children. Gloria Chesser, who attended the reception, has four generations of family who have attended Jacksonville College.

"My dad, and then myself, and I had two daughters (who went) and I have a granddaughter there now," Chesser said. "It's a special place, and you make friends that never leave you. I met my husband here, and my daughters met their husbands here."

Chesser serves on the college's board of directors.

"The academics have changed a lot," she said. "We've come a long way."

Results from Saturday's basketball games will be in Monday's Daily Progress."


Samantha Swindler can be reached by phone at 903-586-2236 or via e-mail at news@jacksonvilleprogress.com