College announces Alumni Achievement Awards DANVILLE, KY - Centre College has named four persons as recipients of annual Alumni Achievement Awards. All were honored on campus on Saturday, Oct. 21, during college homecoming activities. Kevin Taylor, a 1985 Centre graduate who is vice president of Prudential Securities in New York, was tapped for the Young Alumnus Award. Three persons received Distinguished Alumni Awards. They are Don Blackburn, class of 1969 and founder of Beacon House in Louisville; David Ray, class of 1959, retired U. S. Secret Service agent, and Frances Cundiff Johnson, class of 1946, a retired missionary who lives in Campbellsville. Taylor's career in financial services has included a stint as a municipal bonds analyst with the Standard & Poor's Corporation. While at Centre, he majored in economics and management, and he subsequently earned a master's degree from Indiana University. Taylor has volunteered his time for numerous Centre activities, including the Admission Office matching program, the Alumni Association board of directors and the Brown Scholars leadership program. Blackburn founded and is president of the board for Beacon House, a non-profit residential center in Louisville that gives after-care treatment for persons trying to overcome drug and alcohol addictions. Blackburn and his wife raised $2 million to fund the house, which supports 34 residents. An attorney and entrepreneur, Blackburn has been associated with a number of business ventures, including O'Malley's Corner, the Oldenburg Brewery and Players. Ray joined the U.S. Secret Service in 1965 and remained with the service until his retirement in 1996. His assignments included security for President Richard Nixon, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and foreign heads of state during their visits to the United States. In 1978 he coordinated security for the Camp David Peace Accords. Ray managed security for four presidential inaugurations in Washington, and he served a decade as director of the Secret Service field office for Kentucky. Ray, who lives in Simpsonville, now runs a private security company. Johnson was active in foreign mission work for 29 years, helping to build a church and a religious printing service in Zimbabwe. She and her husband, Douglas, established the Central Africa Mission Evangelistic Literature Service to print and distribute hymnals, Sunday school supplies and other Christian materials in four languages. Johnson's husband died in 1989 and she remained in Africa working on her own until 1993. In the United States, she has served as a teacher and counselor. During homecoming weekend, Centre also inducted six persons into the Centre Athletic Hall of Fame. They are Valerie Ziegler, '76, Greencastle, Ind.; Michael Hall, '85, Danville; Kevin Lavin, '87, Louisville; Orin Teeter, '44, Morehead; the late Louis Seelbach of Louisville; and, as an honorary inductee, long-time faculty member Kitty Baird. - end - [Released Oct. 23, 2000] Communications Office Centre College 600 W. Walnut Street Danville, KY 40422 Public information coordinator: Patsi Barnes Trollinger Telephone 859-238-5719 - trllngrp@centre.edu News and Events Home Page