Friday, September 26, 2008
Roanoke woman heads global group
Have you heard?
JoAnne Poindexter
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About 120 friends, family members and members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows will be on hand Saturday for a testimonial dinner honoring Roanoker Judy Gordon, the recently elected president of the International Association Ladies Auxiliary Patriarchs Militant.
Gordon began her yearlong tenure in August during the annual session of the auxiliary, a branch of the Odd Fellows fraternal order, in Winnipeg, Canada.
A retired Roanoke County educator, Gordon joined the Odd Fellows in 1986 and has held officer positions on the local, state and international levels of the lodge and its auxiliaries. She is a member of Harmony #36 Rebekah Lodge, Lynchburg #16 and Roanoke #11 Ladies Auxiliary Patriarchs Militant.
Gordon, who retired in 2006 after 39 years in education, taught physical education at the old Hardy Road Elementary School (now W.E. Cundiff Elementary) in Vinton and was assistant principal at Glen Cove Elementary.
The Odd Fellows, started in England by a group of men who performed good deeds anonymously, support charitable efforts by the Education Foundation, SOS Children's Villages in Cambodia, Living Legacy, Arthritis Foundation, Visual Research Foundation, United Nations Educational Pilgrimage for Youth.
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Two Roanoke area women were honored in Washington, D.C., last week for their volunteer service. They were among 150 volunteers from across the United States involved in crisis pregnancy center ministries to receive President's Volunteer Service Awards, which were issued by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.
Laura Wilbon of Buchanan began volunteering for Roanoke's Blue Ridge Women's Center four years ago. She said she thought she would be filing papers but instead has been a volunteer counselor and is a nurse trained in limited ultrasound and said she was thrilled to be honored.
Debra Williams of Roanoke received a Lifetime Service Award. She's the treasurer of the board of directors and has been a volunteer for more than 24 years.
Blue Ridge Women's Center staff members nominated Wilbon and Williams for their awards. The Blue Ridge Women's Center offers free pregnancy tests, counseling, sonograms, maternity and baby clothes, and baby furniture.
Joxel Garcia, the assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, handed out the certificates.
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Three people who have been instrumental in the construction of many Roanoke-area businesses and the infrastructure in the region will be inducted into the Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia's Hall of Fame Oct. 14.
Rindy and Sam Lionberger of Lionberger Construction, the first husband and wife laureates, and Bill Branch of Branch Management will be honored during JA's 18th annual Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame banquet at Hotel Roanoke.
The JA board of directors established the hall of fame in 1990 to honor business leaders and to provide business role models for the region's youth. Laureates are chosen based on their business success and their community contributions and involvement. They must be retired or semiretired or no longer occupy the position in which their principal business contributions were made.
This year's honorees all had children who attended schools in Southwest Roanoke County.
The event costs $100 per person or $1,000 per table. For more information, call 989-6392 or e-mail info@ja.roacoxmail.com.
Freelance writer Beverly Amsler contributed to this column.
