Distinguished Alumni named

PLYMOUTH - Final voting is complete and the Plymouth Alumni Association will induct three new members into the Plymouth Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame at the annual Alumni Banquet on June 15.

Suellen Glaub-Long

This year for the first time the Hall will welcome three inductees - from the class of 1945 Dr. Arthur Becknell Jr., from the class of 1949 Dr. Robert Vore, and from the class of 1959 Suellen Glaub-Long.


The format for inducting members was revised this year with the Alumni Association Board of Directors voting to revise the process to allow more than one member to be inducted per year without diminishing the difficulty of obtaining the honor.

"We have literally hundreds of nominees that are more than deserving of being in the Hall and many were nominated as far back as the 1990's or late 80's and are still waiting," said Rusty Nixon Director of the Plymouth Alumni Association. "We made the process a little more like the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, where you can have more than one inductee per year but it is still difficult to gain the honor."

Dr. Robert Vore

Under the new process an initial screening brings the list of nominees down to a ballot of 10 finalists that are then submitted to the final Selection Committee. Once on the ballot finalists will remain there for a period of five years and if they are not inducted during that time will have to be renominated for induction. Those inducted will be replaced by other nominees in the next year's screening process.

The Selection Committee is made up of local Plymouth graduates with a wide range of ages and occupations and the Board of Directors of the Plymouth Alumni Association. Members may vote for any number of finalists - just one or up to five - or may choose to vote for none if they feel that none are worthy of induction.

Dr. Art Becknell

In order to be inducted a finalist must appear on at least 60 percent of the ballots or wait for the next year for induction.

"The Pilot News and WTCA-AM have given us a big hand this year by publishing the bio's of our 10 finalists," said Nixon. "I think the community can see what our problem had been. We really have an extraordinary amount of worthy graduates and Plymouth Schools continues to turn out worthy candidates every year. Its incredibly difficult to choose just one inductee."

The new members of the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame will be introduced and honored at this year's Alumni Banquet to be held at Plymouth High School on June 15. Reservations for the event can be made online at http://plymouthalumni.blogspot.com/ or by email at plymouthschoolsalumni@gmail.com or by calling 574-952-4444.