Distinguished Dozens

Charlottesville Daily Progress
Published: January 3, 2008

The following Central Virginia residents have been honored by The Daily Progress as part of the Distinguished Dozen series.

1995
Fletcher Arnitt Jr., FUMA teacher and coach; Linda Bowen, youth baseball booster; Margaret McLeod Cain, attorney; Thomas J. Calloway, CHS basketball coach; Deborah DiCroce, PVCC president; Nancy Gercke, Charlottesville's preschool education coordinator; Edward W. Hook Jr., doctor and teacher at UVa; A.E. Dick Howard, constitutional scholar at UVa; Alicia Lugo, Teensight director; Fran Sackett, Live Arts artistic director; Charles Stickle, UVa hospital volunteer; Richard Wellbeloved-Stone, teacher at Living Education Center for Ecology and the Arts.

1996
Sonny Beale, Boy Scout leader; Rev. Bruce Aaron Beard, pastor of First Baptist Church; Lelia Brown, community leader; Eddie Dean, Madison County High School math teacher and football coach; Rae Ely, attorney and founder of Historic Green Springs; Vicky Generelly, Nelson County Rural Health Outreach Program nurse; Michael A. Mallory, UVa's director of minority recruitment; Marion Nolan, president of Charlottesville/Albemarle Foundation for the Encouragement of the Arts; Bert Roby, chief of Orange County VFD; Donna Selle, regional library director; Gabe Silverman, developer and arts booster; Vince Tornello, CHS band director.

1997
Dequeta Anderson, Abundant Life Family Center manager; Jasper Bell, Charlottesville fire educator; Fred Boyce, Prism Coffeehouse's booking agent; Shirley Cox, volunteer organizer; Judy Goetz, volunteer; Gary Greenwood, youth sports booster; Dr. Sharon Hostler, pediatrician; Mark Lorenzoni, businessman and fitness advocate; Tim Murphy, Orange County K-9 officer; Ginny Smith, leader of Compassionate Friends; Mack Tate, Yancey Elementary School principal; John Thomasson, Louisa businessman and community activist.
1998
Patricia Bottom-Delany, Venable Elementary School special-education teacher; Carl Brown, juvenile probation officer; Annette Grimm, director of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency; Robert V. Heffern, principal of Madison Primary School; Joy Johnson, public housing advocate; Heinz Kramp, founder of Innisfree Village, a home for brain-injured adults; Anna Mirra, Greene County Primary School volunteer; Dr. Mohan Nadkarni, Charlottesville Free Clinic co-founder; Martin Schulman, veterinarian; James W. Simmons, Charlottesville Municipal Band director; Julie Trueblood, interpreter for the deaf at UVa Medical Center; Albert Weed II, Nelson County community activist.

1998-1999
Ken Ackerman, executive director of Monticello Area Community Action Agency; Agnes Cross-White, publisher of Charlottesville/Albemarle Tribune; Joseph Frisina, Habitat for Humanity volunteer; Marcia Invernizzi, program director at UVa's McGuffey Reading Center; William Lewis, businessman and community leader; Janet Murphy, cancer survivor; Dr. Vito Perriello, pediatrician; Paul Rittenhouse, volunteer soccer coach and rescue worker; Jessamy Rouson, founder of Animal Haven; Betty Simon, volunteer at Runaway Emergency Shelter Program and Shelter for Help in Emergency; Edith Wheeler, enrichment teacher at Venable Elementary School and co-founder of Imani Project; Rev. James E. Woods, founder of First Bible Baptist Church and United Christian Academy.

1999-2000 (Distinguished Dozen of the 20th Century)
Raymond C. Bice Jr., UVa professor and administrator; Drewary J. Brown, civil rights advocate; Bernard P. Chamberlain, attorney and historian; Nan Crow, Charlottesville's recreation director; Dr. Halstead S. Hedges, founder of Martha Jefferson Hospital; Thomas Staples Martin, U.S. senator; Rebecca Fuller McGinness, teacher and community leader; Paul Goodloe McIntire, philanthropist; Rev. Frederick W. Neve, Episcopal priest and educator; Randolph H. "Pete" Perry, businessman and politician; Edgar F. Shannon Jr., president of UVa; A. Darden Towe, civic leader.

2000-2001
Mozell H. Booker, Burnley-Moran Elementary School principal; Elain Carlton, volunteer at elder-care facility; Stephen H. Helvin, district court judge; Greg Howard, musician and literacy advocate; Linda Krongaard-DeMong, nurse practitioner and patient advocate; Harry Porter, landscape architect at UVa; Mary Reese, director of Barrett Day Care Center; Sterling Robinson II, chef and community activist; Patricia L. Smith, director of Offender Aid and Restoration of Charlottesville-Albemarle; Lou Southard, state chief of forest protection; George Welsh, UVa football coach; Jim Wootton, local historian.

2001-2002
Suzanne Brower, founder of Pathway Volunteers, a program for Alzheimer's patients; Luvelle Brown, assistant principal and founder of Walker Academy for black male students; Robert Covert, diversity educator; the Dave Matthews Band, community benefactors; Mary Lee Embrey, Nelson County volunteer; Dr. Greg Gelburg, Downtown Family Health Care founder and physician serving low-income people; Robert Hammond, retired veterinarian and Ivy Creek Natural Area volunteer; Anthony Iachetta, engineering professor emeritus and civic activist; Robert S. Pace Jr., Fluvanna County animal care advocate; Deborah Pettit, Louisa County educator; Dr. Jo Ann Pinkerton, women's midlife health and menopause center founder and director; Debbie Ryan, UVa women's basketball coach and cancer research advocate.

2002-2003
Franklin Bacon, community volunteer; Dan Bieker, conservationist, Ivy Creek Natural Area volunteer; Juanita Wilson Duquette, owner of Wilson School of Dance; Gary Eisenhuth, science teacher at Western Albemarle High School; Miriam Green, nurse at Our Lady of Peace; Jim Hingeley, chief public defender for Charlottesville-Albemarle; Barbara Lachance, "soup lady" at Church of the Holy Comforter; Beth McPhee, Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA shelter manager; Alberto Ojeda, advocate for area's Hispanic community; Ivan Orr, executive director of the Music Resource Center; Helen "Sandy" Snook, community activist; Lillie Taylor, longtime cook at Nathanael Greene Elementary School.

2003-2004
Harold Boyd, Boys and Girls Club leader; Ray Caddell, real estate broker, community helper; Holly Edwards, parish nurse at Westhaven Clinic and Holy Comforter Catholic Church's soup kitchen; Dr. Raymond Ford, pediatrician, leads medical missions to Haiti; Sandra Levine, community volunteer; Marshall Pryor, community and civic service work; Ann Rooker, community volunteer; Barbara Shifflett, executive director of the Albemarle County Fair; Deirdre "Dede" Smith, director, Ivy Creek Foundation; Gordan and Mary Beth Smyth, funders of Nelson County students' education; Phillip Stinnie, CEO and president, Charlottesville-Albemarle Youth Club, basketball coach; Ruth Stone, executive director, Piedmont CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).

2004-2005
Dyan Aretakis, family nurse practitioner/ project director of the Teen Health Center; Dr. David Deviese, Madison dentist with many Medicaid patients; L. Dayton Haugh, chief of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad, lawyer; the Rev. Edward Hopkins, pastor of Hinton Avenue United Methodist Church and chaplain for the Charlottesville Police Department; Frances McQ Lawrence, helped establish the Rivanna Trails Foundation and the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center, lawyer; Peppy Linden, executive director of the Virginia Discovery Museum and community helper; Ellen Miyagawa, Fluvanna County Historical Society archivist and publications editor; Tom Powell, Toy Lift founder, community helper; Mildred Spicer, therapeutic recreation supervisor, Charlottesville parks and recreation; Juandiego Wade, Albemarle County transportation planner and community helper; William Washington, executive director and founder of the Bridge Ministry; Mary Ellen Wooten, provides care packages and other assistance to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

2005-2006
Lee and Paulette Albright, state agency watchdogs; Sonny and Debra Beale, Somali refugee helpers; James Taylor Beard, anti-poverty, civil rights activist; Judy Hunt, hospice volunteer; Cornelia Johnson, Charlottesville sheriff; Eric and Marcia Johnson, volunteer tutors; Oliver Kuttner and David New, Katrina relief organizers; Dave Norris, housing, low-income advocate; Cindy Payne, guidance counselor; David Strider, nurse manager; swim program volunteer; Carlos Teran, Hispanic community advocate; Karen Waters, Quality Community Council executive director.

2006-2007 (Teen Edition)
Brian Bills, senior, Charlottesville High School; Tyler Coppage, junior, Madison County High School; Ellie Craddock, senior, Monticello High School; Rebecca Dolan, senior, St. Anne's-Belfield School; Ashley Johnson, senior, the Covenant School; Kelly McDowell, junior, Orange County High School; Jessica Michelle Oliva, senior, Albemarle High School; Lucie Rhoads, senior, St. Anne's-Belfield School; Alicia Trice, senior, Albemarle High School; Michelle Walker, freshman, Monticello High School; Hunter Weaver, sophomore, Orange County High School; Sean Zimmer, senior, the Renaissance School.

2007-2008
Mary Birkholz, animal sanctuary operator; Jim Carpenter, photographer, volunteer; Janet Herman, Women's Four Miler volunteer; Jeanne McCusker, senior citizen helper; William Moors, Spanish-speaking physician; Steve Murray, provider of running trails for local teams; Rydell Payne, Prospect-area community worker; Rick Richmond, JABA board member, community volunteer, lawyer; Ed Russell, volunteer for local Alzheimer's Association; Eben Smith, Rivanna Trails Foundation volunteer; Josephine Whitsett, retired school guidance counselor; William "Whit" Whitten, musician/teacher.