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T
he city of Muncie is at a crossroads as we, like most in the nation, struggle to reinvent ourselves in a changing economy. The auto industry on which we once relied is largely gone, but not our perseverance to not only survive but prosper. Thanks to the forethought of our ancestors, Muncie is on strong footing. We have a growing arts community, a lauded university and have taken steps in the right direction to protect our green space, rivers and neighborhoods. Most important, as you can see from the impressive list of Star Press Person of the Year nominees, we are taking care of our most precious assets — our people. Choosing the one person who stood out above all others in 2009 is an incredibly difficult task, one that requires intense scrutiny of motive and resources and a bevy of other nontangibles. But what it boils down to is this: Who best, of their own accord, put their heart and soul into the betterment of East Central Indiana without any expectation of personal or professional gain? We’re fortunate in Muncie that many in our community meet those standards. But there can only be one Star Press Person of the Year. We thank everyone who worked so hard in the past year to bring positive change to the issues near and dear to your heart. Please take time to thank those who’ve made a difference in your life, your organization or your neighborhood. Special thanks to the community members who joined The Star Press on the Person of the Year 2009 Committee: Gail Chesterfield, Traci Lutton, Jeff Ward, Lisa Nellessen-Lara, Heather Ault, Tom Rothrock and Gene Williams and the 2008 Star Press Person of the Year Donna Bookout. We also wish to thank our event sponsors — AEP Indiana Michigan Power, Ball State University, the Community Foundation, First Merchants, Muncie Sanitary District, Minnetrista Cultural Center and Normandy Flower Shop.
The 2009 Star Press Person of Year and finalists were honored January 26, 2010, at an awards dinner at the Horizon Convention Center.
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FINALISTS
LENETTE FREEMAN
Lenette Freeman’s story with the Cardinal Greenway began five years ago when she was asked to take over the helm of the organization at the most pivotal time in its history. Within a month, she received what for most would have been a life-altering cancer diagnosis. She never skipped a beat and poured her time and energy into the organization and its activities. Besides the day-to-day management of the Greenway business, including balancing the budget, guiding the board of directors, fundraising and serving as the face behind the trail, Lenette worked to develop the trail. Finally, after many years of hard work, Lenette and her staff raised the money to complete the 60-plus miles of the Cardinal Greenway, which when complete, will span from Richmond through Muncie to Marion. Today, about 250,000 people use the trail annually. Greenway staff predict the additional miles will bring numbers closer to a half million users and Cardinal Greenway will become the longest trail in the state of Indiana. The trail was important to Lenette, but even more so was the relationships she forged. A single mother dedicated to her three sons, she cared about everyone. She once told a friend that the cancer was a blessing in disguise in that it resulted in her getting to know people on a deeper level — “more than just, ‘Hello, how are you?’ “ And those who knew Lenette knew she truly cared about the answer. Says Cardinal Greenway board president Teresa Willman, “If I could achieve in my life a fraction of what Lenette accomplished in hers, I will consider my life a success.” Mother, friend, community advocate, Lenette died Sept. 21, 2009, at age 52. And the Cardinal Greenway will forever stand in testament to her dedication and perseverance — an example for all of what it possible.
PAM NICHOLAS
Pam Nicholas had dedicated her career to helping those with disabilities, but she holds a key place in her heart for the artists within this special population. For years, Pam has shared her devotion to the arts in Delaware and Madison counties through the Very Special Arts of Indiana. She has traveled the state as a master artist for VSAI, sharing her love and talents in fiber arts. She believes in hands-on learning and looks for every opportunity to engage her students and is perhaps most recognized for helping her students shear sheep, dye and spin the wool, and creating weavings that are “magical to the eye.” In 2009, Pam looked for a new way to bring attention to her students’ work. She pictured a gallery that could highlight the many works her students patiently created, to be admired by many more than would otherwise be possible. On Nov. 5, 2009, her dream became reality with the opening of the Jeanette Taylor Gallery of Artists. “Hugely received by the community, I witnessed first hand from my VSAI students ... the sense of accomplishment, their faces lit like a proverbial Christmas tree,” says nominator Debra Gindhart Dragoo. “I cannot gather the words to describe this stunningly beautiful gift (Pam) and her Hillcroft administrators gave to our community.”
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CHARLES MASON FINALISTS
Retired Episcopal priest Charles Mason has had several titles in his life, but few more rewarding, albeit unofficial” than that of “tree guy.” Charlie’s volunteer efforts to make Muncie a more beautiful place to live earned him the unofficial nickname. Charlie started his endeavors at West View Elementary School, when he stopped in Principal Kathy Ray’s office to offer his services. Charlie wanted to share his dream and love of nature and the environment with students and teachers. From that day forward, Ray says, Charlie developed a relationship with teachers and students that continues to bloom. Charlie and his volunteers cut down trees in a wooded area in the school yard to beautify the area and cut down on vandalism. He purchased seedlings and wood out of his own pocket and, with students, planted seedlings at the school. Charlie was not satisfied with stopping there. In 2009, he purchased and planted 600 trees around the community. He worked with organizations and agencies to plant them in parks, day cares and school yards. Charlie also found time to help save the Buley Center, helping beautify that area, as well. And he continued his work with the Eliminating Poverty Impact Coalition, speaking to churches and faith groups on behalf of the poverty work. He also personally mentors a family in poverty, encouraging mom and holding her accountable as she and her family make their journey out of poverty. “Charles is a man of integrity, well-respected community leader who cares about the community and leads by example,” writes two of many nominators, Cornelius and Mary Dollison. Throughout all of Charlie’s volunteer work, he continues to challenge his own assumptions about poverty in this country and is not afraid to speak openly about his convictions — helping create a stronger, more supportive community.
CHERYL LEBLANC
The thousand-plus people who gathered in downtown Muncie on New Year’s Eve probably didn’t know that they largely had Cheryl LeBlanc to thank. Cheryl is the woman behind the ball drop, which was created by her Phyxt Gears robotics team. The team is a collaborate effort of students and mentors from across East Central Indiana. With students coming from multiple school districts, across several grades, and without official school sanctioning, just gathering in one location would be a challenge for most. But for six years, Cheryl has helped the group prosper and created life-altering experiences for gifted students. The face behind the team, Cheryl has organized events, found mentors, applied for grants, searched for donations and spent hundreds of hours volunteering her time to help her young charges gain valuable life experience. Cheryl has not only helped teach her students, she has listened to their fears, encouraged their dreams and helped them reach their potential. With the team on solid footing, LeBlanc has decided that it is time to let someone else lead. But rather than walk away, she is actively recruiting a new leader to fill her shoes, no easy feat. “Cheryl is a real community treasure,” says nominator Christine Rhine.”
JOHN COX
If the measure of a man is his impact on others, John Cox has much of which he can be proud. An Adult Probation Officer with Delaware County Probation, John has helped mold countless men and women in his internship program. Soft spoken, John leads by example. And it is the way that he treats people that leaves the biggest impression. “The way John approached his job each and every day has left an impact on me for the rest of my life,” says nominator Scott Timmerman, an intern under John. “He treated every individual the same even though the ones he supervised were convicted of felonies. He did not belittle them, yell at them ...” “Instead, he helped them to the best of his abilities to get their life back on track. Each and every day was a learning experience, some about the job, but most about life.” John’s influence does not stop with the men and women he mentors, but also is seen in the remediation of the prisoners he oversees, many of whom continue to update him on their lives long after their probation period ends. John is making a difference in Delaware County one person at a time.
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extraordinary committed leader dedicated More finalist profiles on Page 10
AJANTA GOSWAMI
For some people, their career is simply that — a career. For others, it’s a calling that transcends their job. Ajanta Goswami has made children her life’s work and Muncie and the surrounding community are stronger for her efforts. As a child psychiatrist, Ajanta is a vocal advocate for children and families. But her efforts do not end at the office. She has hosted for more than a decade monthly meetings that bring together social service agencies and professionals to collaborate on ways to meet the needs of families. She has organized a variety of fundraisers to benefit the local community, most recently the Prevent Child Abuse conference in June. But she is probably best known for bringing the National Brain Bee Competition to Muncie, which promotes an interest in neurosciences in Muncie high school students. In every project, Ajanta makes sure that children have an opportunity to learn how to be better, more well-rounded, contributing community members. Each year, she works with local Indian students on a project of their choosing that will contribute something of value to an organization. Past recipients have included Motivate Our Minds, Caring Arts Foundation, and the Pediatric Rehab Center at Ball Memorial Hospital. “She believes that children should be involved in the community from a young age,” says one of several nominators, Srilatha Rajagopal. “Through these programs, our children have seen firsthand the value they add and the need for volunteerism in the community.” More than anything, Ajanta serves as a model for not only the children of Muncie, but the adults as well.
GREG MAYNARD
Greg Maynard is a builder. Whether it’s homes, relationships or neighborhoods, the community can count on Maynard to get the job done. He simply doesn’t give up. Greg started 2009 by being named the Weed and Seed site coordinator, a federal program designed to “weed out” the negatives in a community such as drug use and other crime and “seed it” with opportunities. Federal grant in hand, Greg hit the streets and immediately began knocking on doors to garner support. He brought in not only men and women likely to benefit from the program, but those with the financial and networking means to continue the initiatives of the program once the grant expires. Among his first-year successes, Greg has increased community interaction, identified 12 police officers to implement Weed and Seed strategies, identified criminals to participate in rehabilitation, held a neighborhood basketball tournament refereed by police officers, conducted open houses, created community gardens, conducted training sessions for offenders to learn how to deconstruct houses in lieu of demolishing, organized clean-up efforts and began a neighborhood restoration program. At the core of everything Greg does is people. Greg’s ability to draw people together was vital this past summer, when the city shut down the Tuhey Pool. He spearheaded a meeting of agencies with youth activities and more than 50 people from numerous agencies participated. Attendees discussed ways they could work together to offer opportunities during the summer to replace the void left by the pool’s closing. It was a collaborative effort rarely seen. “Greg has created a network of nonprofit agencies, businesses and government agencies who have all worked together for the betterment of Muncie,” says his nomination letter. “Not too many people can say they have been able to accomplish this entire cooperative feat within such a short period of time.”
FINALISTS
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Photo by Kurt Hostetler / The Star Press
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WINNERS
Mary and Cornelius
DOLLISON By JESSE TEMPLE
jtemple@muncie.gannett.com
I
t began with a frantic phone call for help from an old acquaintance more than 2,000 miles away. The news was not good, the caller had learned. Muncie’s two community centers on the south side of town were in big trouble. Due to budget cuts, the city was stopping its funding for each center at the end of 2008, including the 33-year-old Buley Center, an after-school safe haven for kids in the predominantly black Whiteley community. Now someone needed to do something before the Buley Center faded away for good and the kids had no place to go. Henry Fuse, a former Muncie resident living in California, could think of only one family for the job. So he placed a call to the home of Mary and Cornelius Dollison. “He said, ‘Mrs. Dollison, I don’t believe that you and your husband are letting the Buley Center close,’” Mary Dollison recalls. “I thought, ‘What? We are letting the Buley Center close?’ We weren’t connected with it.” His plea to the Dollisons was not the only one. Soon after, Mary and Cornelius received another phone call, this time from the parent of a Buley Center child. The people in town wanted — no, needed — the Dollisons’ help. See, the Dollisons have developed quite the reputation in Muncie over the years as ones never to abandon a challenge — particularly when it comes to helping members of their community. The two retirees consider it a calling of sorts. And this was yet another opportunity to assist those in need. As the Dollisons often tend to do, they decided to take on this difficult task, even though they were unsure as to where the funding would come from. “We tried to do the best we could with what we had to make the facility as nice as we could,” Cornelius says. They’ve more than met the challenge. After 13 months of devoting their time, energy and money, and persuading still others to chip in, the Buley Center is ➤ See PAGE 8
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WINNERS Mary and Cornelius DOLLISON
thriving. The center hosts computer programs and history classes for adults, as well as karate lessons and after-school programs for kids — due in no small part to the efforts of the Dollisons, who spearheaded the charge. “Every once in awhile, I just pause and I say, ‘I don’t see how two people can do all they do and keep up their family and their own lives,’” says Kay Stickle, a former Ball State professor who has worked with the Dollisons on a number of projects. “But Mary and Cornelius represent integrity, compassion for children and love of the community.” For their efforts, Mary and Cornelius Dollison have been named the 2009 Star Press People of the Year. *** Sam Abram likes to say the Dollisons are part of an exclusive group. “They’re in the club that I call the Giver’s Club,” says Abram, a former Muncie School District superintendent and Muncie Central graduate of 1956. Anyone who’s grown up in Muncie or lived there for at least a few years seems to share a similar take on Mary and Cornelius. “They’ve been there for years and years helping these kids and encouraging them,” says Hurley Goodall, a lifelong Muncie resident who served in the Indiana House of Representatives for 14 years. “No one else that I know of in the Muncie community has done
anything like that, particularly in the black community.” Both the Dollisons’ passion and leadership within the community are what strikes Sharon McShurley, the mayor of Muncie. “Once they make up their mind that they’re going to do something, they do it,” McShurley says. “And they show that through their own actions. They don’t expect someone to come in and help them.” Mary and Cornelius have been a special kind of team for the last 47 years. Cornelius, born and raised a Muncie resident, is the strong and silent type, an excellent electrician and builder, willing to lend a hand and provide support for Mary’s endeavors. Mary is the more outspoken of the two, always on the frontlines fighting for a particular cause. “Mary just uses a lot of energy,” Abram says. “We pray for her a lot because she’s just go, go, go.” Mary grew up in a small one-stoplight Louisiana town just north of New Orleans called Tangipahoa and first saw Muncie at age 12 on a family vacation with her grandmother. “I loved it,” Mary says. “We had so much fun. I thought this was the greatest place.” When she returned home to Tangipahoa, she begged her mother and father to consider moving the family to Muncie. A few months later, Mary’s father visited Muncie and thought perhaps that wasn’t such a bad
idea. He built a house in town, by Longfellow Elementary off Centennial Avenue, and the family headed to Muncie. Mary and Cornelius both graduated from Muncie Central in 1960, although they did not date at the time. “Really, we didn’t have any desire or anything to be involved romantically during high school,” Cornelius says. “But after high school, we had a chance to connect.” Two years after high school, Cornelius was looking to purchase a house. Mary’s father was a builder in town, so Cornelius came to him looking for help. But Cornelius got sidetracked along the way. “Instead of talking about the house,” Mary says, “he asked me if I’d like to go out for ice cream. I said yes.” The two married six months later, in September of 1962, a partnership that produced one son (Larry) and two daughters (Lisa and Lela). And they’ve been making their community a better place together every step of the way. *** This Buley Center makeover would’ve been a huge undertaking for any two people — enough to overwhelm most couples. For Mary and Cornelius, however, they had stood in a similar position before. “We knew what we were getting into,” Cor-
nelius says. Twenty-one years earlier, Mary began a program out of her living room called Motivate Our Minds (MOMs). Originally, it was a summer program for 16 middle school and high school students in the Whiteley community who wanted to learn during the months while they were out of school. But the program was wildly successful, and it continued to grow each year. Soon, it became an after-school tutoring organization. The program moved from house to house for six years before the Dollisons finally found a building to renovate in 1993, at 2323 E. Highland. Cornelius went to work restoring the facility, using his years of service as an electrician and handyman. And Mary coordinated the programs. “We learned from that process what to do differently and how to delegate and bring people on to help,” Mary says. “That was a good learning experience for us.” It also helped pave the way for the Dollisons to take charge of and organize the overhaul of the Buley Center, which temporary closed at the end of December 2008 when its funding was cut. They went about persuading anyone they could to chip in, transcending party lines and racial barriers. They asked members of the Whiteley Community Council for assistance in reopening the center. They went to City
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after-school program,” Mary says. “We got that going because that’s where my strength lies is with the children.” In total, the two helped raise more than $100,000 to pay maintenance costs at the building. A little more than one month after the city cut funds to the Buley Center, it reopened on Feb. 3, 2009. The Dollisons had saved the Buley Center, which continues to serve hundreds of adults and children every day. Of course, Mary and Cornelius don’t want Kay Stickle, a former Ball State professor who has worked with to take the credit for this, citing the help they the Dollisons on a number of projects. received from so many members of the community. Hall for grants. They connected with students Others know who’s largely responsible, and administrators at Ball State University. though. They used their contacts, and people in town “I would think the Buley Center would have were receptive. probably been gone by now had it not been Cornelius began fixing the restrooms, creat- for them and their persistence,” Hurley Gooding a storage area, installing new counter tops, all says. putting up shelves and fixing the lighting. When people are asked whether they’re “It was a lot of things that were in disrepair surprised that the Dollisons were able to acand just needed someone to take a look at it complish so much in such a short time, the and get things fixed up,” Cornelius says. “We answer is a resounding, “no.” wanted to try to have a first-rate center.” This is Mary and Cornelius, they say. What Mary, meanwhile, completely changed the else would anyone expect? curriculum at the center, using her 32 years as “When Mary and Cornelius get on somean elementary school teacher to add structure thing, they’re about as tenacious as a bulldog,” to the programming. She also helped to find Kay Stickle says. “They’re not going to let go, volunteers to aid in the teaching effort. and it’s going to come to something. They’re “We were determined to keep the children’s very special.”
“Every once in awhile, I just pause and I say, ‘I don’t see how two people can do all they do and keep up their family and their own lives. But Mary and Cornelius represent integrity, compassion for children and love of the community.”
WINNERS Mary and Cornelius DOLLISON
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DR. GEORGE BRANAM AND VIRGINIA NILLES FINALISTS
of the Ball Memorial Hospital Foundation Board and BSU’s Miller College of Business Entrepreneurship Advisory Board. Nilles serves as a member of the DreamTeam, on the Eliminating Poverty Initiating Coalition board, The city of Muncie finds itself at a crossroads as the 221 Committee for Muncie Community South it looks to transition out of its industrial roots. View Elementary School and on Muncie’s Unsafe Creating a formal plan for the city’s future, Building Authority. however, is no easy task. But in 2009, it became a The eclectic mix of the committees and boards necessity. on which they serve, and the projects they underBefore crafting a plan for the city’s future, comtake, show two people dedicated to munity leaders first knew the future of this community. they would have to overcome They both are heavily involved a mountain of obstacles in their professional endeavors, as before the community would well. But they agreed to take on not only buy into the plan, perhaps the biggest undertaking of but play the main role. their volunteer history. If they hoped to bring As both are wont to do, they Muncie residents to the table jumped in and quickly took charge for an honest discussion, of the MAP process, recruiting a they had to get past the broad base of support including politics and the city’s internal critics. It was agreed, Dr. George Branam and Virginia Nilles were the pair business leaders, educators and nonprofits to lead a series of sessions to garner information from comfor the job. munity residents. George and Ginny were named co-chairs of the These supporters garnered even more support, Steering Committee for the Muncie Action Plan. And within just a few short months, they pulled together bringing in friends, coworkers, neighbors and even an unprecedented group of people to help lead the strangers to the process. During a whirlwind week, these men and women process. listened to hours of testimony and hundreds of Their past leadership roles prepared them for ideas. The information gathered will be used to this massive undertaking. George has also served as chairman of Ball State decide the direction of Muncie’s future. George and Ginny and the MAP team have only University’s Human Performance Laboratory Medical Advisory Group, as vice president of the EDIT Board just begun, but they’re off to a strong start. We look for the Horizon Convention Center and is a member forward to seeing their exciting results.
TERRY WHITT BAILEY
The Star Press declared 2009 the Year of the Arts in anticipation of what was to come, but even we could not have predicted the explosion of the arts movement that came to take place. The three-day arts extravaganza in October was only the icing on the cake. As Person of the Year nominee Terry Whitt Bailey was often heard saying this past year, “The arts are alive and well in Muncie.” And if anyone is an accurate judge of the arts scene, it’s Terry, president and CEO of Cornerstone Center for the Arts. It was Terry who first envisioned the potential for what became the Governor’s Arts Awards celebration in Muncie. She knew what Muncie could do and passionately sold that plan to the Indiana Arts Commission, which chose Muncie as the host site. Terry has also learned the art of delegation, and put together a local team to make it happen under the direction of volunteers Marilyn Cleary and Monica R. Peterson. What resulted was a weekend full of activity including multiple receptions, gallery showings, classes and demonstrations. But that was not all the city accomplished during the year. Mayor Sharon McShurley declared the month of October National Arts and Humanities Month, opening the door to new economic development opportunities, and the city of Muncie is seeking cultural district designation. Terry is a constant advocate for the arts and was named Superconductor of the Muncie Symphony in 2009, raising thousands of dollars and more awareness of the outstanding organization. And her year was topped by being named the Athena Award winner for outstanding achievement, for her work in the arts, her church and in the community. Terry herself will say she is simply building on the work of those who came before her in the arts movement, and perhaps that’s true. If so, she has helped make that foundation even stronger for future generations.
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extraordinary committed leader dedicated CHERYL LEBLANC
DR. WAYNE L. GRAY
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BISHOP H. ROYCE MITCHELL
BOB AND STACY BALL
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JIM ARNOLD
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MARY L. DOLLISON
DR. THOMAS GIBSON
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CHRIS HIATT
DR. JOE KOSS
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MARTHA “MARTY” KENDRICK * * *
REV. CHARLES MASON * * *
DR. AJANTA GOSWAMI * * *
JOHN COX
ALICE CROUSE * * *
TYBALT KELLY * * *
DEBI HOWELL * * *
GREGORY “GREG” MAYNARD * * *
SCOTT PARKISON
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JOHN AND JANICE FISHER * * *
ERIC KELLY * * *
REV. JACK HARTMAN * * *
PAM NICHOLAS * * *
DR. GEORGE BRANAM AND VIRGINIA “GINNY” NILLES * * *
DR. THOMAS GIBSON
CAROL BUTTS * * *
JEANETTE TAYLOR
NOMINEES