Baylor to Present W.r. White Awards Oct. 25

Six recipients of the prestigious W.R. White Meritorious Service Award will be honored by Baylor University during the annual Membership Meeting of the Baylor Alumni Association at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, during Homecoming activities in the Jesse H. Jones Theater of the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.
Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. will present the award to Betty Beniteau Bell of Brownwood, Michael V. Bourland of Fort Worth, Ellen Stoesser Byrd of DeSoto, Gibson Gayle Jr. of Houston, Susie Grier Jaynes of Waco and Dr. James E. Wood Jr. of Waco.
The W.R. White Meritorious Service Award is given to any individual who has rendered outstanding service to Baylor.
Bell graduated from Baylor in 1959 cum laude with a bachelor's degree in accounting and went on to earn an master's of business administration in accounting from the University of Texas. She is currently a partner of Bell & Isbell, L.L.P. and is a member of the Texas Society of CPA's Member Quality Review Committee, The American Institute of CPAs and is President of the Educational Foundation of Texas Society of CPAs.
Bell also has been director of the Baylor Alumni Association, on the Alumni Board of Directors at the Hankamer School of Business, and is a member of the Baylor Development Council. She has been named Outstanding Committee Chairman and CPA of the Year by the Texas Society of CPAs' Dallas and Abilene chapters.
She and her husband, William W. Bell, also a graduate of Baylor, have two daughters Susan and Carol.
Bourland graduated with a bachelor's degree from Baylor '66 and with a law degree from Baylor Law School in '69. He is currently founding shareholder and president of the law firm of Bourland, Smith, Wall & Wenzel, P.C.
Bourland is a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Texas, is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Council, and the Texas Bar Foundation. In

addition to his many involvements, he also spends a significant amount of time contributing to various publications, as well as speaking in various forums throughout the United States for groups such as the American Bar Association, Baylor's Family Business Institute and the Texas Society of CPAs.
He and his wife, Linda Bourland, are members of University Baptist Church in Fort Worth, and have three children.
Byrd received her bachelor's degree in nursing from Baylor in '64 and is currently a home health nurse. She is on the advisory council of the Baylor School of Nursing, is a Life Member of the Baylor Alumni Association, and a member of Baylor Women's Council of Dallas.
Byrd is former alumni president of the Baylor School of Nursing and is involved with the Dallas Baylor Southwest Club and Presidents Club.
She is married to Bob Byrd, a '62 Baylor graduate, and is a member of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. She and her husband have four children and one grandchild.
Gayle graduated cum laude with a law degree from Baylor in '50 and received an honorary doctor of humanities in medicine from Baylor College of Medicine in '91. He is currently a Senior Partner at the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P.
Gayle has been president of the American Bar Endowment, on the Board of Directors of the American Bar Foundation, on the Board of Editors of the American Bar Journal, president of the State Bar of Texas, president of the Texas Young Lawyers Association, and Council Member of the International Bar Association.
He is recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Baylor, the Leon Jaworski Award from the Houston Bar Association Auxiliary, and the Humanitarian Award from the National Jewish Hospital. Gayle also is adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
He and his wife, Martha Wood Gayle, have five children and seven grandchildren.
Jaynes received her bachelor's degree in '58 and her masters degree in '88, both from Baylor. She has devoted much of her life to denominational service through Baylor, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and the Southern Baptist Convention. She has been on the Board of Directors for the Baylor Alumni Association, President of the Baylor Women's Athletic Cabinet, the Original Board of Directors for the George W. Truett Theological Seminary and is currently on its Board of Advisors.

In addition to these, Jaynes also has been on the Board of Directors for the United Way and for Fort House of the Historic Waco Foundation, and is an honorary member of Delta Kappa Gamma.
She and her husband Charles Ray Jaynes Sr., a '48 Baylor graduate, have four children and 12 grandchildren.
Wood earned his bachelor's of divinity, master's in theology, and doctorate from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in '47, '48, and '57. He is currently the Simon and Ethel Bunn Distinguished Professor of Church-State Studies at Baylor.
The professional activities Wood is currently involved in include president of the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, member of the Church Relations Committee for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council in Washington, D.C., member of the National Council of Churches Committee on Religious Liberty, member of the Religion-Crisis Task Force, and advisor for First Freedom.
In addition to the many professional societies that Wood is involved in, he also lectures on church-state relations and religious liberty in more than sixty colleges and universities, law schools, and theological seminaries throughout the world. He has received the Mortar Board Circle of Achievement Award, Outstanding Professor at Baylor, and the Religious Freedom Lifetime Award by Americans United.
Wood also has authored/edited 20 books and has made numerous contributions to volumes and journals.