Baylor to Present W.r. White Awards Oct. 31
WACO, Texas - 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. 31, during Homecoming activities in the Jesse H. Jones Theater, located in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.
Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. will present the award to Roy L. Barrett of Waco, Monsignor Mark Deering of Waco, Jack K. Dillard of Austin, Margaret S. Mills of Waco, Pam Dial Taylor of Temple and Grant Teaff of Waco.
The W.R. White Meritorious Service Award is given to any individual who has rendered outstanding service to Baylor.
Roy L. Barrett is a partner in the Waco law firm of Naman, Howell, Smith & Lee. He has represented Baylor many times in litigation and other legal matters, including the preparation and implementation of the 1990 charter revisions. He has served as member of the executive committee of the State Bar of Texas and was president of the Texas Young Lawyers Association. A 1967 graduate of Baylor, he graduated from Baylor Law School first in his class in 1969 and was editor-in-chief of the Baylor Law Review. He and his wife, Kemberly also a Baylor graduate, have three daughters.
Monsignor Mark Deering is the founding pastor of St. Louis Catholic Church in north Waco. Born in Ireland, he first came to Waco in 1953. He has served as president of the Waco Ministerial Alliance and the Waco Conference of Christians and Jews and is a member of the Knights of Columbus. He served on the Sesquicentennial Council of 150 and, in 1995, was one of Baylor's ALUMNI BY CHOICE.
Jack K. Dillard is the regional director of government affairs for Philip Morris Management Corporation. He has been with the company since 1989 and was previously manager of
governmental affairs and legal counsel for Tenneco Inc. Dillard is a 1972 business graduate of Baylor and a 1973 graduate of Baylor Law School. He received the Outstanding Young Alumni award in 1988 and is past president of the alumni association.
Margaret Mills, the executive director of Downtown Waco, Inc., is the driving force behind the revival of Waco's downtown. She also was important in the renovation of the historic Hippodrome Theater and has been an effective fund-raiser for local and state philanthropies and candidates. A 1963 graduate of Baylor, Mills has served as the chair of the Texas Commission on the Arts and is currently chairman of the Cultural Trust for Texas. She also has been on the boards of numerous local charitable, cultural, and business groups. Her husband, Coke, a 1965 Baylor graduate, is a local attorney and her son is a student at Baylor Law School.
Pam Dial Taylor of Temple is a 1967 graduate of Baylor and has been president of the Central Texas Chapter of the Baylor Alumni Association since 1993. She has implemented many programs to benefit alumni, students and parents in the area. She has been a teacher of reading, English, history and in the gifted student program in Temple and Killeen school districts. Taylor and her husband, Tom, have two children, both Baylor graduates.
Grant Teaff is the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), a position he has held since February 1994 after 21 years as head football coach at Baylor and one year as athletic director.
Before coming to Baylor in 1972, Teaff served as head coach at McMurry College, his alma mater, and at Angelo State University. Teaff holds an undergraduate degree in physical education and a master's degree in administrative education from McMurry. Teaff has written four books. He and his wife, Donell, have three daughters-all Baylor graduates.
For more information about Baylor Homecoming, visit the Homecoming web site at https://homecoming.web.baylor.edu/ .