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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (October 17, 2002) – Milligan College will honor nine of its alumni at a celebration banquet next Friday, Oct. 25, as part of the college’s Homecoming Weekend.
Dr. Alan Ahlgrim, Longmont, Colo., will be named the Distinguished Alumnus of the year and George and Janet Arnold, Kingsport, Tenn., will receive the George W. Hardin Spirit of Milligan Award.
Professional Excellence Awards will be presented to Ron Dove, Derwood, Md.; Dan Foote, Dallas, Texas; and Tammy Ross, Johnson City, Tenn. These alumni are recognized for excelling in their professional area and demonstrating high standards of integrity and Christian character.
The college’s Athletics Hall of Fame will induct Angela Gentry Bratton, Jacksonville, Fla.; Tom Musick, Gate City, Va.; and Phil Worrell, Johnson City, Tenn. [See separate news release for Athletics Hall of Fame.]
“These alumni have been selected by their peers as people who are not only making a difference in their communities, but who are exemplifying Milligan’s vision to change lives and shape culture through Christian leadership in various professions throughout the world,” said Theresa Garbe, director of alumni relations.
 Dr. Alan Ahlgrim, Milligan’s 2002 Distinguished Alumnus, is the senior minister at Rocky Mountain Christian Church in Longmont, Colo. He is a 1969 graduate of Milligan College and holds a M.Div. from Southern Seminary and a D.Min. from Fuller Seminary.Ahlgrim has led three growing ministries over the past 30 years, with more than half that time devoted to founding and leading Rocky Mountain Christian Church. The church has flourished since its inception in 1984 and now has an average attendance of 2000 and commits $200,000 a year to domestic and foreign church planting.
Ahlgrim and his wife, Linda, a 1968 Milligan alumna, have three grown children, Jennifer, Joel, and Kristin, all of whom are Milligan graduates. ———- |
 George and Janet Arnold are being honored with the George W. Hardin Spirit of Milligan Award in recognition of life-long devotion and service to their alma mater. Reared in Wythe County, Va., George earned a football scholarship to Milligan in 1938. He later met his wife, Janet, a nurse, while doing highway construction in Pennsylvania.After serving in the Coast Guard during World War II, the Arnolds settled in Kingsport, Tenn., where George joined Home Federal Savings and Loan. He retired 35 years later in 1993 as vice president and director for public relations.
The Arnolds have been faithful supporters of Milligan and in 1994, the teaching facilities for the nursing program at Milligan College were named the Patricia Ann Arnold Nursing Science Center in memory of the Arnold’s daughter who had died at age five of polio. In 2001, the Arnolds named Milligan College as a beneficiary in their estate plan. ———- |
 Ron Dove, a 2002 Professional Excellence Award recipient, is an attorney at the law firm Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C., where he specializes in copyright and trademark litigation and advice. He holds a B.A. in English and human relations from Milligan College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.Dove has provided copyright and trademark advice to clients such as the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the Public Broadcasting Service, the National Geographic Society, Microsoft Corporation, and the American Council on Education. He has recently represented clients such as the NFL, the NBA, and the Washington National Cathedral.
Dove also does a significant amount of pro bono work. He has represented an abused immigrant seeking protection under the Violence Against Women Act, an amateur documentary filmmaker in negotiations with ABC’s Nightline, and a firm secretary in a wrongful death action suit. Dove is an elder at Church of Christ at Manor Woods in Rockville, Md., and he and his wife, Connie, have two children. Dove comes from a family of Milligan graduates, including his mother and father, his brother and sister, and his in-laws. ———- |
 Dan Foote, a 2002 Professional Excellence Award recipient, is an editorial cartoonist, writer and illustrator. His cartoons have appeared nationally in such publications as the Washington Post National Weekly, the Dallas Morning News, the Indianapolis Star, the San Francisco Examiner, the Toronto Sun, and the Boston Glove. While staff editorial cartoonist for the Dallas Times Herald, he won several cartoon awards, including Best Cartoon 1990 at the Dallas Press Club’s annual competition, and an honorable mention in the prestigious Fischetti Cartoon Competition.Foote has also lent his talents to major corporations and publishing companies, including Texas Instruments, Frito Lay, Standard Publishing, Kimberly Clark, Gospel Light Publications, Tyson Foods, Focus on the Family, and Dr. Pepper.
He is an accomplished writer and illustrator, producing over 20 book titles distributed by Smartworks and Zondervan Publishing House. He is the author and illustrator of several Christian children’s books, including The Cobbler, the Princess and the Newborn King (1999) and A Knight in the Forest (2002), and he illustrated the Step-by-Step Bible (1999), all distributed by Cook Communications. Foote has also written a handful of motion picture screenplays. In 1997, his screenplay, Petty Larceny, was a semi-finalist at the Austin Heart of Film Festival. Foote and his family are active in their community and church in the Dallas, Texas, area. ———- |
| Tammy Ross, also a 2002 Professional Excellence Award recipient, is the president of Hampton Transfer Prints, Inc., in Johnson City, Tenn. The company is the largest heat transfer print producer in the United States and the only such company managed by a female.Ross holds a B.S. in accounting from Milligan. She joined Hampton in 1984 as comptroller and in 1989 her responsibilities were expanded to include operating management of one of the company’s manufacturing locations. When the original founders sold the company in 1992, Ross was vice president of operations and finance and the company’s annual sales were over $84 million dollars.
In 1996, Ross was named president of operations and chief financial officer and served in that capacity until the company sold again in 1998, when she assumed her current position as president. Ross is also an investor in and serves as vice president of Hampton Print Works, Inc., an affiliated company based in New York City. Ross and her husband, Randy, have three boys and are active at First Christian Church in Johnson City. Ross volunteers with PTA in her children’s schools and serves on Johnson City’s South Side Roundtable. For more information about any of the above recipients, the “Celebrate Milligan” Banquet, or Homecoming Weekend, contact the Milligan College Alumni Office at 423-461-8718. |