TIFTON — Former Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College students and supporters were honored for professional achievement, community service and service to the college during the 2005 ABAC Alumni Association Homecoming Awards Banquet on Saturday.

Award recipients included William Dan Pennington, Distinguished Alumnus; Dr. Stephen J. Brannen, J. Lamar Branch Award; Ricky Sparkman, Master Farmer; Betty West Carlson, Helen Brown Sasser Award; Lawton E. Bassett III, Outstanding Business Leader; Dr. Rose Baugh Bacon, Outstanding Educator; and Greg Goggins, Outstanding Health Care Professional. The Family Legacy Award was presented to Mr. and Mrs. Grady M. Thompson Sr. Former President Mike Vollmer received the Honorary Alumnus Award.



Distinguished Alumnus

Pennington has been involved in the Pennington Seed family business since childhood. He attended ABAC in 1980-82 and returned to Madison to join the company. He is now the Chief Operations Officer and leads the manufacturing division of the company. Pennington Seed is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of lawn, garden, and turf care products in the United States. It is also the largest packager of grass seeds and wild bird feeds in the world.

Pennington is actively involved in a number of civic organizations in his home community and statewide. He is a platinum level sponsor for the ABAC Ag Classic Golf Tournament and a Gold Level member of the ABAC President’s Club, He and his wife, Darla, and their two sons, Daniel and Dustin, are active members of the Pennington Methodist Church. Daniel will be a freshman at ABAC this fall.



J. Lamar Branch Award

Following his graduation from ABAC in 1949, Brannen had an illustrious career with the University of Georgia, working with the Cooperative Extension Service for several years before becoming the chair of the Division of Agricultural Economics in 1961, a position he held for 26 years until his retirement in 1987.

He helped to organize the Georgia Agri-Business Council, the leading advocate for Georgia’s largest industry. In 2000, he received the UGA College of Agriculture Award of Excellence and was elected to the College of Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2004.

Brannen currently owns and operates Rocking ‘B’ Farms, raising purebred Simmental cattle. He has served a variety of leadership roles at Green Acres Baptist Church. He and his wife, Ruth, have two daughters, Rita and Caroline.



Master farmer

Sparkman is a successful dairy farmer, operating the only dairy farm in Colquitt County. He graduated with honors from ABAC in 1990 with a degree in business administration.

Sparkman Dairy, which he operates with his brother, brother-in-law and three sons, has 500 milking cows, 400 head of replacement heifers and 475 acres of farmland. The dairy was awarded the High Herd Award from the Georgia Jersey Club in 1994 and was the 2003 and 2004 Georgia Cream of the Crop Dairy Production Award winner for superior achievement in production efficiency.

Sparkman is an active member of the Funston Baptist Church. He and his wife, Donna, have three sons, Matthew, Ryan and Dustin. Matthew graduated from ABAC in December.



Helen Brown Sasser Award

Carlson, a 1966 graduate of ABAC, is married to her ABAC sweetheart, David. She completed her degree in home economics from the University of Georgia and later earned a Master’s of Education from UGA and a Master’s of Middle Grades from Georgia Southwestern.

She has taught at Carver Elementary School in Dawson for 24 years, 18 years as a special needs teacher and six years as a 4th grade teacher. She was voted by her peers as the 2002-03 Teacher of the Year.

She is a volunteer leader for Terrell County 4-H and is a member of the Georgia Master 4-H Club. She and her family are active members in the Dawson Presbyterian Church. She has been attending Homecoming at ABAC for the past 14 years.



Outstanding business leader

Bassett, a 1988 business administration graduate from ABAC, completed his education at the University of Georgia, earning a BBA with a specialization in Real Estate. He is an honor graduate of the Louisiana State University School of Banking. He is currently president and chief executive officer of the Citizens Security Bank in Tifton.

He is very involved in the Tifton community, serving on the Chamber of Commerce Executive Board and chairing the Economic Development Committee. He is a member of the Moultrie Technical College Board and the Tifton Rotary Club. He is a 1999 graduate of Leadership Tifton and a 2004 graduate of Leadership Georgia.

Bassett and his wife, Alisha, are members of the First Methodist Church in Tifton where he currently serves on the Administrative Board. He was captain of the ABAC baseball team in 1988 and enjoys coaching his six-year-old son, Lee, in recreational department baseball. He also has a daughter, Anna Lee, who is three.



Outstanding educator

Bacon graduated from ABAC in 1955. She continued her education by earning a BS in Home Economics Education from the University of Georgia.

She traveled extensively around the world in the U. S. Air Force, eventually earning the rank of Captain. While stationed in Washington, DC, she earned a Master’s of Education in Counseling from the University of Maryland. She started teaching at Georgia College in 1969 and earned a Ph.D. in Counseling and Student Personnel Services from the University of Georgia in 1978. During her tenure at Georgia College she helped educate teachers and nurses for 36 years.

She is involved in a wide variety of community organizations including Rotary Club and the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Recreation Parks and Allied Arts Commissions. She is married to Frank Bacon and has four children and seven grandchildren with another grandchild on the way.



Outstanding health care

professional

Goggins graduated from ABAC in 1978 and continued his education at the University of Georgia. He received orthodontist and dental training at the University of Tennessee and the Medical College of Georgia. In 1986, he moved to Coffee County to begin his practice and has been in full-time orthodontist practice (including the opening of a Fitzgerald office) since then.

He has served as Vice-Chairman of the Coffee Regional Hospital Health Care Board, Chairman of the Coffee Regional Hospital Finance Board, and Secretary/Treasurer of the Southwestern District Dental Association. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Douglas National Bank.

He serves on the Budget and Finance Committee of the First Baptist Church of Douglas where he attends with his wife, Jane, and their four children.

Goggins has been selected for Rotarian of the Year; Chamber of Commerce Small Businessman of the Year Award; and the Exchange Club Golden Deeds Award. He recently added State Senator to his list of accomplishments, just this week having completed his first session of the Georgia General Assembly.



Family legacy award

There are 27 Thompson family members who have attended ABAC, including three current students. Seven of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson’s nine children attended ABAC, including one who is currently attending.

The family promotes ABAC in variety of ways including recruiting students through their FFA classes, being a sponsor for the ABAC Ag Classic Golf Tournament and contributing to the Annual Fund.



Honorary alumnus award

Vollmer was one of the most active presidents in the history of the college during his time at ABAC from 2001 to 2004.

Construction sites have become commonplace on campus over the past three years as the college completed the $7.1 million Agricultural Sciences Building, the much-needed $1.2 million renovation of Howard Auditorium, and the $32 million ABAC Place student apartment complex. He laid the groundwork for the $7.2 million Health Sciences building and the $1.5 million Pedestrian Mall.

Vollmer’s vision brought ABAC to the cutting edge of technology in a variety of areas, and he developed a plan for ABAC to become a four-year state college.

He left his position at ABAC on Sept. 14, 2004 to become the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education which oversees the state’s technical colleges.