October 22, 2007
Lyon College News Bureau

Several honors were awarded at the Founders' Day Convocation Saturday.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award went to Dr. David Churchill.

The Arkansas Times named Dr. David Churchill ‘81 one of Arkansas’ “Top Cardiologists of the Year” in March 2005 in their annual Best Doctors in Arkansas edition.

Upon graduation from Lyon, Churchill attended UAMS, graduating in 1985. He performed his residency there, and in 1988, earned certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine. He spent four years in Houston working on a cardiology fellowship at the DeBakey Heart Center at Baylor University.

During his fellowship, David spent one year assisting with research on the first coronary stent released into the U.S. market and another year focused solely on performing coronary and peripheral angioplasty procedures.
 In 1993, he and his wife Penny moved to Fayetteville to start and manage the interventional cardiology program at Washington Regional Medical Center.

He is board certified in internal medicine and cardiology with additional board certification in interventional cardiology. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UAMS - Area Health and Education Center. In 1997, Dr. Churchill's fellow physicians voted him Top Cardiologist Outside of Pulaski County.

He and Penny have two children, Reed and Cameron.

Now with Northwest Arkansas Heart & Vascular Center, the premier center for cardiology services in the region, David is an interventional cardiologist who specializes in routine and complex coronary artery angioplasty, and he works closely with the Regional Wound Care Center to help save limbs. Dr. Churchill also implants pacemakers and performs diagnostic procedures such as stress tests and echocardiology.

Patterson Decade Awards went to Drs. Brian Bobb and Heather Hodson Bobb.

Heather was the very first female dentist in Tahlequah, Okla., and has won numerous academic and professional awards in that capacity. She is a partner in Family Dental Care in Tahlequah and has been elected to numerous leadership positions in industry organizations.

She has generously devoted much of her time to various charitable efforts including presenting educational programs to civic groups and schools.

She’s currently working as a founding member and dental director of Lifelong Wellness Center, a non-profit corporation dedicated to improving access to dental and medical care for the underserved.

Brian was elected chief resident at Washington Hospital Family Practice in Washington, Penn., and opened a highly successful solo private practice, Tahlequah Family Medicine in August 2004. There, he specializes in all areas of family health, from prenatal to geriatric care.

He serves as a pilot for Angel Flight Ministries, transporting patients who could not otherwise afford it, and is a member of Lyon’s Board of Church Advocates. He, like his wife Heather, is a founding of Lifelong Wellness Center.

Lois Ferguson received this year’s Honorary Alumni Award.

Ferguson was first introduced to Lyon College in 1996 when she attended the Presbyterian Women’s Conference on campus that year. She has since represented the College on Higher Education Sunday several times in recent years and served as coordinator for her church to host the College’s Concert Choir during their 1999 spring tour. More recently, she helped bring the Lyon College Pipe Band to her church for a Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans service.

She served on the Board of Church Advocates from 1999-2002 and was re-appointed this year for another three-year term.

A member of Lyon’s President’s Council, Lois is a lifelong musical performer who began playing violin and eventually matured into a gifted concert singer. She studied voice and violin in New Jersey and was a dramatic soprano at McNeese State University in Louisiana for six years.

Lois continues to be active in the Presbyterian Church and has served as a medical missionary to Cuba three times. She’s also been active in Business and Professional Women and the American Association of University Women.

In 1999, she established the Robert W. and Lois R. Ferguson Annual Scholarship in memory of her late husband, Bob. The scholarship is awarded to a student majoring in chemistry. Mr. Ferguson was a chemical engineer.

The New Jersey native moved to Lake Charles, La., with her husband in 1960, where she was a realtor for 28 years and also served as director of marketing and membership for the Greater Lake Charles Chamber of Commerce. She has also remained heavily involved in music. She has two daughters and two grandchildren.

Friend of Education Awards went to lifelong educators, Drs. Charles and V. Anne Allen.

They have built their life together on the foundation of service and education, and have spent their lives teaching and helping others achieve their dream of growing and learning. As part of that life mission, they created an endowed scholarship at Lyon College and designed it to help future teachers reach their goals and potential.

The Charles F. and V. Anne Allen Endowed Scholarship is awarded annually to a student who is pursuing a career as a teacher.

Charles, a native of Batesville and former Lyon student, currently serves as the Chief Administrative Officer for the Arkansas Corrections School System. He’s also served as classroom teacher in Southside, administrator in Cushman, and school district superintendent at Desha, Mansfield and Hamburg.

Dr. Anne Allen, a native of Paris, Ark., has served as professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Arkansas Tech University and as adjunct instructor at Henderson State University and Arkansas State University. She served as elementary principal and assistant superintendent for the Hamburg School District, and has been a classroom teacher for the Springdale, Des Arc and Pulaski County school districts.

The Allens are members of the Lyon College President's Council and the Board of Church Advocates.

Drs. Charles and V. Anne Allen receive the Friends of Education Award from President Roettger.

Dr. David Churchill received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from President Roettger and Aimee Martin, president of the Alumni Council.

Mrs. Lois Ferguson was presented the Honorary Alumnus Award. From left are Dr. Roettger, Aimee Martin and Dianne Lamberth, secretary of the Lyon Board of Trustees.

The Patterson Decade Awards went to Drs. Brian and Heather Bobb, both of the Class of '97. With them are President Roettger (left) and Michael Brown '08, Student Body president.