October 15, 2007
Lyon College News Bureau

Gov. Mike Beebe will take the podium to help commemorate the history and traditions of Lyon College during its 135th Founders' Day Convocation on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 11 a.m. in Couch Garden.

Additionally, several alumni and friends of the college will receive awards during the event, and Dr. Scott Roulier will be formally installed as the John Dyer Trimble Sr. Associate Professor of Political Philosophy. Roulier joined the Lyon College faculty in 2000 and was serving as an associate professor of political science until his appointment to the endowed Trimble Professorship.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award will go to Dr. David Churchill ’81 of Fayetteville. Lois Ferguson of Lake Charles, La., will receive the Honorary Alumnus Award. The Patterson Decade Awards will go to Dr. Brian Bobb and Dr. Heather Hobson Bobb of Tahlequah, Okla.. Drs. Charles and V. Anne Allen of Little Rock will be presented the Friends of Education Award.

Dr. Churchill was named one of Arkansas’ “Top Cardiologists of the Year” by the Arkansas Times in March 2005. The Arkansas Times honored Churchill with this designation 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. In 1993, he and his wife Penny returned to Arkansas and Churchill joine3d the Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic. In 1994, he performed the first transluminal extraction catheter, a new cardiac catheritzation procedure, ever done in Northwest Arkansas. He and Penny have two children, Reed and Cameron Nola.

Dr. Heather Hobson Bobb 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.

Dr. Brian Bobb 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 is a member of Lyon’s Board of Church Advocates and President’s Council. She was first introduced to Lyon College in 1996 when she attended the Presbyterian Women’s Conference on the campus that year.

She served on the Board of Church Advocates from 1999-2002 and was re-appointed this year for another three-year term. She has 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. 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. 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 also has been heavily involved in music. She studied voice and violin in New Jersey and was a dramatic soprano at McNeese State University for six years. Ferguson 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. She has two daughters and two grandchildren.

Dr. Charles F. Allen, 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. The Allens are members of the Lyon College President's Council and the Board of Church Advocates.

Dr. V. 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 couple created the Charles F. and V. Anne Allen Endowed Scholarship, targeted for future teachers at Lyon College.

At noon, following the Convocation, friends, families and classmates will gather for the Couch Garden Picnic and class reunions. Classes celebrating their 5th, 10th 15th, 20th, 25th and 50th reunions will have tables reserved for them in the tent.

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Gov. Mike Beebe

Dr. Scott Roulier

Dr. David Churchill

Dr. Heather Bobb

Dr. Brian Bobb

Lois Ferguson