News       
from ABAC

Michael D. Chason
Director of Public Relations
ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway
Tifton, GA 31793-2601
Phone 229-391-5055
Fax 229-391-5056
mchason@abac.edu

 

Green Bar Divider

 

IMMEDIATE                                                                                                                                                             February 20, 2009

 

DOTHAN RESIDENT TO BE HONORED AT ABAC ON MARCH 7

TIFTON—Gene Ragan of Dothan, Ala., will be presented with the 2009 Distinguished Alumnus Award during the annual ABAC Alumni Association awards ceremony on Celebrate ABAC weekend on March 7 at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. 

The Distinguished Alumnus Award is presented annually in recognition of alumni who have distinguished themselves through professional achievement, community service and service to ABAC.  Past recipients have included the well-known and the hardly-known.  It is the highest honor bestowed on an alumnus by the Alumni Association.  It was first presented in 1969.

The awards ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in Howard Auditorium at ABAC.  It is open to anyone who would like to attend at no charge.  Other activities of the day include a luncheon for all alumni and friends of the college at noon in Gressette Gym.  Hot lunches are $10 each.  Everyone who plans to eat lunch must pre-register by Feb. 27 by calling (229) 391-4900.

Ragan is a member of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Hall of Fame.  His stint of 40 plus years of farm television is believed to be the longest in the nation at a single station. His plaque hangs in the National Ag Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kans. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agriculture with a major in animal husbandry and is a lifetime member of the UGA Alumni Association. He completed his first two years at ABAC in 1943 while working in the dairy of the nearby Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station. 

Ragan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Early in Blakely, Ga.; a member of the Dothan Rotary Club; a Paul Harris Fellow; and a lifetime member of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce.

Ragan is the recipient of more than 70 awards and honors. He and his wife, Marilyn, have two sons, Russell and Middleton. The Ragans celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2008.

For more information on the Celebrate ABAC weekend, contact the ABAC College Advancement office at (229) 391-4900 or visit the web site at http://www.abac.edu/ca/alumni/CelebrateABAC/.  

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