The 1980 North Carolina Awards


The North Carolina Award was created by the 1961 General Assembly as a way to honor our state's citizens who have made outstanding contributions in the areas of science, literature, the fine arts and public service. Over the years, seventy-five of these medals have been awarded. Many of the recipients were men and women with national and even international reputations in their fields. Others were recognized for achievements that may have been less heralded but were nevertheless equally significant. What is common to all is the enrichment that their labors have brought the rest of us, the abundance of their gifts to citizens of North Carolina and the world. - Jim Hunt


17th North Carolina Awards
Dinner and Awards Presentation 
Raleigh Civic Center November 24,1980 7 p.m. 

Welcome - The Honorable Sara W. Hodgkins, Secretary North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources  
Invocation -  William E. Simmons, Principal Pinehurst Middle School  
Entertainment - North Carolina School of the Arts Dancers  
Remarks - Mary D. B. T. Semans, Chairman North Carolina Awards Committee  
Presentation of Awards - The Honorable James B. Hunt, Jr., Governor State of North Carolina  

Following dinner, Governor and Mrs. Hunt will receive at the Executive Mansion, 200 North Blount Street.

Military Aides, headed by Col. Douglas B. Whitley, are North Carolina National Guardsmen who are assigned to Governor Hunt's personal staff.

Fanfare provided by brass from Shaw University. 
Video by Lawson Warren and Ron Ruehl, Documentation Program, Department of Cultural Resources. 

North Carolina Awards Committee 
Mary D. B. T. Semans, Durham, Chairman
Mary Lee Cecil, Asheville
Voit Gilmore, Southern Pines
Wilbert W. Johnson, Raleigh
Guy Owen, Jr., Raleigh

Fred Chappell

Literature

Fred Chappell receives the North Carolina Award in Literature for his poetry and fiction and his influence on a generation of young Southern writers.

Mr. Chappell was born in the mountain town of Canton. He attended Duke University, earning a B.A. and M.A. and learning his craft under the guidance of the legendary William Blackburn.

In 1964, Fred Chappell joined the English Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While advancing to the status of Professor, he demonstrated an ability not only to teach creative writing but, as a scholar, to communicate the essence of such areas of his interest as 18th century English literature, contemporary poetry, science fiction and film.

Mr. Chappell has earned equal respect as a novelist and poet. The novels It is Time, Lord, The Inkling, Dagon and The Gaudy Place have brought him followers in Europe as well as this country, and his volumes of poetry command continually increasing attention. His ability to direct traditional Southern motifs into unexpected directions has brought him such honors as a Rockefeller Grant, a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, the Prix du Meilleur du Livre Etranger of the Academie Francaise and three Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Awards from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association.

He maintains a rigorous writing schedule and frequently publishes poems, fiction and articles in national and regional periodicals. He also has served as Chairman for Poetry Readings and Panelist on Writing for the South Atlantic Modern Language Association.

Fred Chappell's presence is a significant factor in the farreaching reputation enjoyed by the creative writing program at UNC-G. His insight into the dynamics of fiction and poetry, along with a sincere interest in his students, has made good writers, excellent writers, out of countless young people.

Fred and Susan Chappell live in Greensboro with their son.

George H. Hitchings

Science

George H. Hitchings receives the North Carolina Award in Science for accomplishments that have given life, and an improving quality of life, to thousands of men and women. Dr. Hitchings has used the elements of his science in ways that most directly have contributed to human health.

George Hitchings was born in Hoquiam, Washington. He earned his B.S. and M.S. at the University of Washington and, in 1933, a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Harvard. He remained at Harvard for six years more as Instructor, Research Fellow and Associate, then served as Senior Instructor at Western Reserve University for several years until 1942, when he joined Burroughs Wellcome Company as a biochemist.

Soon he was Chief Biochemist,then Associate Research Director and Research Director of the Chemotherapy Division. In 1967, Dr. Hitchings was named Vice President in Charge of Research of Burroughs Wellcome, a position he held until his retirement in 1975.

During these years George Hitchings was earning a worldwide reputation as a medicinal chemist whose contributions to medicine and therapeutics were truly extraordinary and literally without precedent. Dr. Hitchings pioneered a biochemical approach to chemotherapy in which application of the antimetabolite concept led not only to new knowledge of nucleic acid metabolism but to new useful therapeutic agents. The breadth of the program is illustrated by the diversity of the new medicines that emerged, including those used in the treatment of leukemia, to control organ transplant rejection and in many other applications.

Dr. Hitchings has received many awards and honors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Czechoslovakia. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. His United States patents number in the scores, his publications, in the hundreds.

He and his wife, the former Beverly Reimer, live in Durham. They have two children.

Dan K. Moore

Public Service



Dan K. Moore receives the North Carolina Award for Public Service for his exemplary leadership as Governor of North Carolina and as an outstanding jurist.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina, Dan Moore attended law school there and then returned to his native mountains to practice law in Sylva. He became town attorney in 1931 and, later, Jackson County attorney. From 1941 to 1943, he was a member of the State House of Representatives. He served during World War II in the European Theatre of Operations and then returned to the mountains to become solicitor ofthe 30th Judicial District He was appointed superior court judge for the district in 1950 and served until 1958.

Elected Governor in 1964, Moore became distinguished by his honesty and quiet thoughtfulness. Believing that North Carolina stood "on the threshold of greatness," Governor Moore promised in his inaugural address "to give the people of North Carolina honest, efficient, and economical government" in a program of "total development."

His administration succeeded in its self-imposed demands, with new emphasis added to every major program of state government. In education, community colleges were strengthened and teachers' salaries were substantially raised. Law enforcement and justice were given attention, with court reform, a nationally recognized traffic safety program and other priorities accomplished. Culture was addressed, with the formation of the North Carolina Arts Council and the appointment of the Museum of Art Building Commission. The largest road building program to date was undertaken during these years. Also emphasized were continued development of the state's economic resources and conservation of her natural resources.

Soon after his term, Governor Moore was appointed Associate Justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court, where he served ten distinguished years before retiring to private practice in Raleigh.

Jeanelle C. Moore

Public Service

Jeanelle C. Moore receives the North Carolina Award for Public Service for her active leadership as First Lady of the State and as spokesperson for the visual environment.

The former Jeanelle Coulter of Pikeville, Tennessee, she came to North Carolina to earn her A.B. degree at Western Carolina College (now University). On May 4, 1933, she was married to Daniel Killian Moore.

Before coming to Raleigh in 1965 as the Governor's wife, Mrs. Moore was engaged in numerous civic functions in Sylva and Canton. She took an active part in the Woman's Society of Christian Service of the Methodist Church and was secretary of Status of Women of the Southeastern Jurisdiction. She also served two terms as Dean of the Western North Carolina Conference School of Missions at Pheiffer College.

As First Lady, Jeanelle Moore was active in virtually countless pursuits involving cultural organi zations, educational institutions and other causes. Especially noteworthy was her leadership in raising funds to build the Chapel of the Nameless Woman at the Correctional Center for Women in Raleigh and her guidance in refurnishing the Executive Mansion so that succeeding First Families could enjoy a truly gracious home.

A teacher before marriage, Mrs. Moore has continued her interest in education, now serving on the Board of Associates of Meredith College and the Board of Trustees of the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Mrs. Moore is well-known for her work in the arts and in improving the visual environment. She now sits on the North Carolina Museum of Art Board of Trustees, the Museum Building Commission and the Governor's Business Council on the Arts and Humanities. Since 1974 she has made substantial contributions as Executive Director of Keep North Carolina Beautiful, Inc.

Governor and Mrs. Moore now live in Raleigh. They are the parents of a son and a daughter and are three times grandparents.

Robert Lindren

Fine Arts

Robert Lindgren receives the North Carolina Award in the Fine Arts for his achievements as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. His efforts are to a great extent responsible for the State's current reputation as a center for dance.

Now a United States citizen, Robert Lindgren was born in Victoria, British Columbia. He began his dance training with Dorothy Wilson and June Roper in Canada. He later studied in New York City with Anatole Vilzak, Maria Yurieva Swoboda and Igor Schwezoff, and with Olga Preobrajenska in Paris.

Mr. Lindgren joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1942 and returned to that company as a featured artist after service in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He has also been a featured dancer with Ballet Theatre and, at George Balanchine's invitation, a member of the New York City Ballet. He toured South Africa and the Orient with Alexandra Danilova in her "Great Moments of the Ballet," appeared regularly on CBS and NBC television and danced in Broadway musicals. With his wife, Sonja Tyven, he opened a school of ballet in Phoenix, Arizona.

In 1965, Mr. Lindgren was appointed Dean of the School of Dance at the newly established North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, building the program within fifteen years into one of the most prestigious in the country, with graduates becoming members of the finest dance companies in this country and abroad.

Mr. Lindgren also has earned international esteem with his establishment of the North Carolina Dance Theater as a professional affiliate of the School of the Arts. NCDT, for which Mr. Lindgren serves as Artistic Director, has drawn critical acclaim throughout the country.

Mr. Lindgren has served on the Dance Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts, as a consultant in dance with the Ford Foundation and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of American Dance Companies.

He lives in Winston-Salem with his wife and two daughters.