The North Carolina Awards
1989

THE AWARD

The North Carolina Awards were instituted by the 1961 General Assembly, which acted on the idea of the late Dr. Robert Lee Humber of Greenville, then State Senator from Pitt County. The purpose of the Awards, as set forth in the statutes, is to recognize "notable accomplishments by North Carolina citizens in the fields of scholarship, research, the firne arts and public leadership." It is the highest honor the state can bestow.

The North Carolina Award was designed by the eminent sculptor Paul Manship and was one of his last commissions before his death.

MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR

The North Carolina Awards are the highest honor our State can bestow. Created in 1961 by the General Assembly, the award is given yearly to men and women who have made significant contributions in science, literature, fine arts, and public service. 

On behalf of all North Carolinians I congratulate the 1989 award recipients for their outstanding achievements. The citizens ofour State can be proud to have in their midst such distinguished individuals. North Carolina is a better place because they have given of their time, talent, and intelligence. 
-Jim Martin

PROGRAM

26th North Carolina Awards

Dinner and Awards Presentation
The Raleigh Marriott
October 27, 1989

Welcome
The Honorable Patric G. Dorsey, Secretary
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

Presenation of Colors
North Carolina National Guard
Raleigh, North Carolina

Pledge of Allegiance
Commander P. C. Dorsey
United States Navy, Retired
New Bern, North Carolina

Invocation
Reverend Dr. Edwin W. Stock, Jr.
Senior Pastor
First Presbyterian Church
Raleigh, North Carolina

Remarks
The Honorable James E. Holshouser, Jr., Chairman
State of North Carolina

Video Documentation Program
Department of Cultural Resources

Ms. Anita Burroughs-Price, Harpist
Ms. Pamela Whitlow, Flutish
North Carolina Symphony

Wines provided by Orville T. Magoon, Winegrower of Guenoc Winery in Lake County, California, with the assistance of East Carolina Distributing Company, Raleigh and New Bern

THE NORTH CAROLINA AWARDS COMMITTEE
James E. Holshouser, Jr., Chairman
Dr. David Sabiston, Jr.
Anne Peden
Dr. Anthony Abbott
John Ehle

Fine Arts
Loonis McGlohon

Loonis McGlohon receives the 1989 North Carolina Award in Fine Arts for his many significant contributions to the musical life of his home state and the United States. As a composer and pianist, he is recognized internationally for his nearly 400 compositions, which have earned him recognition as North Carolina's leading popular musician.

Born in Ayden, North Carolina, McGlohon grew up in a rural setting. Very early he manifested a unique talent in music. "I played with some road bands as a youth from Pitt County," he reminisces. "In the summer, I would play with beach bands. After World War II, l played with some name bands (including Jimmy Dorsey)."

Graduating from East Carolina University, he found his way to Charlotte and began to work with North Carolina's oldest television station, WBTV. "I started doing a show with WBTV," he recounts. "It was unique for its time-a jazz show." Successively, he became music director and producer, Director of Community Relations (at WBT Radio), and Director of Special Projects.

In 1955 McGlohon founded a musical trio that would be his trademark in years to come. The Loonis McGlohon Trio helped establish its leader as one of the world's prominent popular musicians. To date he has recorded over two dozen albums. Concert tours have taken him and the trio to most major cities in the world. As pianist, and with his trio, he has accompanied such renowned artists as Tony Bennett, Margaret Whiting, and Eileen Farrell.

As a composer, Loonis McGlohon's original compositions have been included in numerous anthologies. His works have been performed and recorded by stars like Frank Sinatra, Woody Herman, and Rosemary Clooney. Several of his songs are considered among the finest compositions ever written by an American. According to The New York Times, "If he had never composed anything but `The Wine of May' and `Songbird,' these are enough to put him in the pantheon of great songwriters." In recognition of this genius, he was awarded two Peabody Awards, in 1977 and 1978, for the National Public Radio series, "American Popular Song."

In 1984 McGlohon composed and produced, with nationally-known Tar Heel newscaster Charles Kuralt, an album to celebrate his home state's 400th anniversary. "North Carolina Is My Home" was such a success that it generated a book using material from the album.

Among his many awards and honors, Loonis McGlohon can count an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, the National Headliner Award, the North Carolina Music Clubs-Composer of the Year Award, and the OTHERS Award from the Salvation Army.

Loonis McGlohon sums up his feeling for North Carolina, declaring, "This is home. I would rather be here than anywhere else."

McGlohon is married to the former Nan Lovelace. They have three children and reside in Charlotte.

Science
Gertrude B. Elion

Gertrude B. Elion receives the 1989 North Carolina Award in Science for her pathbreaking accomplishments in the treatment of leukemia and herpes infection. A Nobel Prize-winning chemist at the Burroughs-Wellcome Company, for over forty years she has concentrated on the study of chemical purines and related compounds and their effect on the human metabolism.

Born in New York City, Elion was educated at Hunter College and received a Master of Science degree in chemistry from New York University in 1941. After several years of laboratory work and teaching, she joined the Wellcome Research Laboratories in 1941 as a biochemist. Beginning in 1950 she served, successively, as Senior Research Chemist, Assistant to the Research Director, and as head of the Department of Experimental Therapy. In 1983 she retired from that position, becoming a Scientist Emeritus at Burroughs Wellcome.

It was Gertrude Elion's investigations, in collaboration with Dr. George H. Hitchings, that began a new epoch in the treatment of leukemia. As a result of her studies, drugs were developed that have become essential in the fight against leukemia. One of these, azathioprine, not only has antileukemic properties but has found widespread clinical application in helping to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs and in treating severe rheumatoid arthritis.

Elion's most recent accomplishment has been the development of the drug acyclovir for the treatment of herpes infections. It is also the drug of choice for the treatment of shingles and herpes encephalitis.

Elion continues to be active in research, sharing her expertise with colleagues and students at area universities. From 1970 until 1983 she was Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology and Experimental Medicine at Duke University. Since 1983 she has been a Research Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine at Duke. Concurrently, she is also Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a position she has held since 1973.

As a visiting lecturer, she has been invited to a number of the nation's premier universities. Seven universities, including Brown, George Washington and Michigan, have awarded her honorary doctorates of science. Among her many other honors are the Garvan Medal from the American Chemical Society (1968) and the Judd Award from the SloanKettering Institute (1983). In 1988 she received the prestigious Nobel Prize in Medicine, along with Dr. Hitchings and English Scientist Sir James Black. It was just recognition of a lifetime dedicated to assisting her fellow man through science.

Elion has been vitally involved in various professional organizations. A past president of the American Association for Cancer Research, she currently serves as a presidential appointee on the National Cancer Advisory Board. She is also chairman of the Scientific Working Group on the chemotherapy of malaria for the World Health Organization.

Gertrude Elion resides in Chapel Hill. Her hobbies include photography and music.

Literature
Ronald Bayes


	Ronald Bayes (1932 -)
Literature
1989

Please note: The biography and photograph are from the commemorative program for the 1989 North Carolina Awards ceremony.


Ronald Bayes receives the 1989 North Carolina Award in Literature for his accomplishments as a poet, fiction writer, and teacher. Besides earning international literary acclaim over the past twentyone years, Bayes has touched the lives of thousands of students at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg with his energy and inspiration. He also founded the St. Andrews Review and Press, two of the South's most important outlets for creative and critical writers.

Born in Freewater, Oregon, Bayes received Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English and Education from Eastern Oregon State College. Taking his early literary inspiration from Ezra Pound, Bayes also has studied with such renowned contemporary poets as Rolfe Humphries, Charles Olson, Carolyn Kizer, and Robert Creeley.

Between 1956 and 1958 Bayes was stationed in Iceland while serving in the U.S. Army Infantry. The island has often been a source of inspiration for his poetry and he has returned there frequently to write. Bayes also has lived and taught in Japan. Demonstrating a sensitive understanding of the Japanese mind, he has translated modern Japanese verse into English.

In 1968 following a teaching stint at the University of Maryland, Ron Bayes came to St. Andrews College at Laurinburg to be its writer-in-residence. He became editor of the St. Andrews Review in 1970 and has been principally responsible for the acclaim the Review has received throughout the literary world. Since 1976 Bayes also has directed the St. Andrews Press. His classes in imaginative writing, Japanese fiction, modern British literature, and American literature continue to enthrall new generations of students.

In addition, Ron Bayes was responsible for St. Andrews' famous Thursday night poetry readings. A twenty-year tradition, these readings feature not only the work of students, but also Laurinburg townspeople as well as literary luminaries such as James Dickey and Carolyn Kizer.

The author of over fourteen volumes of poetry, Ron Bayes was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for "A Beast In View." His most recent work is "Fram." He also has written a fiction piece-"Sister City"- and various criticism essays. Bayes' stageplays include "An Evening With Ezra Pound" and "An Evening With William Carlos Williams."

Ron Bayes' other literary honors include the Yeats Chair of Poetry at Brunnenburg, Italy (1977) and recipient of the Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry (1977). In 1982 he also was honored by the Academia Italia, and in 1983 he was invited to participate in the Europaische Akademie Berlin seminar.

In 1987 Bayes was named Master Poet at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida and, in the same year, became one of only three American poets asked to read his work at the Noto Fine Arts Festival in Japan. Last year, the sponsors of the T.S. Eliot Centenary Celebration requested that he lecture at the University of Maine commemoration. An acclaimed lecturer and poetry reader, Bayes has captivated college students at various universities from coast to coast. In addition, he has recorded his poetry for the Widener Library at Harvard University. He currently serves on the board of the N. C. Arts Council.

Bayes holds the title of Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, where he resides.

Public Service
Maxine M. Swalin

Maxine M. Swalin receives the 1989 North Carolina Award in Public Service for her four decades of pioneering activity in support of the programs of the North Carolina Symphony. As an educator, performer, and administrator, Swalin, along with her husband, the late Dr. Benjamin F. Swalin, is largely responsible for the creation and success of the state's premier cultural institution.

Born in Iowa, Maxine Swalin received early training in music and art in Des Moines. In 1928, she graduated from the Institute of Musical Art (Julliard School) in New York City with a diploma in theory and piano. She was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1932 and received a Master's degree from Radcliffe College in 1936.

From 1928 until 1930 Swalin was head of the Musical Theory Department at the Hartford School of Music, in Hartford, Connecticut. Her background in musical education would serve her well in later years.

After marrying Dr. Benjamin Swalin in 1935, she accompanied him to North Carolina when he assumed the helm of the newly-formed North Carolina Symphony. Over the next forty years the Swalins would establish the North Carolina Symphony as an integral and essential part of this state's cultural fabric. During difficult times in the 1930s and 1940s, their perseverance and expertise insured not only that the Symphony survived but that it flourished.

Maxine Swalin, after teaching choral music in a local high school, became intimately involved in implementing musical education programs in North Carolina public schools. She pioneered the introduction of music courses, first in Oxford, in 1942, and then in Chapel Hill, in 1944.

As a coordinator and commentator, she organized over 1700 North Carolina Symphony "Young People's" concerts for over three million school children. As a commentator and teacher, she traveled over 200,000 miles bringing the finest in symphonic music to children (and adults) all over North Carolina.

Swalin is also an accomplished musician in her own right. She served as a pianist and harpsichordist with the orchestra for twenty-six seasons as the Symphony crisscrossed North Carolina.

From 1939 until 1972 Swalin was Executive Assistant to the Director of the North Carolina Symphony-her husband, Benjamin. Her numerous duties included administration, scheduling, workshop preparations, and dozens of other tasks that required expert attention and execution. In the words of one long-time Symphony supporter, she was the "linchpin" who held the Symphony together and nurtured it during critical times.

In 1979 Swalin was recipient of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Duke University for her many contributions to music and music education in North Carolina.

Since 1974 Swalin has traveled extensively to present "Painted Pictures," a program she initiated. "Painted Pictures" combines the presentation of piano selections with slides of art masterpieces, chosen for their similarities of style and mood. This program has proven very popular with North Carolina audiences.

Maxine Swalin resides in Chapel Hill.

Public Service
Roy Park

Roy Park receives the 1989 North Carolina Award in Public Service for a native North Carolinan living outside the state. As a pioneer in food packaging and communications, and one of our state's leading philanthropists, he has made significant contributions to the welfare and quality of life of his native state and the nation.

Roy H. Park was born in Dobson, Surry County. A precocious student, he graduated from high school at age 15. Entering North Carolina State University, he studied business and journalism. His first job, during his junior year of college, was as an office boy in the Associated Press Bureau in Raleigh, earning $4.50 a week. By the time he left AP, he was covering the Governor's Office and knew the most influential people in Raleigh, including Governor 0. Max Gardner.

After graduation Park took a position in public relations and advertising with the North Carolina Cotton Growers Cooperative Association. During his ten years with Carolina Cotton, he initiated a program to revitalize the public image of cotton fabrics. One of his ideas was to hold "cotton balls"highly publicized events with participants dressed in cotton formal wear.

Park also began a widely-read magazine, Cooperative Digest, edited for leaders of the state's farm cooperatives. Through it Park received an offer to begin his own agricultural marketing and advertising business in Ithaca, New York. In less than five years the new company had one hundred and twenty-five employees and branches in major American cities.

In 1949 Park persuaded famed restauranteur Duncan Hines to permit his clients' products to be marketed under the Hines label. Soon Hines-Park Foods was successfully selling over one hundred products. In a real sense, Park and Hines liberated America's homemakers from the drudgery of the kitchen and revoluntionized the food industry.

When Proctor & Gamble purchased the company in 1956, Park could have easily retired. Instead, he began a second career-in communications. Since 1962 Park Communications Company has acquired seven television stations, ten AM and nine FM radio stations, and 118 newspapers. Park Communications operates in 23 states and serves 27, with its major concentration in North Carolina. His media properties have the potential of reaching nearly one fourth of all American households.

As a public citizen, Roy Park's influence has been felt all across North Carolina and the nation. In addition to his leadership in numerous charitable causes, he has worked closely with the Governor's Commission on Literacy and served as president of the North Carolina State University Alumni Association. As chairman of North Carolina State's Development Council, his efforts helped propel the university into the top ten universities in the nation in terms of corporate support.

Of his dedication to North Carolina and its citizens, the late Senator Sam J. Ervin has said: "He is one of the finest human beings the good Lord ever created ... and he has one of the most important characteristics of all-an understanding heart."

Roy Park resides in Ithaca, New York, with his wife, the former Dorothy Goodwin Dent.