Fifteen outstanding graduates of the University of Utah will receive Merit of Honor awards at the Emeritus Award Recipient dinner on Thursday, May 12, at 6 p.m. in the Olpin Union Ballroom.
For reservations, call the University Alumni Association office at 581-6995. The cost is $20 per person.Receiving awards will be:
Ardelle Fisher Larsen Backman, Class of 1932, who is a community and political volunteer. She has served as president of the Bountiful Women's Republican Club and delegate to the Women's State Legislative Council. She also was a member of the Davis County Council on Aging and has helped the Bountiful/Davis Art Center, Utah Symphony Guild, Fine Arts Guild of Bountiful and South Davis Community Hospital.
Patricia Condon Brim, Class of 1947, who taught English at the U. She also taught at American University and Holton-Arms School for Girls in Maryland. She has headed the advisory board of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Utah Common Cause and Salt Lake League of Women Voters. A freelance writer, she also has served as a member of the U. Emeritus Alumni Association Board and the Rowland Hall-St. Mark's Alumni Board.
D. James Cannon, Class of 1940, who has been a consultant for Rob
ert Redford Enterprises at Sundance, Bank of Salt Lake and the Deseret News. He also was executive director for the Utah Travel Council, Pro-Utah and founded the Mormon Trails Association in 1967. He also has headed the U.S. Travel Association, Utah Trade Association and Salt Lake County Planning and Zoning Commission. He currently is writing "The Golden Age of Sugar House."
Ralph B. Cloward, Class of 1930, is a clinical associate professor of neurosurgery at the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Hawaii and former senior neurosurgeon at Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu. He has received honors from the University of Geneva, Rush Medical College, McKinley High School, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and the California Neurosurgeon Association. He lectures worldwide, has invented surgical instruments and written medical articles and books.
Merritt H. Egan, Class of 1941, recently retired as medical director of Charter Summit Hospital and from private practice of child and adolescent psychiatry. He previously was president of the medical staff at Primary Children's Medical Center. He has board certifications in pediatrics, adolescent and adult psychiatry. He served for many years as a clinical associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the U. Medical School.
Bryce J. Fairbanks, Class of 1944, is an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist who has practiced in Salt Lake City for 46 years and has been a clinical instructor in ophthalmology at the U. Medical School since 1950. He has received the Utah State Medical Association Distinguished Award, the A.H. Robbins Community Service Award, and certificates of appreciation from the Salt Lake County Mental Health Executive Board and Granite Mental Health Advisory Council. He also has been active in the Boy Scouts of America for 60 years.
J. Thomas Greene, Class of 1952, who has been a U.S. District Court judge since 1985. He has served as governor on the board of governors of the American Bar Association as well as an assembly delegate and state delegate to the House of Delegates. He also is a former member of the Utah Board of Regents, former chairman of the Utah State Building Authority and president of the Salt Lake Community Services Council. He is past president of the Bonneville Knife and Fork Club and a former member of the Alumni Association board of directors.
Thomas James Haycock Jr., Class of 1941, who has been employed by the International Atomic Energy Agency in various locations throughout the country. He was with the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Safeguards Division, assigned as the U.S. safeguards officer; was assistant director for information support, Division of Safeguards and Security, Department of Energy; and assistant director for operations, Division of Nuclear Materials Security Division, Atomic Energy Commission.
Edward M. "Ted" Jacobsen, Class of 1952, who until his retirement in 1990, was the U. ticket/business manager for the Athletic Department and Kingsbury Hall. He opened Pioneer Memorial Theatre as business/ticket manager, opened the Special Events Center (Jon Huntsman Center) as business manager/scheduling director in 1969. He became director of that facility in 1976. He traveled with athletic teams for 13 years and made all travel arrangements. He also served on community boards such as Odyssey House, the Children's Center and the Salt Lake Arts Council.
Stuart B. Jardine, Class of 1939, who has always been involved in sales, first for IBM, then Arden-Sunfreeze Creameries, Fetzer's Salt Lake Cabinet and Fixture, Dictaphone Corp. and from 1963 to the present, as an agent with Equitable Life Assurance Society. He has served on the board of directors for the Salt Lake and Utah Associations of Life Underwriters and as national regional vice president of the State Law and Legislative Committee, which includes 11 states. He also has devoted much time to the American Cancer Society and has been a member of the Emeritus Alumni Association Board.
Beverly Betts Nye, Class of 1940, who has been active in volunteer work in Ogden for more than 45 years. She has been president of the Junior League of Ogden, was the first president of the Weber County Heritage Foundation and president of the Ogden Symphony Guild. She has been a member of the Eccles Community Art Center, the Myra Powell Gallery at Union Station and the Ogden Nature Center. With her husband, Alan, she got the Ogden Chamber of Commerce Wall of Fame Award. This past year she was a Crystal Crest presenter at Weber State University.
Hilda Parker, Class of 1984, who received her doctorate from the U. in 1984. She has been a research assistant at Cornell University, a caseworker at Lansing Family Services in Michigan, a psychiatric social worker at Michigan State University, a clinical social worker at the U. Counseling Center and an adjunct research professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the U. She was one of Utah's Quiet Pioneers in 1993. She is a native of the Czech Republic and was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.
Rex A. Skidmore, Class of 1938, who was a professor and administrator at the U. for 41 years, retiring in 1985 from the position of dean of the Graduate School of Social Work. He also has been director of the Marriage and Counseling Bureau. He has served as a board member of the Utah Heart Association, Girl Scouts, United Fund, Emeritus Alumni Association and was president of the Traveler's Aid Society and the Utah State Conference on Social Welfare. He was chosen Utah Social Worker of the Year in 1980.
Norma Broadbent Smith, Class of 1945, who has served The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a member of the general presidency of Young Women, in instructional development and as a member of the Primary General Board. She was chosen in 1985 as Ogden City Mother of the Year. She is the mother of eight children, one of whom, Maryam, died while attending the U. College of Nursing. Subsequently, Smith and her husband, Lowell, established a nursing scholarship in their daughter's name. Smith received a Recognition of Service Award from the College of Nursing and Ogden School Foundation in 1992.
Barbara "Bea" Wright Williams, Class of 1946, who has been a teaching assistant in the U.'s English department, taught creative writing and was a society reporter for the Deseret News. She is the author of many books for juveniles and just signed a contract for her 50th book, "Titanic Crossing." She received the Christopher Award for the best picture book of the year. She has gotten many awards from the Utah Arts Council for juvenile book manuscripts and poetry, one of which was the Publication Prize. She has been a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers since 1983.