Bluffton College to bestow alumni service awards

9/22/2003

BLUFFTON - During Homecoming weekend Oct. 10, Bluffton College plans to present first-ever Lifetime Service Awards to two alumni couples who have spent much of their careers overseas.

Neal Blough, a 1972 graduate, and his wife, Janie, a 1973 graduate, have worked under the U.S.-based Mennonite Mission Network in the Paris suburb of St. Maurice for 28 years. Isaac Riak, a 1971 graduate, and his wife, Pauline, a 1970 graduate, live in Nairobi, Kenya, where Mr. Riak is an economics professor at United States International University-Africa and Mrs. Riak was the founding director of the Sudanese Women's Association.

Also receiving awards will be Shelly Weaverdyck, a 1977 graduate who has become a specialist in geriatric cognition and dementia. She is to receive the new Professional Achievement Award.

Donald Pannabecker, a 1958 graduate, is to receive the Faculty/Staff Service Award. He retired in 1997 after 33 years with Bluffton College, the last three as vice president and dean of academic affairs.