Rev. M. LaVelle Hendricks, announces forty local community leaders that will be honored at
a ceremony at the Cypress Center, on Saturday, July 5th. Guest of honor will be former Sulphur
Springs mayor, Aubrey Washington.

 

Community Hero Awards
To Honor Local Citizens,
Saturday Night

by: Bobby McDonald

It will be a large gathering of citizens and honorees at Saturday night's, First Annual Aubrey Washington Community Heroes Awards Ceremony. The event hosted by the African-American Leadership Conference will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Cypress Center, located on Como Street. This year's ceremony will be a tribute to community leader, Aubrey Washington, and will feature Dr. Myrna Gilstrap, former Greenville City Council member, as the keynote speaker.

According to Dr. M. Lavelle Hendricks, Leadership Conference Coordinator and Pastor of the East Caney Missionary Baptist Church, Washington has been "a beacon in the local community," serving as Mayor of Sulphur Springs, serving on the Sulphur Springs City Council for three terms, and exemplifying the characteristics of a devoted community leader, father, husband, and grandfather.

Aubrey Washington and his wife, Lillian, continue to serve the community in a number of ways, as he is currently serving as a deacon at Southside Church of Christ, where they are devoted members. He is a member of the local, Sulphur Springs Crime Stoppers Board, a member of the American Legion Post 66, and has served a number of terms on the Hopkins County Grand Jury.

 

 

Born in Hopkins County, in 1933, Washington was reared in the East Caney Community, and attended school in both East Caney and Neylandville. He is a graduate of Douglas High School, in Sulphur Springs and attended Butler College, before serving two years in the U.S. Army, where he was stationed in both Korea and Japan.

Aubrey and Lillian Washington are the proud parents of two sons, Andre and Ashley. Andre Washington and his wife, Janice, live in Houston, where he is an overseas operations manager in Kuwait. They are the parents of Angela, an upcoming August graduate of Sam Houston State University, in Huntsville, where she is majoring in Criminal Justice.   Ashley and his wife, Jo Ann, live in Lake Jackson, Texas, where he is an operations asset manager, for an oil company. Ashley and Jo Ann are the parents of Jeremy Washington, a graduate of Morehouse College, in Atlanta, and is now stationed in Iraq, in the U.S. Army,  and Nina Washington, a student at Lamar University in Beaumont, where she will graduate as a speech pathologist, in December.

Washington currently operates Washington Re-Sale Shop, on Jefferson Street. He has been involved in a number of businesses and real estate, while serving this community.  He was formerly an employee of Amoco Oil Company and Jim Master's Western Store.

Thirty-nine local community leaders have been sited to be honored along with Washington, at Saturday night's ceremony. They include: Paul Glover, Coy Johnson, Mary Bonham, Yvonne King, Tom Sellers, Bobby McDonald, Cassie Edwards, Jack Chubb, Larry Jordan, Scott Keys, J.D. Franklin, Bill Bradford, Cletis Millsap, D.K. Young, Mickey McKenzie, Tory Humphries, Billy Sam Elliot, Carolyn Malone Thomas, Chris Brown, Harold B. Nash, Yolanda Williams, Patricia Cooper, Troy Young, Nelson Gatlin, Don Patterson, Dr. Sherri S. Barclay, Robert Newsom, Freddie Taylor, Dawn Sheffield, Vera Harrington, Joe Minter, Don Sapaugh, Silvesta Alexander, Martin Braddy, Marc Maxwell, Joe Crouch, Shakoja DeBase, Valanderous Bell, and Byron Irving.

A reception, in the fellowship hall of Cypress Center, will follow the awards presentations.

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