Five will be inducted into achievers hall of fame

The guest speaker is the only black county commissioner in Ohio.

WARREN — Five entrepreneurs will be inducted Saturday into the Trumbull County African-American Achievers Association Hall of Fame.

The 23rd annual inductee dinner will be at 6 p.m. at DeVieste’s Banquet Hall, 754 North Road.

Those being inducted are: Arthur Vaughn, Gloria Duren, Melanie Jones, Felicia Pruitt-Davis and Irene Alexander.

Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones will be keynote speaker. He is the only black county commissioner in Ohio and served as vice mayor and a councilman in Shaker Heights.

He graduated from Harvard and the Harvard Law School. Jones is a partner in the law firm of Roetzel & Andress, working in the firm’s Cleveland office as part of its public law group.

He previously was the first black to run for Ohio’s lieutenant governor and served as special counsel to the Ohio attorney general and associate bar examiner for the Ohio Supreme Court.

About the inductees:

UVaughn, 83, of Warren, served in the Army during World War II and moved here from Yazoo City, Miss., after the war.

He was a bricklayer and carpenter. He was the third union bricklayer in Warren, but whites at the time didn’t want to work with blacks.

Vaughn started his own company, Noel & Norman Masonry Construction, working on a number of private and government buildings, and is a member of many service associations. He and his wife, Mary, have six children.

U Duren, know as “Ms. Gee,” owns Hats and Alterations on Pine Avenue, Warren.

She was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, moving to the U.S. in 1965 with her husband and two children. In 1980, she and three other entrepreneurs decided to open a business, Gee’s Hats and Alterations. She became the sole owner in 1993.

Duren has maintained her business despite adversity. Her business was on Market Street for 19 years when she was forced to move to make way for a parking lot expansion. She moved to Pine Street, but after five years was forced to another building on Pine because of a fire.

U Jones, a single parent with a 21-year-old child, is known for her volunteerism and working with children.

Jones is a 1972 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School, and received her bachelor’s degree in law enforcement administration and sociology from Youngstown State University where she took graduate classes. She is a licensed cosmetologist.

She worked in beauty salons in Warren and Youngstown, was employed at Trumbull County Children Services and currently works for Northeast Ohio Adoption Services. Jones is a certified surrogate parent for pupils with learning disabilities. She volunteers with Community Volunteer Council, Hospice and Mentoring Moms.

Jones is also involved with the Girl Scouts, Southeast Warren Neighborhood Association, Believers Christian Fellowship and Trumbull County Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

U Pruitt-Davis, of Warren, is chief executive officer and founder of Dress for Success – Warren-Youngstown. The company promotes economic and social advancement for low-income women through career development, job retention and promotion of self-sufficiency.

Pruitt-Davis started the company in 2002 and has worked with Job and Family Services in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, Building Bridges, Warren-Trumbull Urban League, Beatitude House and other agencies.

A Navy veteran, she is the author of “Dress to Achieve Success, A Guide to Career and Personal Development,” which will be published in March. She received her bachelor’s degree in arts from Kent State University and master’s degree in business administration from Phoenix University. She and her husband, Robert Davis, have two children and live in Warren.

U Alexander moved to Warren as a toddler from Woodland, Pa., in 1925. She graduated in 1944 from Harding and was employed at the Ravenna Arsenal in 1946.

Alexander’s aim was to become an independent woman, so she continued her education at the Wilkins School of Cosmetology in Cleveland. She married David Alexander in 1952 and they have three children. In 1963, she achieved her goal of opening her own salon, Rene’s Beauty Shop, which she operated for 40 years until her recent semiretirement.

To her customers, Alexander was a mentor, counselor, encourager, cook, historian and friend. She is a member of Second Baptist Church and serves on its Mothers Board.

Scholarships will be awarded to Makia Brown and Ryan Chambers, both of Warren. The scholarship amounts are contingent on ticket sales and program advertising. Tickets for the event are $25 each and can be obtained by calling (330) 369-5640.

Brown is senior class president at Harding and ranks third in her class with a 4.2 grade point average. She is a member of the National Honor Society and student council and is in the International Baccalaureate Program and Renaissance Program for Academic Excellence.

Chambers is a Harding senior. He is a member of the honor roll with a 3.4 GPA and is involved in the Advanced Placement Program and Renaissance Program for Academic Excellence.

He has received multiple letters in football and baseball and is a member of the symphonic band. Ryan was also involved in Make a Difference Day and National Clean Up Day.