African-American Achievers banquet set

Staff report

WARREN

The theme for the 29th annual Trumbull County African-American Achievers Hall of Fame Banquet at 6:30 p.m. Saturday is “Coming Together, Making a Difference.”

It will be at DiVieste’s Banquet Hall, 754 North River Road NW. Tickets cost $30.

The event honors those who have made an impact on the community through leadership, service or development, entrepreneurship, education, artistic talent, sports and more. For tickets, call 330-369-8345.

Guest speaker will be Dante Capers, principal of Warren G. Harding High School. Capers graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Kent State University and also earned a master’s degree from KSU in 2006.

The six adults who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame are:

The Rev. Gena Thornton, pastor of Grace A.M.E. Church in Warren, who shared her “Nuggets of Truth” on the Ron Daniel Show for 10 years on local television and also had a radio ministry, “Spiritual Awakening.”

She was ordained to the ministry in 1979 and entered the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in December 1984. She was appointed pastor of Grace A.M.E. in 2009.

She is president of Gena Thornton Evangelistic Ministries, Inc., and for eight years ministered in the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center and conducted Bible study at the Mansfield Reformatory. She founded Women of Faith in Action, composed of female ministers and missionaries in the Youngstown area.

She also has done missionary work in Guyana, South America, Haiti and South Africa.

Lynda McMillion Snyder is a 1984 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School who was the first black head majorette there. She also was homecoming queen, the second black person so chosen. She was active in National Honor Society, Buckeye Girls State, student government, ski club and the literary club.

She attended Kent State University on a band scholarship, graduated cum laude in May 1988 and was a KSU football majorette all four years. She is associate director of family engagement and community outreach for I Know I Can, a nationally recognized not-for-profit college-access program that provides $1.5 million in grants and scholarships annually.

She and her husband, H. Lee Snyder, Jr., live in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, and have 11 children.

Mark E. Davis Sr., who died in 2011 at age 54, was a 1975 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School who taught at Trumbull Correctional Institute 12 years, ending in 2000, and worked for the Warren Fire Department, retiring in 1988.

After achieving All-Ohio in high-school basketball, he received a full scholarship to West Virginia Wesleyan, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and was Wesleyan’s fifth all-time leading scorer and was named to the first team All-WVIAC in 1979. He also was named to Wesleyan’s College Hall of Fame.

“Mark Davis was the most talented player I ever coached, and I had the good fortune to coach many talented players in my time as a head coach,” said Wesleyan basketball coach Gary Hess.

DaMon W. “Monty” Davis, who died in June 2013 at age of 54, was the first-round draft pick of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers in 1980 and also played for the Dallas Mavericks. He was the only basketball player in Trumbull County history to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft.

A 1976 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School, he would lead the nation in rebounds his last season at Tennessee State University in Nashville in 1979. He also attended Kent State University.

Bill Kovach, former coach of the Harding High basketball team, once challenged Davis to reach and pull down a dollar bill from the top of the backboard at the former Warren G. Harding High School gymnasium, and Davis did it.

“He had long arms that went past his knees and he had the best eye-hand coordination of any player I ever coached,” Kovach said.

As a 6-foot 7-inch junior at Tennessee, he led the nation in rebounding with an average of 16.2 per game, a figure has yet to be surpassed since 1979.

Mark Davis and Monte Davis were brothers.

Cheryl L. Strother has been director of nursing at the Warren Health Department since 2008. Prior to that, she was employed as a public-health nurse with the department.

She grew up in Masury and is a 1970 graduate of Brookfield schools. She is married to William Strother, and they have two sons, William II and Julian. She earned associate and bachelor’s degrees from Youngstown State University and earned her master’s degree in nursing from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1995 at the top of her class and was awarded the Cushing-Robb prize for excellence in academic achievement, clinical nursing ability and professional competence.

She is president of the Grace AME Church nursing guild, which offers numerous programs to the congregation and community.

Vivian F. Walters Morgan of Hoyt Street Flourishing Ministries has been the wife of Gerald L. Morgan for 43 years, and they have three children. She has served in ministry more than 40 years, working to help those in need and helping many find Christ. She has worked numerous positions in the workforce and is an entrepreneur.

She worked for Packard Electric, Trumbull Correctional Institution and for health-care facilities. She owned and managed Viv’s Beauty Salon and now owns Reginald’s Home For Veterans. She completed work toward her doctorate degree and soon will graduate with a counseling degree from the Metropolitan College of Theology Warren campus.

Scholarship recipients are:

Choniece Phillips, a senior at Warren G. Harding High School, who has been on the honor roll since 2010 and has a grade-point-average exceeding 4.0 and is ranked No. 2 in her class. She also takes classes at Kent State University at Trumbull and is a co-captain of the cheerleading squad. She participates in Inspiring Minds, Key Club, Math Club and Robotics team.

DeAndre Merchant, a Warren G. Harding High School senior, has a 24 ACT score and 3.7-grade-point average and has been on the honor roll every year in Warren schools. He has been a varsity letterman on the high-school football team since 2012 and runs indoor track. He works at Dairy Queen and volunteers with the American Red Cross and YWCA Children’s Olympics.