Trumbull County African American Achievers Hall of Fame Banquet is Saturday

Staff report

WARREN

Lashale Pugh, assistant professor at Youngstown State University, who specializes in community health initiatives, food justice and health and disease patterns, will be the keynote speaker at the 31st Annual Trumbull County African American Achievers Hall of Fame Banquet at 6 p.m. Saturday at DiVieste Banquet Hall, 754 North River Road NW.

Six adults will be inducted into the hall of fame, and two students will earn scholarships. The theme will be “Our Journey Together.” To buy tickets, call 330-369-8345 or 330-898-4352. Cost is $30.

Pugh, of Campbell, grew up in Chicago and but relocated to attend YSU and started working on her bachelor’s degree in biology at age 35. She earned two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree at YSU, followed by a doctoral degree in geography at the University of Maryland. Most recently, she has been working on the Years of Potential Life Lost project for Mahoning County.

The six inductees are:

Ali Bashir was raised in Warren, is married to Marcelaine, and they have six adult children. Most of his community involvement took place after retirement and continues today.

He is passionate about encouraging black children to have a sense of self pride. He and Marcelaine have foster parented for over 20 years. He strives to be a mentor for males struggling with decisions while living in poverty and high-crime areas. Neighborhood kids know him as “Grandpa.” He repairs their bikes and tries to help get bikes for those needing one.

In the 1970s, he started a food co-op program that offered a low-priced bag of groceries. He has served as chairman for the South East Side Community Association since 2003. He organizes neighborhood clean ups and other projects, attends Warren City Council meetings and sits on subcommittees.

He has been involved with NAACP, A. Philip Randolph Association, Trumbull For Positive Change and other organizations.

Allison L. Smith is an intervention specialist for Hope Academy for Autism in Warren, an artist, storyteller and adjunct instructor for Ashland University. She has more than 30 years in the recreation and education fields.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in public recreation and education at the Ohio State University, an associate’s degree in Bible teaching from International Seminary College in Florida and a master’s from East Tennessee State University. She served 15 years in the Army Reserve.

She and her husband have adopted and raised children who are on the autism spectrum. She teaches development workshops on poverty, autism, storytelling, life skills, quilting, The Underground Railroad and creativity.

Lark T. Mallory of Reynoldsburg was born and raised in Warren and graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a law degree. She also graduated from The University of Florida with a masters degree in tax law.

She is a partner at Frost Brown Todd, LLC and focuses her practice on serving businesses and individuals. She is one of three female black partners at major law firms in Columbus. Prior to law school, she worked as a certified public accountant.

She is heavily involved in her community. Two organizations dear to her are Amethyst, which helps women recovering from addiction; and the Center for Healthy Families, which helps young, single parents raise healthy children.

She also mentors minority law students at the Ohio State University, has been included in “Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars,” and was a recipient of Columbus Business First’s “Forty Under 40” award. She was listed in the “Who’s Who in Black Columbus.” She is a mother of two children.

Dr. Trinitia Cannon is assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the University of Oklahoma but is originally from Warren.

She earned her medical degree at the University of Rochester in New York. She completed a seven-year research residency in otolaryngology at the University of North Carolina in the area of cancer cachexia. This was followed by a fellowship in head and neck oncology/microvascular reconstruction at the Medical University of South Carolina. She treats patients with benign and malignant tumors of the head and neck and does complex reconstructive surgeries following the removal of these tumors.

Lethonia Herron, 86, is the oldest of 11 siblings, all of whom are members of the Church of God in Christ. Among them are four pastors, three licensed missionaries and one district missionary.

She is the mother of 11 children: two jurisdictional bishops, four licensed missionaries, five ordained elders and first ladies. She has a unique gift of compassion that exemplifies the true attributes of holiness.

Through her prayer life, her spiritually warm and nurturing personality is filled with enthusiasm. Working in the Warren City Schools, she was one of three black teachers, providing young students with her motherly love and assistance. She had a great impact on children she taught. The jurisdiction of her son, Bishop David Herron, named her Episcopal Mother.

Consistent themes in the nursing career of Kathy Wright have been the care of vulnerable elders and the health of black Americans. She graduated from Warren Western Reserve High School in 1984 and graduated cum laude in 1989 from Youngstown state University with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

She earned a master’s degree in nursing in 1991 from Case Western Reserve University and was married to James Wright Jr. that same year. They have one daughter, Kathleen.

She worked at Summa Health System in Akron for 23 years as geriatrics clinical nurse specialist and was a board member of the Akron Health Department Office of Minority Health. She also developed and implemented multiple programs to improve the health of low-income older adults.

She earned her doctorate in nursing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and her research focused on the mental and physical health of vulnerable low-income older adults.

She is now clinical and translational research scholar at Case Western Reserve University, with her primary research focus being the design of self-management interventions to improve the physical and mental health of low income older adults.

Scholarship winners:

Heaven Pough is a senior at Warren G. Harding High School, where she is ranked 63rd in a class of 294. Her grade-point average is 3.4. She is an honor roll student, a four-year Renaissance Card recipient and a member of the National Honor Society. She coordinates volunteer events for Inspiring Minds, volunteers with a soup kitchen, Warren Family Mission and the Key Club. She works at the Dairy Queen in Niles and in the high school guidance office.

Mark A. Herron Jr. is a senior at Warren G. Harding High School. He is an honor roll student and was selected Student of the Year in anatomy in 2015. He is a letterman in basketball, baseball and football. He is an active member of Monument of Faith COGIC, where he works in the children’s church ministry. He volunteers at the Community Family Outreach Complex, where he assists with community outreach projects.