African American Achievers to induct 8 into hall of fame Saturday

Staff report

WARREN

Tickets are still available for Saturday’s Trumbull County African American Achiever’s Association Hall of Fame induction banquet.

Robert L. Davis Jr., Cleveland director of public utilities, will be keynote speaker. The banquet will begin at 6 p.m. at DiVieste Banquete Hall, 754 North River Road.

Eight people will be inducted, and two scholarship recipients will be announced. For tickets, which cost $30, call Franky Parker at 330-720-2215. Cost is $35 at the door.

Davis is responsible for management of more than 1,700 employees and a budget of more than $600 million. Until May 2015, Davis was responsible for the operation of Warren’s water, sewer, sanitation and water-pollution-control divisions.

He has a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University, where he played linebacker for the Mountaineers. In 2016, he was inducted into the Warren Sports Hall of Fame.

The inductees:

Sean Jones graduated from Warren G. Harding High School, then earned a bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University and a master’s degree from Rutgers. In 2004, he had a six-month stint with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He also was music professor at Duquesne University. He was recently selected interim artistic director for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and is chairman of the jazz studies department at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Stephanie L. Shaw is executive director of the Eastern Ohio Education Partnership. She spent 14 years at Embarq, where she was regional public affairs manager for 26 Ohio markets. She served on the board of directors for Forum Health, Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and Kent State University at Trumbull. She has a bachelor’s and master’s degree and is active at Believers Church. She and her husband, Reuben, have been married 28 years, and they have three adult sons.

Capt. Jeffrey Cole joined the Warren Police Department in 1994 and is commander of the patrol division, having previously supervised the school resource officer program, served as internal-affairs officer and worked as detective. He helped bring the Warren Police Department into full compliance with the U.S. Department of Justice. He is public-information officer and lead crisis negotiator, and teaches at the Youngstown State University Police Academy. He is married to Detective Sgt. Sharon Cole of the Youngstown Police Department, and they have three children.

Charles Davis Jr. died in September at 82. He worked at Packard Electric for 42 years and was a member of Grace A.M.E. Church, where he was head trustee. He assisted with the church food pantry, kitchen committee and assisted his wife, Judith, with the annual Christmas Eve candlelight service for 20 years. He and Judith have five sons and one daughter.

The Rev. Phillip W. Shealey, senior pastor at Greater Apostolic Faith Church, is a Warren John F. Kennedy High School graduate who attended Youngstown State University. He became pastor at Greater Apostolic Faith Church in 1994. He was president of the Trumbull County Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance for three years. In 2014, he was elevated to office of District Elder by the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.

Pastor Joseph E. Walker Jr. is senior pastor and co-founder in 2007 of Restoration Christian Fellowship Church. He is a Kent State University graduate and attended Berean Bible College and Logos Bible Institute and is employed at Kent State as a carpenter. He and his wife, Kimberly, have two sons.

Mary L. Duke and her late husband, Roland, founded Teen Straight Talk in 1989 to address teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. She has been executive director for 30 years. In 2018, she received the Professional Women of Trumbull County Achievement Award.

Mary M. King started one of the area’s first line-dance groups in 1999. She turned her love for line dancing into Step-In to Step-Out, a weekly line-dance class. Her husband of 51 years, Edward, died last June. They raised three children. She is a lifelong member of Third Christian Church and church financial clerk and secretary. She also worked 34 years at the United Way of Trumbull County.

Scholarships:

Antwan Howard is a senior at Warren G. Harding High School, the son of Jeniece and Bruce Howard. He can play four musical instruments: saxophone, drums, bass guitar and piano. For four years, he has been part of the Harding band program. He plans to attend Youngstown State University and hopes to play in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Jada Pugh-Brown, daughter of Tony and Jackie Brown, maintained a 4.0 grade-point average during her freshman and sophomore years of high school and is on track to have a 4.4 grade-point average this year. She also has been a Warren G. Harding High School majorette and has been active at Second Baptist Church. She plans to study biochemistry.