Menu

Babbs Award

The award honors the legacy of former Park Hill United Methodist Pastor and founding member of the Park Hill Action Committee, Dr. J. Carlton Babbs.

Babbs was a minister at Park Hill United Methodist Church from 1955 until his death in 1978. He helped organize the Park Hill Action Committee and was a key supporter of integration in Park Hill. On the same Sunday in May of 1956, all of the ministers in the community preached sermons on the need to eliminate all the barriers to church membership and housing on the basis of race, sex or national origin.

The Park Hill Action Committee, organized and sponsored by these churches, subsequently became the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. (GPHC). Historically, GPHC’s impact on integration, zoning, schools, justice and legislation for the community has been widely recognized.  At the time of Dr. Babbs’ death, the clergy of Park Hill met and decided that a community service award in his memory would be a fitting tribute to one of the neighborhood’s outstanding leaders.

Nominate a neighbor for their outstanding impact to the community. Send us a couple of paragraphs on your nominee and what makes them an exceptional member of our community. The Babbs award is presented at our annual community meeting in October.  Nominations can be sent to info@greaterparkhill.org.

The following outstanding community members have received the Babbs Award in years past:

2021 – Rev. Nathan Adams

2020 – LeAnn Anderson

2019 – The Bresler Family

2018 – Blair Taylor

2017 – Claudia Fields

2016 – Lynn Kalinauskas

2015 – Heather Shockey

2014 – Kate Sultan

2013 – Bernadette Kelly

2012 – Tracey MacDermott

2011 – Lynn Smith

2010 – Susan Schneider Homiak

2009 – Lyle Hansen

2008 – Roberta Locke

2007 – Roz Wheeler-Bell

2006 – Bob Homiak

2005 – Linda L. Elliott

2004 – Geneva Goldsby

2003 – Sarah Lee Foster

2002 – Marietta “Jo” Mosby

2001 – Ann Long

2000 – Richard Pickett

1999 – Algene and Odell Holleman

1998 – Lewis and Bernice Watts

1997 – Dr. Robbie Bean

1996 – Patricia B. Clarke

1995 – Liz Kreider

1994 – Emmett F. Wallace

1993 – Cynthia C. Kahn

1992 – Gerald “Jerry” Kopel

1991 – William R. “Bill” Turner

1990 – Henry Turner

1989 – Mary Ann McClain

1988 – John and Gladys Bates

1987 – Art and Bea Branscombe

1986 – Karen Saliman

1985 – Issac and Marie White

1984 – Madeleine Hegarty

1983 – Marjorie Gilbert

1982 – Jules H. Mondschein

1981 – Helen B. Evans

1980 – Robert Hickman