Seeking Babbs Award Nominations
Recognizing Park Hill Leaders
Nominations are being sought for this year’s Babbs Award recipient. This award recognizes a Park Hill resident who has made a significant contribution to the neighborhood.
The award, which has been given every year since 1980, honors the legacy of former Park Hill United Methodist Pastor Dr. J. Carlton Babbs. Previous recipients have included Art & Bea Branscombe, Marjorie Gilbert, Roberta Locke, Geneva Goldsby and Robert Homiak. Blair Taylor won last year.
Park Hill residents are invited to submit their nominations by Friday, Sept. 20. The award will be presented during the Oct. 3 annual meeting and board elections. (See related details in Lana Cordes’ column at this link.)
Babbs was 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, became Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Historically, GPHC’s impact on integration, zoning, schools, justice and legislation for the community has been widely recognized. At the time of 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.
Identify your nominee, his or her address, phone number and/or email and the reasons for the nomination. Your name and phone number is requested in case we need to follow up. You may mail or drop off your nomination to 2823 Fairfax St., or email it to director@greaterparkhill.org
Thank you for taking time to recognize Park Hill leaders.