Three Rock Hill residents receive Top 2016 Alumni Awards
November 28, 2016
ROCK HILL, SC – Rock Hill residents Joann McMaster ’45, Harry Dalton ’86 and Debbie Garrick ’87, ’89 garnered the top 2016 Alumni Awards during Winthrop’s Homecoming & Reunion Weekend in November.
The award recipients were recognized formally at the Alumni Reunion and Awards Luncheon in McBryde Hall.
Joann McMaster ’45, Mary Mildred Sullivan Award: McMaster carries a distinction that few can claim – she has known all of Winthrop’s presidents except the founder, David Bancroft Johnson. As a Winthrop student, she stood out for having the highest GPA as a freshman and earned the Gill Wylie Scholarship. After graduation, she taught school and assisted with the creation of several key organizations: the Friends of York County Library (the library’s volunteer service award is named in McMaster’s honor), the Rock Hill Arts Council and York County Hospice. In the community, she has served as president of the auxiliary for the S.C. Association of Veterinarians and at St. John’s United Methodist for the church’s United Methodist Women’s group. She led a drive to raise thousands of dollars for the creation of the Wayne Patrick Hospice House and participated on the Hospice Speakers’ Bureau. At Winthrop, McMaster has served on her class reunion committee for every “Class of 1945” reunion since 1950. At her 70th reunion in 2015, she was among seven women present from her class. She earned her B.A. in English at Winthrop.
Joann McMaster, Harry Dalton, and Debbie Garrick
Harry Dalton ’86, Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award: Dalton, a passionate environmentalist and philanthropist, is a lifetime member of the Sierra Club and served as president of the Sierra Club National Foundation. The retired president of Caraustar Industries and retired chairman of former Star Paper Tubes, Inc. enabled the preservation of Nanny’s Mountain near Clover, South Carolina, and Worth Mountain near Hickory Grove, South Carolina. Dalton served on the boards of the Nation Ford Land Trust; the York County Community Foundation; the Palmetto Conservation Foundation; and on Governor Riley’s Environmental Council. Dalton also participated in the restoration of two historic buildings on Main Street in Rock Hill and provided funding for the Dalton Gallery at the Rock Hill Center for the Arts; Clinton College library art gallery; Winthrop Galleries; and Winthrop’s Department of Theatre and Dance. During Winthrop’s first capital campaign, Dalton and his late wife ’Becca made a $1 million leadership gift to establish the Harry and ’Becca Dalton Endowed Chair in Environmental Sciences and Environmental Studies. The couple has been generous donors to a number of Winthrop programs and projects, including the Eagle Club; Winthrop Galleries; Friends of Dacus Library; Friends of the Conservatory; the D.B. Johnson Memorial Organ Restoration Campaign; the Lisa Cook Ford Endowed Scholarship; and the Artist and Civic Engagement (ACE) Project Fund at Winthrop. Dalton, who earned his M.A. in history at Winthrop, served as honorary co-chair of Winthrop’s second capital campaign, Distinction: The Campaign for Winthrop.
Debbie Garrick ’87, ’89, Alumni Distinguished Service Award: Garrick provided strong leadership for her alma mater as associate vice president for Institutional Advancement and executive director of the Winthrop Alumni Association in addition to her student affairs positions at the university. As a Winthrop student, she was involved in campus leadership through student government; campus ministry; orientation staff; and the Dinkins Student Union board, among others. As a Winthrop employee, Garrick and her student affairs colleague Alicia Marstall founded the Emerging Leaders program. Garrick was a member of Winthrop’s first Staff Assembly, and her leadership is honored through the Debbie Garrick Leaders’ Scholarship, which provides funding to students who have successfully completed the Emerging Leaders program. Garrick, now the advanced metering infrastructure administrator for the City of Rock Hill, remains active in volunteer work as board chair for the Chrysalis Autism Center; marketing chair for the Board of Westminster Towers Retirement Community; as a member of the Supervisory Committee for Family Trust Federal Credit Union; as a member of the Winthrop Athletic Hall of Fame Committee; and as a deacon at Forest Hill Church. She also served on the ChristmasVille Board of Governors from 2000-2015, overseeing the holiday event as festival chair in 2013. Garrick earned her B.A. in communication and her M.Ed. in guidance at Winthrop.
The Mary Mildred Sullivan Award recognizes a Winthrop alumna for selfless dedication of time, energy and talent in service of others, while the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is the male equivalent of this award. The Alumni Distinguished Service Award recognizes a Winthrop alumna/us who significantly contributes to the quality of life in his/her community, the development of values and morals within others and serves as an outstanding citizen.
