Homecoming 2005
Alumni Hall Of Fame

Dr. Kenneth Jones
Jackson County Campus

Clinical psychologist D r. Ken Jones graduated from the Jackson County Campus in 1978. Today, the Colorado native makes his home in Durham, N.C., with wife, Gail, and sons Michael, 13, and Sam, 10. He leads MOVE! (Managing Overweight/Obesity for Veterans Everywhere) at the Veterans Health Administration National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.

“MGCCC had a great deal to do with my professional and personal development as a young adult. I think the highest honor one can have is being honored by the academic program that started off your career,” says Jones, whose two nephews, Chris Seiler and James Armstrong, are enrolled at the college.

A specialist in health psychology, Jones transferred from the Mississippi Gulf Coast VA System to Durham in summer 2004. His education includes Gulf Coast; Millsaps College, Jackson; the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg; Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago; Bowling Green State University, Ohio; and Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition in the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.

In 1995, Jones received a Presidential Citation from the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and in 2000, he received the Young Investigator Award from the Functional Brain-Gut Research group of the American Gastroenterological Association.

As a JC student, Jones was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, was named to Who’s Who Among Community College Students and received the award for academic excellence in history. From August 1977 to May 1978, he worked as a tutor and peer counselor at the campus. Among his influences were Dr. Joseph Ello and Dave Greenwell.

As for his family, Jones met his wife when they were students (and eventually friends) at Ocean Springs High School. They began dating at USM, where Jones was a graduate, and she was a transfer student from Gulf Coast.

Looking back on his childhood, Jones recalls, “My parents worked hard and tried to make things better for their children (who also include younger brother Mark, an independent business owner in Vicksburg), colleagues and community. My need to do good things and to push the envelope academically and as a scientist clearly comes from them.”

Coming back home to accept the Alumni Hall of Fame award means a small break from the hectic, yet rewarding life he leads. It also means a flood of memories coming back to Jones, who remembers getting academic recognition at JC in a field not even related to his major.

“Although I pursued training in psychology, Dean Shaw’s history classes captured my attention in a way I had not experienced before. At the end of the first year at JC, Mr. Shaw gave me an award for having the highest grade point average in history. Being honored for my own hard work by someone who clearly knew so much in his field left a deep impression on me and left me wanting to take what my teachers had given me and do good things in other domains.”

Cynthia Payne Childers
Jefferson Davis Campus

Thirty-four years ago, Cindy Childers, president/CEO of Swetman Security Service Inc. in Biloxi, graduated with an associate’s degree in law enforcement from the JD Campus. She went on to make her mark as a “first” in a couple of areas – the first to graduate from the School of Corrections at Northeast Louisiana University (class of 1973) and the first female to earn the designation of Certified Protection Professional in Mississippi.

In 1993, her business received the Economic Excellence Award from the Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce and the Harrison County Development Commission. Before that, in 1991, Childers was named the Biloxi Career Woman of the Year, and in 2000, she was selected as one of the 50 Leading Business Women in Mississippi.

Childers, 53, is also wife to Larry, mother of three, grandmother of three (No. 3, a boy, is due in November), seminar presenter and security consultant. Most of her family are JD alumni and law-enforcement officers on the Coast. All three of her children attended JD and then the University of Southern Mississippi - Gulf Park. Her son, Windy Swetman, completed JD’s Criminal Justice program; Stephanie Irby, her middle child, works for Biloxi High School as a life skills instructor; and the youngest, Heather Boudreaux, is a fifth-grade teacher in the Biloxi School System.

But what about Cindy Payne the JD student – what was she like? “Go to school. Go to work. Study. Sleep. Repeat the cycle. That was my typical day as a JD student. I’m a goal-oriented person, so when I got out of high school, I had a goal to get a college education.”

Her JD influences included law-enforcement instructor Col. William Brewer, now 85. “I see him at different events, and we reminisce about the good old days. He was a character one would never forget. I had a lot of respect for him 30 plus years ago, and I still do today.”

Childers, who says “education was the key that unlocked the door of opportunity for me,” still has a hand in projects associated with the college. (She’s treasurer of the board of Keesler Federal Credit Union, which partners with the college on the Veterans History Project.)

As for her business, she says, “It’s been a long journey with many peaks and valleys. When I started the business, I did everything myself – operations, finance and personnel.” So far, Swetman Security has employed up to 300 people and reached approximately $4 million in sales in 2004.

This latest accolade, the Alumni Hall of Fame award, proves that the philosophy Childers preached to her children– “education is the foundation to life” and “attitude over aptitude”—pays off in great dividends. “I have received awards in the past, but this award has a special meaning. As a mother, I feel it’s important to lead by example. Given that, this is a mark of validation. It means a lot to me for my children to see that all my hard work and personal sacrifice did not go unnoticed.”

James H. Garner
Perkinston Campus

James Hobert Garner, 73, attended Perk from 1950-52 and was adjutant general of the Mississippi National Guard from 1992-2000. (He joined the Guard’s 138th Transportation Battalion as freshman in 1951.) He played football both years at Perk and was named captain in 1951. He was a staff reporter for the Bulldog Barks newspaper and was sports editor during his freshman and sophomore years for the Perkolator yearbook.

During his military career, Garner, a father of three and grandfather of seven, was named brigadier general (1984), earned 12 military decorations and rose to the rank of major general in the Army. His list of military honors is extensive, but a few of his recognitions include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit and Meritorious Service Medal. But the shaping of James Garner took more than the abstract hands of Perkinston Junior College and the discipline of military life. It took a family.

The son of Grover, a Civil Service airplane mechanic who died in 1997, and Lois, a department-store buyer and bridal consultant who died in 2003, Garner was born during the Great Depression in Newnan, Ga.

He says, “Life at Perkinston Junior College was really laid back by today’s standards. The fall, of course, was devoted to football. Practice always started in mid-August, about two weeks before school started, and we practiced twice a day. Other than attending classes and studying to make our grades, football was our life.”

He also remembers those who had a profound effect on his life. “I always admired Dr J.J. Hayden. We both arrived at Perk at the same time – he as a social studies teacher and me as a student. I had many occasions to maintain contact with Dr. Hayden as he progressed to president of the college.”

Come springtime 1951, Garner, a Bulldog Club member, enlisted in the National Guard and there he remained as he pursued his education and during his 35 years with the Veterans Administration. In between education and career, he spent two years on active duty with the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C.

He went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he met his wife, Jean (Inglis), of 48 years. Garner finished graduate school the same year he and Jean married in Moss Point. Afterwards, they both began working for the Biloxi Veterans Administration Medical Center, where he began his civilian career in 1957 as a corrective therapist. After several promotions, he retired in 1992 from the VA as the assistant to the center’s director to accept the adjutant general appointment by the late Gov. Kirk Fordice.

As Homecoming draws nearer, the humble Garner can expect the spotlight to shine on his own magnificent story. He says he’s sure the excitement of being named to the Alumni Hall of Fame will turn to nervousness. “I know there were so many deserving individuals, so I have to ask myself, ‘What did you do to deserve such an honor?’ As the captain, who lay mortally wounded, told Private Ryan when he asked what he could do to justify the loss of so many lives just to save him, he said, ‘Earn it.’ I don’t know if I deserve the honor or not, so I will surely try to ‘earn it.’”

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