Business
David Abney
Georgia Trustee
David Abney, former Chairman of UPS and a native of Greenwood, Mississippi, will be inducted by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia Historical Society as a modern-day Georgia Trustee. It is the highest honor the State of Georgia can confer.
Horatio Alger Award
Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education, today announced that David P. Abney, chairman and CEO, United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) has been selected for membership in this prestigious organization. Mr. Abney joins 12 other exceptional business, civic and cultural leaders from across North America in receiving 2019 honors. For more than 70 years, the Horatio Alger Award has been annually bestowed upon esteemed individuals who have succeeded despite facing adversities, and who have remained committed to higher education and charitable endeavors throughout their lives.
Church
Susan Morgan
Christian Cultural Exchange Consultant
Susan was selected to serve on a mission team for a year in Izmail, Ukraine, 1995-96. The team was sponsored by Mission to the World, the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) missions sending agency. Izmail is a small river port town on the banks of the Danube in southern Ukraine.
Susan shared, “Our team of ten people from various states in the US divided into twos, each with an interpreter. Each group was assigned specific public schools in which we taught a Bible-based curriculum to teachers and administrators during the school year. We also led Bible studies in the community and Bible Clubs for children.”
She served as “Christian Cultural Exchange Consultant” and led her team in organizing a Marital and Family Life Conference for young couples while there. Susan describes this assignment as a mountaintop experience in her life.
Community
Buddy Morgan
King Cotton 2013
Buddy is the son of Mrs. James C. Morgan Jr. of Greenwood and the late Mr. Morgan. His family’s farming interests in Mississippi and the Delta date back to the 1840s. Buddy is the fourth generation of the Morgan family to farm cotton in Leflore County.
Buddy graduated from Pillow Academy in 1973 before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture economics from Mississippi State University. He began farming full-time with his father in 1978.
In 1987, Buddy was the recipient of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce’s Young Farmer of the Year Award. During the 1980s he ventured into the catfish industry, raising catfish on his farm until 2006 and served on the board of directors of the Catfish Farmers of Mississippi.
Today, he operates Ridgecrest Farms, growing cotton, corn, wheat and soybeans on Ridgecrest and Cottonwood Plantations near Morgan City.
Buddy is married to the former Annette Tribble of Money. His wife’s family has farmed cotton for four generations, and his father-in-law, the late Hiram Ray Tribble, also owned and operated Money Gin Company for many years.
Buddy and Annette live on Ridgecrest Plantation in Morgan City. And this is where they raised their two children, Mary Annette Morgan Smith and James C. Morgan IV. Both children are strategically involved in the James C. Morgan farming operation today.
In 1973, his wife, Annette, was a COTTON BALL maid, and Buddy was her escort.
Buddy’s civic activities include serving as a member of the First South Farm Credit Local Advisory Committee, the Greenwood Farmers Club, Delta Council, Delta Wildlife and the Itta Bena-Morgan City Rotary Club. He has also served on the board of directors of the Morgan Gin Company. He is a Delta area director of the Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts, has served as a commissioner of the Leflore County Soil and Water Conservation District since 1981, including serving as chairman of the commissioners.
Buddy says that it is his goal to improve his farm through soil and water conservation and to preserve the land for future generations. He has a special interest in wildlife conservation and has devoted acreage to wildlife habitat preservation.
Buddy and Annette are members of Morgan City Baptist Church, where he has served as church treasurer.
