Published: March 28, 2007 10:51 am      

WC to honor alumni at Homecoming

Eddie Burn, Wayne Smith, Nolan Queen, Laurie Vanzura honored

Special to the Democrat At its annual Homecoming dinner, Weatherford College will honor four well-respected former students — Eddie Burns, Alumnus of Year, and Wayne Smith, Nolan Queen and Laurie Blalock Vanzura, Distinguished Alumni. The four will be honored at the Homecoming Awards Dinner at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 21, in the Doss Student Center. Burns became the first African-American fire chief in the history of the city of Dallas in April 2006, overseeing 1,900 employees and a budget of more than $180 million. After completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Dallas Baptist University, Burns completed an associate’s degree in fire science administration at Weatherford College in 2004. He continues to teach basic courses for Weatherford College’s Fire Academy and recruits students for the college. Burns is the first African-American honoree in the 41-year history of the Weatherford College Alumnus of the Year Award. Smith is a 1936 graduate of Weatherford College. After graduating from Texas Tech in 1940, he served as an Army medic in World War II. He was captured by the Germans in Italy and spent 22 months in a prisoner of war camp. After the war, Smith became a rural letter carrier and continued for the next 36 years in his hometown of Springtown. He is a longtime member of the Weatherford College Alumni Association. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Queen attended Weatherford College in the late 1940s, playing on the Coyote football team in 1947. He earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Texas in Austin and then returned to Weatherford to establish his law practice. Queen has served the community as county judge, criminal district attorney, county attorney, municipal judge and as a current member and past president of the Parker County Hospital District Board of Directors. Vanzura, an East Parker County resident, is a 1977 Weatherford College nursing graduate. Under the pen name Lori Wilde, she has written 42 books for three major New York publishers — Warner Books, Harlequin and Silhouette Romance. She is a two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award and a winner of the prestigious Hold Medallion writing award. Vanzura is a volunteer with Freedom House in Weatherford and the Doss Heritage and Culture Center and is an underwriting sponsor and workshop presenter for Weatherford College’s annual Books ’n Authors ’n All That Jazz, as well as an instructor for an online writing course through the college’s continuing education department. Tickets for the Homecoming dinner are available by calling Marsha Johnson in the Office of Institutional Advancement, (817) 598-6272.