Robert Orcutt Kellogg '40 (Posthumously)
(Year Awarded--2000)

In September 1936, one hundred high school graduates arrived in Davidson to become the Class of 1940. Almost all came from the small towns and cities of the “Old South.” Today, with poignant pride, we honor one of the only four whose journey began north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

All sports demand commitment and self-discipline. No athletic event demands more of body and will than that of the long distance runner. In that grueling sport for four years, Bob Kellogg developed the qualities that made him team captain and earned the marks of campus leadership that qualified him for Omicron Delta Kappa.

After Davidson, Cornell Medical School continued his preparation for a lifetime of distinguished practice in Bangor, Maine. Is it any wonder that his chosen city embraced this man so obviously guided by the Hippocratic oath? Here was a doctor who, mirabile dictu, was willing to make house calls. But medicine did not limit his interest or his service. For forty years, organizations important to the community such as the symphony, the historical society, the hospital, and church benefited from participation and support that Bob and his wife Julie so willingly gave.

As devoted as he was to Bangor, Bob’s concern for others sometimes took him much farther afield. Three times he volunteered for stints of two months on the mercy ship Hope, providing medical treatment to thousands in Colombia, Brazil, and Tunisia. After retirement from his post at the hospital, he used his expertise and experience for fifteen years to care for those wrestling with the demons of drugs and alcohol abuse.  

Because you consciously prepared yourself for service to humankind; because you so effectively combined competence and compassion throughout your life; and because you exemplified so well the ideals and values that your alma mater seeks to instill, the Davidson College Alumni Association honors you, Robert Orcutt Kellogg, posthumously, with the John W. Kuykendall Award for Community Service on the occasion of the Class of 1940’s 60th Reunion, September 23, 2000.