Richard Voorhees Wilson '73
(Year Awarded--2004)

We know that Davidson is a place – but perhaps it is more accurate to say that Davidson is a family, spread over a wealth of communities which are inextricably linked, though they may be separated by time and space. Any such far-flung kindred depends for its strength on those members who dedicate themselves to building and maintaining the links which hold it together. We now honor Richard Voorhees Wilson, Davidson Class of 1973, for being one of those essential communicators who bind our College family together.

From his arrival at Davidson, Rich began building his own links to the Davidson community, starting with his freshman hall, and his memberships in PAX and Sigma Phi Epsilon. Perhaps foreshadowing things to come, he helped edit the Davidsonian, our students’ vehicle for ongoing dialogue with each other and with the world. In his junior year Rich served as a Hall Counselor, forging bonds with a Davidson class outside his own. For these and his many other student activities, Rich was honored by membership in the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, and with the George Gladstone Memorial Award

Following his graduation from Davidson and earning an MBA from the University of Chicago, Rich joined Procter & Gamble, a company noted for the same sort of strong collective culture which distinguishes Davidson. Before retiring as vice-president of Worldwide Media for Proctor & Gamble, Rich worked extensively in and with Latin America. He and his wife Carol also stayed active in their home community of Cincinnati, serving their church and the schools attended by their children, Kelayne and Christian.

Rich has also stayed embedded in the life of Davidson. He and Carol hosted a reception for President Vagt in 2003, and welcomed members of the Concert Choir to their home earlier this year.

This Reunion Weekend is the ideal time to acclaim Rich’s thirty years of diligent service as Class Secretary for the Class of 1973. For longer than any current Davidson student has been alive, Rich has been calling and writing classmates, gathering and recounting the events of their lives through the pages of the Davidson Update and now the Davidson Journal. Every quarter when their Journal arrives, members of the Class of 1973 turn to the product of Rich’s investment in his classmates. Every issue of those Class Notes is a tribute to Rich’s devotion to Davidson, and to his friends and classmates.

For breathing fresh life into those “mystic ties of memory,” for your concern with your classmates’ triumphs and tragedies, and for making real Davidson’s cherished community spirit with three decades of attention to others' lives, we are pleased to honor you, Richard Voorhees Wilson, with the Alumni Service Award, on the occasion of your thirtieth reunion, this twenty-fourth day of April, 2004.