March 2, 2017
Retired Marshall ISD school teacher Jean Birmingham received the Sam B. Hall Civic Service Award from East Texas Baptist University during the annual Sam B. Hall dinner and lecture series.
Birmingham served as a business teacher at Marshall ISD for 36 years and was also active in the city of Marshall as an entrepreneur and city activist.
Birmingham was presented the award on Tuesday at the university by former Harrison County Judge Richard Anderson.
"We stand on the shoulders of those who go before us," Anderson said. "She and her husband owned Birmingham's Barbecue as well as Birmingham's Department Store. Jean is also president of the Harrison County Historical Museum."
Birmingham is also a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and Marshall's All American City team.
"I taught everything the school had to offer in the Business Department from book keeping, to accounting, general business, business math, typing, to the introduction of computers," Birmingham has said in the past. "My love for children and their love for me made me feel I was someone special and I couldn't help but extend my whole soul and mind. It gives me real joy when my former students come up to me and share with me what I had done for him or her. Some little thing I had done that I had forgotten."
Birmingham said for once, she was speechless on Tuesday with the presentation of the service award.
"I am speechless and that is unusual for a school teacher," she joked.
Birmingham told the family of Sam B. Hall who sat in the audience, "your dad loved Marshall and I do too."
Each year, a member of the community who makes a difference is awarded the Sam B. Hall Civic Service Award.
This was the seventh annual Sam B. Hall Dinner and Lecture at the university, an event that honors the memory of former the Marshall attorney, judge, ETBU alum and congressman.
Hall served in the U.S. Army, as a U.S. representative, U.S. District Court Judge, Marshall ISD trustee, and at the Harrison County Farm Bureau.
The university also partnered with Marshall ISD Education Foundation on Tuesday to award two $5,000 scholarships to two Marshall High School seniors who will be attending ETBU in the fall.
This year's Sam B. Hall Scholars are Anthony Gonzalez and Kinley Wilkins.