Benefiting Wesley Woods, the Heroes, Saints and Legends Gala will return on Sept. 15 - for the first time with all three honorees being women.
The Foundation of Wesley Woods will present the awards to “three remarkable women” - “for the first time in our 33-year history,” said Diane Vaughan, president of the Foundation of Wesley Woods, in a statement.
This year’s honorees are:
· Billye Aaron, a retired educator of Spelman, Morehouse, Morris Brown and South Carolina State colleges; former television personality; and nonprofit executive, including for the United Negro College Fund and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, director emeritus and widow of baseball legend Hank Aaron;
· Dr. Judy Greer, a retired educator, serving a 33-year tenure at Oxford College of Emory University and the first female full professor; and
· Virginia Hepner, retired president and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center; a former banker; and currently director of Cadence Bank, Oxford Industries Inc., National Vision Holdings and the Westside Future Fund nonprofit.
“Each of these recipients has scored firsts for women - from first African American woman talk show co-host in the Southeast to first female professor hired at a Georgia University and first female CEO and director of two corporate boards, all while demonstrating a lifelong devotion to Atlanta with countless contributions to our community,” Vaughan added.
Since the event’s beginning in 1990, 109 of Atlanta’s leaders have been celebrated and more than $7.2 million raised for charitable care, pastoral care and wellness programming at Wesley Woods, according to Vaughan.
Vaughan said she finds the historic lineup of women honorees “quite fitting” as she noted, “In the Wesley Woods world, 70% of the residents in our 10 communities are women.”
Event co-chairs are Clark Dean, executive managing director at Transwestern, and Bob Hope, president and co-founder of Hope Beckham Inc.
Bestselling author and veteran reporter Sally Sears of CBS46 will serve as emcee.
The 33rd annual gala will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Flourish by Legendary Events, 3143 Maple Drive, Atlanta.
Cost is $400 per person, tickets are available at WesleyWoods.org/foundation/special-events/hsl/gifts.
For more information on the 2022 honorees, visit WesleyWoods.org/foundation/special-events/hsl.
