The latest class of Trigg County’s Distinguished Alumni will be honored this weekend at Trigg County High School.
Committee members Bob Brame, Mike Wright, Jim Wallace, and George Radford recently shared the inductees’ names with Your News Edge. They include Chappel Allen, Dr. Henry Cunningham, Bill Fort, C. Ray Hall, Donnie Holland, and Tuwanda Shaw.
Wright said this idea to honor various Trigg County graduates began three years ago.
Brame added that there is a plaque inside the high school where students can learn more about each distinguished alumni.
Chappel Allen graduated with the class of 1954 and went on to open one of the county’s most successful businesses, Kentucky Machine and Engineering. He passed away on February 25, 2016.
Dr. Henry Smith Cunningham graduated in 1975 and went on to join the medical practice in 1988 at the now Texas Pulmonary & Critical Care Consultants. Dr. Cunningham passed away on January 8, 2014.
Bill Fort graduated from Trigg County High School in 1977 and would go on to serve as pastor of Rich Pond Baptist Church in Bowling Green and First Baptist Church of Richmond, Kentucky. Wright said that Fort is one of the most respected pastors across the Commonwealth and has been over the last 25+ years and recently retired.
C. Ray Hall was a 1965 graduate and would go on to become a writer for the Inside Kentucky Sports magazine, the Lexington Herald-Leader, Auto Week Magazine, and the Louisville Courier-Journal – where he spent the bulk of his career. Hall passed away on July 29, 2024.
Donnie Holland was a 1967 graduate of Trigg County High School. Over his career, Holland would serve as manager of Johnson Controls, Inc. in Cadiz, was responsible for helping get Wabash International to locate here, and then would serve as Kentucky’s Commissioner of the Department of Parks for four years – appointed by Governor Matt Bevin.
Tuwanda Coleman Shaw was a 1977 graduate and went on to have a 40+ year career at NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee. Before retiring earlier this year, Coleman served as the host of the popular ‘Talk of the Town’ show.
Students from the high school will hear from this year’s class Friday morning, while the ceremony to honor them will take place Saturday afternoon at 2:00 inside Trigg County School’s cafeteria. WKDZ’s News and Ag Director Alan Watts, will emcee the program, with the public invited to attend.
