City of Columbus to Hold Induction Ceremony for 2021 Hall of Fame
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther will induct the
late Mary Teresa Funk, Maude Hill, Ned Pettus, Jr., PhD and the late Reverend
Dr. James Preston Poindexter into the Columbus Hall of Fame.
The City of Columbus Hall of Fame honors
outstanding individuals who, through exemplary accomplishments, have gained
national recognition for themselves and have brought credit to this city.
Mary Teresa Funk served the City of
Columbus from 2000 to 2010, after many years of being a neighborhood advocate
and President of the Harrison West Society. As a Community Liaison, she
attended hundreds of neighborhood civic and area commission meetings, and
channeled her passion to the benefit of all the people of Columbus. No
resident’s complaint was too trivial to merit her attention. She served the
public with joy in her heart, and often sarcasm in her voice, keeping coworkers
and friends laughing all the while.
Maude Hill has been an agent of human
service, public safety and social change for over four decades. Since 1990,
Maude has played a leading role in Homeport’s organizational journey that has
lifted the lives of thousands of Central Ohio residents through affordable
housing, financial education and access to supporting services. She’s worked
with residents to learn their needs and assisted in the design and floor plans
of family-friendly apartment homes.
A graduate of Linden-McKinley, Pettus
joined the ranks of the Columbus Division of Fire as a firefighter in 1977,
sparking a four-decade-long career in public safety. He went on to become the
city’s first Black Fire Chief in 2002 and the Director of Public Safety in
August 2016. In his 10 years as Fire Chief, the Division achieved one of the
first international accreditations by the Commission on Fire Accreditation
International in the United States, and was recognized as one of the world’s
highest-regarded models.
The historic Reverend James Preston
Poindexter was an abolitionist, civil rights activist, politician and Baptist
minister from Columbus. He was also politically active in education, the
Underground Railroad and City Council, among other causes. His life’s work was
memorialized in the naming of the one of the first affordable public housing
complexes in Columbus and the nation as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal.
“We are delighted to induct these four
Columbus champions into the Hall of Fame,” said Mayor Ginther. “Each of them
has contributed to the well-being, growth, and diversity of our city. I cannot
thank them enough for lifting up the City of Columbus and its residents.”