The directors of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the head of a charitable foundation in Peru, an acclaimed athletics director and a young mother who helps orphans in Bulgaria will be honored with University Awards during Homecoming 2007 at Brigham Young University.
Receiving Distinguished Service Awards are Craig D. Jessop (MA ’76), North Salt Lake; Jerold J. Simons (’61), Midway, Utah; Glen C. Tuckett (MS ’62) Provo; and Mack J. Wilberg (BMU ’79), Bluffdale, Utah. Deborah Dushku Gardner (BS ’96), Providence, Utah, will receive the Service to Family Award.
Jessop was named the associate director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 1995 and became the director in 1999, the same year Wilberg was appointed as the associate director. Together they have created and nurtured the Orchestra at Temple Square and the Temple Square Chorale, have led the Tabernacle Choir in national tours and prepared the choir for the Opening Ceremonies and a series of Cultural Olympiad concerts during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Simons and his wife, Ella, directed activities in more than 100 villages, affecting more than 350,000 people, through Hope Projects, their humanitarian organization designed to aid a remnant of the Incas in Peru living in the tops of the Andes Mountains.
During his nearly 35 years as a teacher, coach, administrator and ecclesiastical leader, Tuckett has been an extraordinary representative of BYU.
Gardner, a full-time mother of five, was prompted to focus on humanitarian aid after serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Bulgaria. She co-founded and serves as executive director of One Heart Bulgaria, which, among other things, improves the lives of children in 16 Bulgarian orphanages.
The awardees will be recognized individually during the Homecoming Spectacular performances Sept. 20-21.
Writer: Charlene Winters
