The Clarie Myers Whitfield family from Worth County received the Family Legacy Award from the ABAC Alumni Association at the recent Homecoming awards luncheon at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.  The ceremony recognized ABAC alumni who impacted the college and their communities in significant ways.  

The Family Legacy Award was established in 1998 to recognize families with five or more family members spanning two or more generations who have attended ABAC and made a significant contribution to the college thereby creating a legacy for their own family and leaving a legacy to ABAC.

Whitfield was a member of the Class of 1971 at ABAC.  Since that time, family members who have attended ABAC include Lauren Whitfield Newman (1980), Catherine Whitfield Orr (1984), Suzanne Whitfield Smith (1989), Kandy Whitfield (1992), Jimmy Whitfield ((1995), and current ABAC students Abby Smith and Austin Sumler.

“Being a non-traditional student was tough but it was my first opportunity to go to school, and I took it,” Clarie Whitfield said.  “My husband was my biggest cheerleader.  I think I wanted to succeed in school for him as much as for myself.

“I found ABAC to be so friendly, and I wanted all my children to have that ‘ABAC Experience.’  That was non-negotiable.  They all did, and now we’re on generation three.”