The Conway High School Educational Foundation (CHSEF) is seeking nominations for Outstanding Alumnus and Educator of the Year.
Any graduate or educator of Conway High School (CHS) or Whittemore High School, living or deceased, is eligible for consideration. Honorees will be recognized during the annual Hall of Fame Banquet to be held at CHS in Fall of 2024.
A nomination form should be submitted by March 1, 2024 to conwayhsef@gmail.com or mailed to the CHSEF Foundation at PO Box 3073, Conway, SC 29528.
Barbara Jo Blain-Bellamy, Conway’s 23rd mayor, has served 10 years on the Conway City Council, and eight years as mayor. She serves as chairwoman of the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments and board president of the Municipal Association of South Carolina. She is a former president of the South Carolina Association of Mayors, and the Horry County League of Cities. Barbara is a member of Friendship Baptist Church and volunteers in numerous ventures.
Blain-Bellamy graduated with the last class of Whittemore High School. She earned an associate degree from the University of South Carolina at Coastal Carolina College (now Coastal Carolina University in 1974, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, a master’s degree in education from University of South Carolina, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2000. She has been a member of the South Carolina Bar Association since May 2001.
William Timmons “Tim” Johnson Jr., a Conway native, attended Conway High School (Class of 1947.) He served honorably in the United States Navy and later attended the University of South Carolina, earning a bachelor’s degree and a Juris Doctorate. Johnson practiced probate law, real estate law, trial litigation as plaintiff and defense attorney, and personal injury law. He also served on numerous boards including the Horry County Literacy Council and the Conway Hospital Board of Directors, where he served as president during the construction of what is now Conway Medical Center. He served as attorney for the Horry Electric Cooperative, Inc. for nearly 40 years.
Johnson’s most notable role was serving as attorney for the Bucksport Water System, Inc., which began as a request to help get potable water to the Bucksport Community and continued through the community’s incorporation in 1968 until his retirement in 2022. His service on various boards in a time when Conway was a slower, smaller town helped create much needed infrastructure the community still benefits from today.
Mary E. Owens is a native of the Bucksport Community and graduated from Whittemore High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education and received her certification in health education and recreation at South Carolina State University. She earned a Master of Science degree in physical education from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. Owens received an advanced degree in secondary education from the University of South Carolina at Coastal Carolina (now Coastal Carolina University.) Through the years, Owens taught physical education, health education, biology and physical science at several high schools and colleges, to include South Carolina State University, St. Augustine College, Bethel High School, Whittemore High School, and Conway High School. She also coached girls’ basketball, girls’ track and field, and served as adviser to the cheerleading squads at both Whittemore High School and Conway High School. She retired from Conway High School in 2001 and taught part-time at Horry County Adult Education until she retired in 2009.
Owens is dedicated to serving her community, working with organizations to improve growth and beautification. She worked with Horry Georgetown Technical College to establish classes at the Bucksport Community Recreation Center. In her service as member of the Betterment for Bucksport Association, Owens worked to improve flooding issues and to clean and fence the recently discovered slave cemetery at Eddy Lake. She also researched and recorded the hidden history of the Black people in the Buck Township of Horry County.