Six people will be inducted into the South Pike High School Alumni Hall of Fame during a banquet at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Eva Gordon Elementary School cafeteria.
Tickets are $15 and available in advance at the Harry C. Frye Educational Building at 250 West Bay St., Magnolia.
Honorees are state Sen. Kelvin Butler, Anthony Cook, Aunjanue Ellis, Nelson Estess, Vickie Webb and the late Rev. Luther McEwen.
Sen. Kelvin Butler
Butler is a 1973 graduate of South Pike, where he was in the band from seventh through 12th grades. He played snare drum and tympani.
He attended Mississippi Valley State University on a scholarship.
Butler is retired from Delphi Automotive Systems, where he worked for 30 years. He is a former Magnolia alderman and has been active in the Magnolia/South Pike Chamber of Commerce.
He serves serving as vice president of Operation Manhood in McComb, an outreach program that helps needy people with lodging, food and other needs.
As senator representing District 38, Butler serves as chairman of the Labor Committee and serves on the Finance, Highways & Transportation, State Library and Tourism committees. He also awards annual scholarships.
He is a member and deacon at New Zion Baptist Church in Magnolia.
Butler is married to the former Barbara Jackson of Smithdale, and they have five children, Kelvin Jr., Marquita, Kendric, JaDarious and Destiny.
Anthony Cook
Cook graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1978. While at South Pike he received honors in physics, chemistry and biology.
Cook served as senior class president, Beta Club president and Mu Alpha Theta president.
He participated in basketball, the gospel choir and the marching band. His oratory skills led him to receive many accolades, including first-place prizes in statewide oratory, extemporaneous speaking, dramatic and poetry interpretation competitions.
He was elected Speaker of the House for the Mississippi State Youth Congress.
Cook graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, where as captain of the debate team he garnered regional and national acclaim as an orator.
Cook attended Yale University law school after passing up offers from Harvard and Stanford. At Yale, he found his passion for to social justice, which inspired him to become a minister of the gospel and lawyer with a special calling to advocate for the poor, marginalized and oppressed.
After law school, Cook became a tenured professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
He lives in Silver Springs, Md. He is married to this high school sweetheart of nearly 30 years, Traci Lynn Patterson Cook, and they have four children, Brian, 25; Braxton, 22; Bryndon, 20; and Brody, 16.
Aunjanue Ellis
Ellis, a 1993 South Pike graduate, is known for her work on stage and screen.
She attended Tougaloo College and transferred to Brown University to complete her undergraduate work in African-American studies. She later studied acting at New York University.
She has starred in many theatrical presentations: “Abducted: The Carlina White Story,” “Men of Honor,” “Gifted Hands” and “The Help,” as well as guest starring in several “NCIS: Los Angeles” episodes.
Nelson Estess
Estess, a 1993 graduate of South Pike, received his associate degree from Southwest Mississippi Community College, his bachelor’s at the University of Southern Mississippi and his juris doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
While at South Pike, he was a member of the mock trial team that won the national title. He was a member of various clubs, including South Pike Youth Congress, and was voted Mr. South Pike.
After graduating from law school, he has served as assistant district attorney for Forrest and Perry counties and as public defender in Pike County.
He also serves on the National Wild Turkey Federation board of directors.
He is married to Shannon Estess. They have a son, Ethan, and a daughter, Addison.
He is a member of Magnolia United Methodist Church.
Vickie Webb
Webb is a 1972 graduate of South Pike High School. She has worked in the banking industry since 1972 and is a senior vice president and trust officer at First Bank.
Webb has been president of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce and has served on the St. Andrew’s Mission board of directors.
She also has chaired the McComb Main Street Association and led the Iron Horse Festival in McComb for 10 years.
In 2000, she was named the Enterprise Journal’s Citizen of the Year.
She serves as an officer the Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Mississippi.
She is married to Jimmy Webb, and they have a son, Whitney.
Rev. Luther McEwen
McEwen was a 1951 graduate of Pike County Agricultural Training School in Magnolia, which at the time was a school for black students in the South Pike School District.
After being called to preach in 1940, he studied at Union Baptist Seminary in New Orleans, Mississippi Baptist Seminary and Harper Baptist Seminary, where he received a degree in theology.
He attended Leland College in his youth and returned to college at the age of 60, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Jackson State University.
McEwen served on the South Pike School Board from 1974 until 1985 and was the first African-American elected to public office in Pike County since Reconstruction.
In 1985, he devoted more time to Harper Baptist Seminary, which he served as dean and later as president until his retirement in 1999. Over a span of 65 years, he pastored many churches in in three states, including his last pastorate at Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Monticello, from 1985 until his retirement in 2002.
He was an advocate for education and for the support of educational institutions of higher learning.
Upon his death, the family established The Reverend Luther E. McEwen Memorial Scholarship Fund at Jackson State University to honor his legacy of commitment and service in the civic arena and the Christian community.
McEwen was the father of 12 children with his first wife, the late Alma Rayborn McEwen. In 1982, he married Celess Smith Barnes, adding six more children to the family.
