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Former Society of Alumni President John Werner (l.) and President Robert Lindgren (r.) present the Distinguished Alumnus Award to John H. Clements '52 |
John Halligan Clements ’52 was the recipient of the Society of Alumni’s Distinguished Service Award on Saturday, May 31, 2008 at the annual meeting of The Boydton Society that was held on campus during commencement weekend.
The Alumni Distinguished Service Award was established in 1957 and is presented to an alumnus who has given outstanding service to Randolph-Macon and has made particular contributions to the alumni programs of the college in his community and for the college generally.
As a student at Randolph-Macon College, Clements was an active participant in a number of organizations. He was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, the YMCA, served as president of Phi Kappa Sigma and was the business manager of the Yellow Jacket weekly. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology in 1952.
Upon leaving Randolph-Macon, Clements entered the banking business as a member of The Bank of Southside Virginia that his grandfather founded in 1914. Today he is the bank's president and chief executive officer. He has been active in the corporate community serving in a directorship capacity for Bankers Title Corporation, The Trust Company of Virginia, Southside Regional Medical Center, the Virginia State Board of Social Services and the Cameron Foundation. He has been active in the United Methodist Church as well as with the local Dinwiddie County government. He served as chair of the Dinwiddie County Water Authority, chair of the Dinwiddie County Electoral Board and president of the board of directors of the Southeast 4-H Educational Center. In addition to being the president of The John H. Clements Company and secretary and treasurer of Owen Chevrolet, Inc., he was president of Woody's Leasing Company in Stony Creek, and has been a farmer and a certified tree farmer.
Clements has lived his entire life in Carson, Virginia. It was therefore especially meaningful that he established, in the year 2000, The Lillie P. and John H. Clements Scholarship Fund, which provides financial assistance to deserving students from Southside Virginia.
Clements has served several terms on the Board of Directors of the Society of Alumni and, in fact, is currently serving yet another term on that key volunteer board.
He was elected to the Board of Trustees of Randolph-Macon College in 1977 and served for 16 years. He was elected chair of the Board from 1982 to 1993. During his time on the Board, he oversaw a successful $15 million campaign that allowed the college to enlarge and modernize the library, restore Washington and Franklin Hall and sizably increase the endowment. In 1994 Clements received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Randolph-Macon and in 1997 he was named Trustee Emeritus. As a special note of distinction, Clements was a member of the 1979 Presidential Search Committee that brought Dr. Ladell Payne to Randolph-Macon.
Clements’ daughter, Kimberly, is a member of the Class of 1987 and two of his uncles also graduated from the college.