TCFEE Director Mike Brumby said Tuesday that the chair, endowed by donations,
will allow the foundation to respond to grant requests from teachers who
have innovative ideas.

     The Burton chair is the fifth to be endowed. Each chair focuses on a specific
academic area, with the first, the Virginia Short Lindskog Foreign Language
Chair, having been established in 1992.

     The other chairs honor Homer M. Rankin (journalism), Syd Blackmarr (the arts)
and Mikie Wolff (humanities).

     “One can speak of Tift County’s scientific community as a whole with a strong
sense of pride,” Brumby said. “There are more PhD’s per capita here than in
any other county in Georgia.

     “...Tift County’s science students have long distinguished themselves through
projects and competitions, in particular through the Science Olympiad and
the Science Fair.”

     A drive to raise the $25,000 needed to fund the chair began last spring. The
Tifton Optimists Club, First United Methodist Church and the scientific
society Sigma Xi were all instrumental in raising the money, Brumby said.
Burton, a researcher at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station, is credited
with changing the face of the Southeastern landscape with his release of
coastal bermudagrass in 1943. His contributions in plant breeding and
turfgrass development laid the foundation for Tifton to claim the “Turfgrass
Capital of the World” title.

     Contributors to the chair include Arthur and Martha Baldwin, Mr. and Mrs. Guy
Blasingame, Bill and Sandy Bowen, Mike and Moppy Brumby, Mr. and Mrs. Gale
Buchanan, Vaughn and Linda Cromer, Mr. and Mrs. Keith Douce, Betsy Burton
Fowler, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Gaines, Mr. and Mrs. T. Powell Gaines, Betty E.
Golden, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph B. Gray and Dr. and Mrs. Charles Griffin.
Also, Wayne and Barbara Hanna, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Heyerdahl, Mr. and Mrs. F.
Dean Hilliard, Mrs. S.C. Holland, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Jensen, Dr. and Mrs.
Mikell Karsten, Dr. and Mrs. Vincent Keesee, Mr. and Mrs. R.E. Keith, Dr.
and Mrs. Craig Kvien, Richard and Margaret Layton, Dr. Bryan Maw, Mr. and
Mrs. J. Frank McGill, Dr. Larry R. Moorman, the Optimist Club of Tifton and
Mr. and Mrs. James L. Peacock.

     Also, Mr. and Mrs. Cal Peddy, Mr. and Mrs. Dale Pflug, Helen P. Rainer, Dr.
and Mrs. Gilbert Ramsey, the Rev. Sam and Helen Rogers, Mr. and Mrs. Tyron
Spearman, James R. Stansell, Dr. and Mrs. Donald Sumner, Mr. and Mrs. Henry
Sutton, Dr. and Mrs. Clint Truman, Dr. and Mrs. Phil Utley, Mr. and Mrs.
Hoyt Vance, Wycliffe Vance, Harding Vance, Christie Vance and Danny
Hamilton, Christie and Bill Vance, Dr. and Mrs. Don Wauchope, Mr. and Mrs.
J.T. Webb and Joe and Jane West.

     Also, Marion C. Whiddon, Juanita Willis, Dr. and Mrs. Charles Zimmerman,
Cecile Bailey, Mr. and Mrs. Emerson Hoffman, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Swan,
Dorothy B. Vance, Gerald Kunes, John E. Parkerson, Dr. Wesley Walker, Jim
and Teresa Edens and Julia Gray.

     Anyone who would like to become a patron of the Glenn Burton Chair may send
gifts to the Tift County Foundation for Educational Excellence, P.O. Box
714, Tifton 31793.