Shelbyville native Marjorie (Fall) Vinson recognized as Olivet's 2013 Staff Member of the Year

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Marjorie Vinson of Olivet Nazarene University

BOURBONNAIS, IL (09/06/2013)(readMedia)-- Marjorie (Fall) Vinson, administrative assistant to University President John C. Bowling and a native of Shelbyville, was recently honored by Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) as the 2013 Staff Member of the Year. For the past 30 years - eight years at College Church of the Nazarene, Bourbonnais, Ill., and 22 years at Olivet - she has taken care of a myriad of details to make Dr. Bowling's job easier.

"For your outstanding efficiency, patience and unwavering commitment to Olivet's mission, we salute you, Marjorie, as our 2013 Staff Member of the Year," said Dr. Bowling as he presented the award to Vinson during the annual President's Dinner.

Vinson's first contact with Olivet came when an ONU choir stayed in her family's Shelbyville home when she was a teenager. "When they sang around our piano, I remember thinking: This is heavenly. I wonder what Olivet is really like," she said. And she had her opportunity to know. She entered Olivet as a freshman in 1965 and graduated in 1969.

After successful careers as an executive assistant and a legal assistant, she assisted four senior pastors at College Church before Dr. Bowling arrived there in 1983. Eight years later, when he was elected as ONU's president, he asked Vinson: "Will you follow me to Olivet?" Saying "yes" charted the course for the rest of her career.

In the President's office, every day brings new joys and challenges for Vinson. She especially enjoys the relationships she has had with her 24 student workers through the years. Many of them continue to stay in touch with her and even visit in her home.

She cites one of Dr. Bowling's first publications as president of the University - Agenda for Excellence, 1993 to 2007 - as one of the guiding influences in her life. Her commitment to excellence includes achieving her best while maintaining a passion for service and a personal, vibrant faith.

Describing herself as a country girl at heart, Vinson and her husband, Jerry, spend many weekends at their property on a lake in the hills of central Indiana. During the rest of the year, they live just a few doors from the ONU campus and three houses away from her son and his wife, Aric and Mindi Raymond, and grandchildren, Kaylee and Tyler.

"I feel privileged to work for Olivet, and I'm thankful to be an extension of Dr. Bowling's ministry," Vinson said. "As surely as Jeremiah 29:11 promises, I have believed in and trusted God, and He has led me in my life."

Olivet Nazarene University is an accredited Christian, liberal arts university offering more than 100 areas of undergraduate and graduate study, including the Doctor of Education in ethical leadership. Olivet has one main campus in Bourbonnais, Ill. - just 50 miles south of Chicago; three additional sites: Rolling Meadows and Oak Brook, Ill., and Hong Kong; and more than 100 School of Graduate and Continuing Studies learning locations throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest. From Oxford to Tokyo, hundreds of Olivet students also experience the global classroom each year, whether through study abroad opportunities or worldwide mission trips.

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Contact:

Laura Warfel

Public Relations Specialist

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Ill.

www.olivet.edu

815-928-5403

lwwarfel@olivet.edu