Max and Kitty Joyner East Carolina University is a family affair for Max and Kitty Joyner. Max graduated from ECU in business administration in 1955 and Kitty earned a master’s degree in elementary education in 1959. Their three children have all attended ECU and both Kitty and Max have supported ECU for more than 30 years.
chair of that board. Mary has served on the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Advancement Council and the ECU Real Estate Foundation. She currently serves on the ECU Board of Visitors and is active with the Women’s Roundtable. Bob is president of Plybon & Associates in Greensboro. He was named president of the Million Dollar Roundtable in 1994–1995 and currently serves as president of The American College’s Board of Trustees. He was given the Outstanding Alumni Award in 1991 by the East Carolina Alumni Association.
Max is a past chairman of the ECU Board of Trustees, past president of the ECU Foundation, the East Carolina Alumni Association, and the ECU Educational Foundation (Pirate Club). He was presented the university’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 1981. Max and Kitty are members of the board of directors of the BB&T Center for Leadership Development and have served on numerous university selection and awards committees and in fund-raising capacities. Kitty also was pivotal in the founding of the Women’s Roundtable at East Carolina University. A faculty chair in primary care medicine and an endowed scholarship in ECU’s College of Nursing also bear the Joyners’ names.
Bob and Margaret Ward Robert (Bob) Ward graduated from East Carolina in 1962, and Margaret earned a bachelor of science degree in 1962 and a master’s degree in 1963 from ECU. The Wards have sponsored an EC Scholars Award since 1986, and fund student development, academic, and counseling programs for student athletes through the ECU Educational Foundation. In 1992, the ECU Board of Trustees voted to honor the Wards for their dedication and generosity to the university by naming the Ward Sports Medicine/Physical Education Building in which the Student Development program is housed.
James and Connie Maynard Longtime ECU supporters James ’65 and Connie Mizelle Maynard ’62 met as students at ECU and have been married for more than 45 years. They have funded several scholarships at ECU, including the James H. and Connie M. Maynard Program, modeled after the NC Teaching Fellows Scholarship that requires recipients to teach in a public, charter, or government school for four years following graduation.
Bob serves on the ECU Foundation board of directors and the College of Business Advisory Council and has served on the ECU Board of Trustees. Margaret is a member of the College of Education Advancement Council and has served on the ECU Board of Visitors. She currently serves on the ECU Board of Trustees and the ECU Foundation board of directors, and is a former president of the Alumni Association board of directors.
Other scholarships they have established include one that benefits music majors at ECU from Jacksonville High School in memory of James’ brother, Benn, and one that honors Connie’s mother, Jeannette. The Maynards also started a program at Elizabeth City State University that offers scholarships to men who agree to teach in public schools in northeastern North Carolina.
Margaret was awarded the East Carolina Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 1992 and was inducted into the Educators Hall of Fame in 1999. In 1988, the Alumni Association presented Bob with its Outstanding Alumni Award. Walter and Marie Williams Walter ’51, ’55 and Marie Williams ’53 are two of ECU’s most dedicated supporters. In 2007, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education honored that dedication and gave Walter its Bill Franklin Volunteer of the Year Award, recognizing the long-term impact of his contributions and service to ECU. In 2008, ECU bestowed an honorary doctor of letters degree on Walter.
James is co-founder and chairman of Investors Management Corp., the holding company that owns Golden Corral. He was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award in 1980 and served on the ECU Board of Trustees from 1980–1989. Sen. Bob and Katie Morgan Robert (Bob) B. Morgan graduated from ECU in 1947. Katie Owens Morgan earned a BA from ECU in 1946 and a master’s degree in 1954. A former US senator, Bob Morgan is a former adjunct professor at Campbell University in Buies Creek, and partner with Morgan, Reeves and Gilchrist in Lillington, North Carolina. He also served as a clerk of court, North Carolina state senator, North Carolina Attorney General, and director of the State Bureau of Investigation.
In 2005, Marie was inducted into the ECU College of Education Educators Hall of Fame, and was named one of 14 Outstanding Alumni & Friends of the College of Education in 2007. She serves on the College of Education Advancement Council. Walter was inducted into the Educators Hall of Fame in 2004 and was given the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 1996. He is a former member of the ECU Foundation board of directors, ECU Board of Trustees, and Board of Visitors, currently serves as director emeritus on the Pirate Club board of directors, and is on the College of Health and Human Performance Advancement Council. Walter received the Virgil Clark Award for Lifetime Achievement & Service in 2000, given by the East Carolina Alumni Association.
Katie was named one of the 100 Incredible ECU Women by the ECU Women’s Roundtable in 2007. She served as a member of ECU’s Board of Trustees, and is active in many community organizations. She was inducted into the ECU Educator’s Hall of Fame in 2002. Bob was given ECU’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 1955 and 1965 and has served as chairman of the ECU Board of Trustees. In 1983, he was awarded the first honorary doctorate from ECU and was named Distinguished Alumni Lecturer in 1998. In 2004, he was honored with the university’s highest award, the Jarvis Medal.
Walter and Marie have established several scholarships and supported myriad other fund-raising efforts at ECU. They provided a founding gift and continue to support the College of Education’s STEPP program, which enables students with learning disabilities to earn a college degree and pursue a career. In 1994, the basketball arena in Minges Coliseum was named Williams Arena in honor of their support of the Pirate Club. Marie’s Café in Minges is named after Marie Williams.
Bob and Mary Plybon Bob Plybon graduated from ECU in 1972 with a degree in business administration. Mary Plybon graduated in 1971 with a degree in social work. They have established the Robert B. and Mary E. Plybon EC Scholars Award. Bob is a former member of the ECU Board of Visitors and currently serves on the ECU Foundation board of directors and is former
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