In 1965, at the height of the American civil-rights movement, Raymond Dean Jones was a sophomore at Colorado College, majoring in political science. When news of the first three Selma-to-Montgomery marches reached him, Jones stuffed a change of clothes into a bag, stuck out his thumb and hitchhiked to Alabama to take part.
It turned out to be a life-changing experience for the Pueblo native, the sixth of nine children who, after receiving a law degree from Harvard, embarked on a career that includes 15-1/2 years spent as a judge on the Colorado Court of Appeals.
“After those marches, I knew there’d be no way I’d ever tolerate injustice,” Jones declared Tuesday evening at a VIP reception that preceded the 22nd annual presentation of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Awards.
Jones — along with Officer David Hutchings of the Aurora Police Department, the Rev. Ronald Wooding, Salina C. Trahan, Rocky Mountain District of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the Abrahamic Initiative and the late Marion Ellerbee — were honored during a concert put on by the Martin Luther King Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission, the Colorado Symphony and The Spirituals Project. The festivities were held at Boettcher Concert Hall.
Hutchings is a police area representative working in Aurora’s north quadrant, a multicultural area whose residents include Bhutanese, Nepali, Ethiopian, Somali and Spanish-speaking people. Wooding, of Epworth United Methodist Church, is a humanitarian perhaps best known for involving his flock in the “Daddy Bruce” Randolph Thanksgiving basket giveaway, a program that now reaches 9,000 low-income families. Wooding is also a spokesperson for Agape Child Care Center in Durban, South Africa, whose 98 residents are orphans impacted by the HIV virus.
The Abrahamic Initiative was founded 11 years ago with the goal of bringing together Denver-area Jews, Muslims and Christians in an effort to eliminate distrust and hatred by exploring their differences and discovering their similarities. Alpha Phi Alpha, of which Martin Luther King Jr. had been a member, was founded in 1906 at Cornell University. Local members host such projects as a tonsorial service for the invalids at Zion Senior Center and Go To High School/Go To College, a program that encourages area youth to complete their education.
Salina C. Trahan, recipient of the Dr. Joyce Marie Davis Youth Award, is a role model for her fellow teens. She has volunteered at Denver Rescue Mission, the Delores Project and the Aurora Municipal Teen Court. She has participated in the Komen Race for the Cure and devotes countless hours to encouraging her peers to abstain from drugs, alcohol, excessive eating and other destructive behaviors.
The Menola Upshaw Lifetime Achievement Award was given
posthumously to Marion Ellerbee, a lifelong activist for African-American rights. A past regional director for the National Council of Negro Women, she also worked with the late Rachel Noel to integrate the Denver Public Schools. Ellerbee was 95 when she died on Feb. 28, 2011. “She was a remarkable woman,” observed her sister, Rosalie Martin, who accepted on Ellerbee’s behalf.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, and
