At its 62nd annual Charity Ball Saturday evening, Junior Auxiliary of Columbus honored the 2012 ball king and queen and celebrated volunteerism and community service.
Queen Kendyl Diane Hall and King Raymond Michael Waters III were presented to a capacity crowd at Trotter Convention Center, along with a court of 14 high school seniors who have performed hundreds of hours of service in their community, churches and schools.
Junior Auxiliary’s year-round service projects impact children throughout Lowndes County. Funds raised through its Report to the Community and Charity Ball help annually provide school uniforms and clothing to several hundred school children, fund scholarships and character-building service projects and school speakers.
The nonprofit organization also goes into city and county schools, presenting disability awareness and education programs, a child abuse education and prevention program, a reality fair for high school students and ongoing tutoring and mentoring programs.
About the king
A native Columbian, Mike Waters is the son of the late Raymond Michael Waters Jr. and Dai Waters Wilson, a life member of the Junior Auxiliary of Columbus.
He is married to Betty Pope Waters, who is also a life member. They have four children and six grandchildren.
Waters’ daughter, Katy Waters, reigned as queen of the 2005 ball, and his grandfather, Francis Marion Vaughan, reigned as king in 1954.
Waters is a graduate of S.D. Lee High School, where he was a member of the Hall of Fame and National Honor Society. As a member of Boy Scout Troop 3 in Columbus, he attained the rank of Eagle Scout.
A lifelong member of First Baptist Church in Columbus, Waters has served on numerous committees. Dedicated to the cause of education in the community, he has served on the board of the Columbus Educational Foundation Inc. for eight years and has held positions as president and vice-president, in addition to supporting the Parents of Public Schools organization. He is also a member of the Mississippi University for Women Foundation Board and serves on its finance committee.
Waters has actively supported and been involved with Boy Scout Troop 3, Palmer Home for Children, the Mississippi Boys and Girls Ranch, the YMCA and the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority. He has served on the board of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle since 2007 and serves on the Board of Trustees of Baptist Memorial Healthcare System in Memphis, Tenn.
In business
As president of Waters Truck and Tractor Co., Waters International Trucks Co., Waters Wrecker Services, and Waters Transportation Services LLS, the honoree has earned International Truck’s Circle of Excellence Award for 31 consecutive years. His company stands alone in this accomplishment throughout the country.
In 2001, he was honored as International Dealer of the Year, which is awarded to one dealer from the company’s network of over 400 dealers in North America. One of only two finalists from Mississippi, in 2003, Waters was selected as a regional finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the manufacturing, distribution and construction category.
In 1989, he served International Truck’s Dealer Council as chairman and presently serves the council as a member of the Product Advisory Board.
In 2005, he was named the American Truck Dealer/Heavy Duty Trucking Magazine Truck Dealer of the Year. This award is the industry’s highest honor. The American Truck Dealers Association includes 2,357 dealers; the Truck Dealer Award is selected by Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
Waters attributes much of his family-owned company’s success to the hard work and wisdom of his team, which includes his brothers, son and two nephews, and dedicated, talented employees.
About the queen
Kendyl Hall is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Steve Hall. Her mother, Karen, is a past president and a life member of Junior Auxiliary of Columbus.
A recent graduate of Mississippi State University with a degree in educational psychology, Hall finished her degree in three and one half years, with a 3.79 grade point average. At Mississippi State, she was a member of the Shackouls Honor College.
A tireless volunteer, Hall has focused much of her time and talents on nurturing teens and young adults. At MSU, she organized a prayer breakfast for 11th- and 12th-grade girls and taught Disciple Now Bible Studies for teen girls in the Starkville area. She also founded a mentoring program for junior girls at Starkville First Baptist Church.
In the summer of 2011, Hall helped chaperone 22 girls to a teen Christian conference in Florida for six days, where she led daily Bible study each day of the conference for 90 ninth-grade girls.
Committed to sharing her faith with others, she has contributed many hours over seven years with the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child drive in Columbus and, for four of those years, traveled to the distribution center in Atlanta to assist with delivery, distribution and inspection of boxes.
Hall, a former home school student, has participated in four mission trips to Corumba, Brazil, where she visited schools and children’s hospitals and assisted with Vacation Bible Schools. She also volunteered at a special needs school for children with Down Syndrome.
Soroptimist International of Columbus awarded her the Violet Richardson Award, recognizing her contributions to women and girls.
As an accomplished dancer with 13 years of instruction, Hall earned American All Star Dancer during her sophomore, junior and senior years of high school. A member of the Columbus Karate Association, she also holds a second degree black belt in Shotokan karate.
Hall is a charter member of the Mississippi Gamma Chapter of Pi Beta Phi Sorority at Mississippi State University, where she served as vice president of event planning for two years.
She currently attends New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where she is studying for a Master of Divinity degree in Christian counseling, with an emphasis on children’s counseling.
Pages
Serving as pages for the 2012 ball were William Lee Sanders IV, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Lee Sanders III and great-grandson of former King William Lee Sanders Sr. (1975); and Frank Baker Imes Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Baker Imes Sr. and Mr. and Mrs. Brian Frank Clark. Baker is the grandson of former King Vinton Birney Imes Jr. (1958) and nephew of former King Eugene Beard Imes (2010).
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