BY JOHN T. WALLACE

Each year before Charter Day weekend the William and Mary Alumni Association recognizes a select few friends who, although they are not alumni, have demonstrated a lasting commitment to and genuine affinity for the College. On Feb. 6, six such dedicated individuals were presented Honorary Alumni status at an induction ceremony at the Alumni Center.

"The Honorary Alumni Awards are tributes to your sustained dedication and service," said Alumni Association President James E. Ukrop '60, L.H.D. '99, who introduced each of the Honorary Alumni at the reception. "Service, volunteer service like yours in particular, isn't a single thing; it is a thousand small things. ... On behalf of the William and Mary Alumni Association, I hope today's awards will let you know how we, and many others, feel about what you have added to our community."

A longtime supporter of William and Mary Athletics, Charles F. Crone of Williamsburg has offered encouragement to student-athletes and coaches for three decades. Along with his wife, Ginny M.B.A. '83, Crone has served as co-president of the Williamsburg Chapter of the Tribe Club, where he has worked to promote local support for William and Mary Athletics.

According to Bobby Dwyer M.Ed. '94, assistant athletic director, "Charles Crone is the definition of a friend of the College and an integral part of the William and Mary athletic family."

The Crones participate in the annual Welcome Back dinner for the football team and have even invited players over to their house for dinner. They also helped establish the annual Run for the Cure, which is a race around campus sponsored by the William and Mary track and field teams and a fundraiser for cancer research. This year, the teams raised over $4,000 for the Mas?sey Cancer Center at the Medical College of Virginia.

Eric G. Friberg served as director of McKinsey & Company, an international management consulting firm, from 1969 until 2002, when he joined Kohlberg, Kravitz, Roberts & Co. as a senior advisor. Friberg, who lives in Charleston, S.C., brought this wealth of experience to William and Mary in 1992 when he joined the School of Business Sponsors, Inc., and became chair in 2002. In 1999, he led a strategic planning effort, which became the Vision and Action Plan.

"Friberg was the motivation and energy behind the entire strategic planning process as well as the principal architect of the plan," says Lawrence B. Pulley '74, dean of the School of Business. "Today, that plan continues to provide a results-oriented and measurable blueprint for the financial, educational and programmatic future of the Business School."

Friberg, who also serves on the College's Council of Chairs, volunteered not only his own efforts, but those of his McKinsey colleagues (including E. John Warner '89) when, at the request of President Timothy J. Sullivan '66, they conducted an administrative and operations study, which in turn provided exceptional management support to the College, resulting in significant cost savings and streamlined administrative functions.

"I am deeply humbled and touched to be counted as a member of the William and Mary family," said Friberg. "We look forward to delivering more good things to this College."

Henry and Bonnie Nunnally, of Richmond, Va., have been supporters of the athletics program for decades.

"They go to extraordinary lengths at their own expense to attend all of our home and away football games," says Athletic Director Terry Driscoll. In fact, Henry Nunnally has been attending Tribe football games since the 1940s and hasn't missed a single game since the early 1950s. Bonnie has been to most of those games as well, where she and Henry are both clothed in green and gold, a signature style that has convinced most Tribe Athletics fans that the Nunnallys have been alumni of the College all along.

"We've met an awful lot of good people," said Henry, who spoke on the couple's behalf. "The fellowship we've [encountered] is unbelievable."

Capt. J. Maury Werth, the great-grandson of Mathew Fontaine Maury, the nation's first oceanographer and a native Virginian, has kept the family legacy alive as a career ocean?ographer. He even served as oceanographer of the Navy, the same post his great-grandfather held three generations earlier. William and Mary and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) have long been beneficiaries of Werth's extensive oceanographic knowledge, and of his time and generosity. A founding member of the VIMS Development Council in 1984 and a member of the Maury Society since that time as well, Werth has been a member of the President's Council since 1989. He and his family also established the Maury Fellowship Award at VIMS in 1989.

"Capt. Werth is a dedicated supporter and volunteer of the College and VIMS," says L. Donelson Wright, dean and director of VIMS. "With his frequent campus visits and close personal relationships, Capt. Werth is a widely known and active member of our community."

In 1998, Werth helped organize an exhibit at the VIMS Library, which showcased contributions his great-grandfather made to oceanography and ocean commerce in the 1800s.

Alyce G. Willis, of Colonial Heights, Va., remembers visiting the William and Mary campus for the first time in 1947, recalling that she "fell in love with it immediately." She encouraged her husband, Hulon Willis Sr. M.Ed. '56, and children, Hulon Willis Jr. '77 and Kimberley Willis '80 to attend William and Mary.

Over the subsequent years, Alyce Willis has reached out and inspired other prospective students to apply to the College, and sought every chance to lend her advise and counsel to those who followed in her husband's footsteps. She has been a continual supporter of the Hulon Willis Association (HWA), formed in 1991 and named for her late husband, the first African-American student accepted into William and Mary.

"Mrs. Willis works tirelessly in her efforts to help the HWA remain a viable group," says Gloria Waller Coleman '76, M.Ed. '80, past president of HWA. "I believe that her participation is not only to keep the memory of her husband alive, but because she feels a genuine respect for the College."

Herself a graduate of Virginia State University, where she also worked for over 50 years, Willis said, "I did not include myself in my early dreams [of attending William and Mary]." She feels as though she has "come full circle" since first setting foot on campus, adding, "I am deeply grateful to become an Honorary Alumna of William and Mary."