The Manhattan Martin Luther King Jr. Committee will recognize three recipients of the 2014 “Spirit of Martin Luther King Community Service Awards” at 11:45 a.m. on Monday, January 20, at Manhattan Town Center as part of the MLK Holiday Community Celebration. These awardees have long and distinguished professional and volunteer careers in the Manhattan community.
Larry Hackney and the Reverend L.E. and Queen E. Madison are recognized for their service in “uniting the diversity of our community for the greater good, with a long term commitment to the community and a history of bringing people together in a non-polarizing manner.”
LARRY HACKNEY has worked for the City of Manhattan Human Resources Department for sixteen years, serving in many capacities, to include Human Relations Officer and ADA Coordinator, and as staff liaison to the Manhattan Human Rights and Services Board. Over those years of service, Larry has assisted innumerable people across a wide array of issues and situations. His presence at City Hall has made Manhattan a better place. Larry’s work with the Manhattan Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Committee went well beyond his being the City’s official representative. Larry was a cornerstone of the MLK Committee for over ten years, serving several times as chair, and giving of his time, energy, and resources year after year. The MLK programs and events, as we know them today, emerged from the years when Larry and his fellow committee members were working early mornings, evenings, and weekends, outside of their regular jobs, to make the MLK experience happen in Manhattan.
Larry holds both Bachelor and MPA degrees from Kansas State, both with honors, and also has served as President of the Kansas Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), President of the Kansas Human Relations Association, and President of IPMA-Kansas (International Personnel Management Association). The members of the Spirit of MLK Jr. Community Service Award committee are proud to honor him as this year’s award recipient.
The Reverend L. E. and Queen E. Madison are honored and recognized in memoriam for their leadership within the Manhattan African-American community. Rev. Madison
pastored at the Pilgrim Baptist Church from November 1963 to May 1977. Under Rev. Madison’s leadership, the Church was able to improve its facilities with the construction of a new kitchen and office and the congregation obtained a new piano and organ. He also enhanced Christian Education by setting up its first accredited course. Rev. Madison not only led his congregation, but the community through a time of civic discourse and struggles for equal rights. He began congregation exchanges through his association with the Manhattan Ministerial Alliance with the first exchange of pulpit and choirs in 1970 and First Christian Church. These exchanges became an annual with these congregations and included members of the Kansas State University black choir and ending with a basket dinner.
Queen E. Madison was a civic leader and human rights activist throughout her life and marriage. She became interested in the new concept of day care for the elderly to include a nutrition program and began exploring ways and means to begin a program in Manhattan, KS. In 1974, she along with the Area Agency on Aging and State Representative Martha Keyes, started a nutrition program for the elderly at the Douglass Center called the Fellowship Meals. Mrs. Madison became the first Site Manager for this program. To her credit, a version of this new concept of day care for the elderly was introduced at the Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community Complex in 1988.
