In 2020, the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society created three awards to celebrate its 60th anniversary and to honor those who made significant contributions to preserve, celebrate and educate others regarding the history of Callaway County, Missouri.
The Individual Callaway County Historic Preservation Award recognizes an individual for significant contributions to preserve, celebrate and educate others regarding the history of Callaway County, Missouri. The nominee may be a living person or honored posthumously, whose contribution created a lasting and positive impact.
The Corporate Callaway County Historic Preservation Award recognizes a business or organization for significant contributions to preserve, celebrate and educate others regarding the history of Callaway County, Missouri. (Organization includes non-profits and places of worship). The contribution should have created a lasting and positive impact.
The Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award recognizes a person’s body of work in a volunteer capacity in the collection, preservation, and promotion of local history. While the award is usually presented for a body of work over a span of years, it could also recognize a single significant achievement.
February 13, 2026 is the deadline for submitting nominations for our awards to be presented at the annual meeting in April.
2025 winners
Individual Callaway County Historic Preservation Awards — Carolyn Branch - As a dedicated librarian and author, Carolyn has helped to preserve and share many aspects of Callaway history. As a librarian for over 35 years, she shared her love of history with all who utilized Callaway’s library in Fulton including teaching genealogy workshops and other sessions on Callaway history. An avid researcher and author, she has several books to her credit, most in our KCHS Gift Shop: Fulton, Missouri 1820-1920 (2010), Fulton, Missouri 1920-1960 (2014), South Callaway, Pioneer Settlers and Settlements (2015), Snakes in the Kitchen (2018), It Happened in Callaway (2019), and assistance on Callaway Tapestries (2020). She also helped revive and re-publish Negro Kingdom: Three Generations (2012). Carolyn is one who loves history and enjoys sharing it through her research, writing, and publishing. We commend her for her lifetime of capturing, preserving and sharing Callaway’s unique history! — Nancy Lewis - Nancy’s career in Fulton always involved community service and preservation. She was director of the Chamber of Commerce for over 25 years, helping with many of the iconic events undertaken. She then worked as director of the KCHS Museum for seven years, initiating the popular Triple L educational sessions. She always worked to create beautiful and educational windows. Nancy’s volunteer work included service on the city’s Historic Preservation Committee, serving as president several years. She also was a 35-year member on the Friend’s Board of America’s National Churchill Museum, serving as president 2023-24. Working with the City of Fulton, she helped establish two Districts on the National Register of Historic Places, and helped with the DREAM initiative on revitalization. Nancy used her significant artistic talents to help capture many of the unique and historic buildings and homes in the area, including her own home on Court Street. KCHS is proud to carry her notecards in our Gift Shop. We commend Nancy Lewis for helping grow Callaway County’s historical legacy with her many talents. — Verna Shryock - Verna Shryock’s impact on Callaway history is a long one. Currently in her 103rd year of life, she has seen, and helped create, much of the history of her particular area of Callaway County around Hatton, MO. A gifted artist, Verna has beautifully preserved Callaway his-tory through her paintbrush and canvas. Her paintings serve as windows to the past, pre-serving scenes from daily life on the farm, a winter scene on a frozen pond, the beloved Hatton Craft Festival, or the collection of iconic barns. All are now preserved for posterity. She also paints historical structures such as the St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury Church on Westminster’s campus, and her own church, Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church. Verna also touched the lives of others through her painting classes every year and her support and involvement in the annual Craft Festival. She was instrumental in helping to preserve the town’s community hall when it fell on hard times. We commend Verna Shryock for a lifetime of dedication to her community and to Callaway County.
Corporate Callaway County Historic Preservation Award — As a public museum, Auto World Museum was created from a collection of memorable vintage vehicles, displaying them in a creative and historical context — much of it reflecting Callaway County. The 18,000 square foot museum exemplifies how to preserve, celebrate and educate others about the magic of the automobile. The museum was started by Bill Backer, Backer’s Potato Chip Company, in 1996. Now owned by his daughter, Vicki Backer McDaniel, it features dozens of vintage cars and trucks that Bill collected over the decades. Presentation of the vehicles and staging of the museum is done by Tom Jones, artistic director, with research by Dan Harrison. Auto World Museum also serves as a popular venue for local meetings, class reunions, and car rallies as it immediately sets the tone for an exciting event. We commend Bill Backer, Vicki Backer McDaniel and the entire Auto World Museum staff and volunteers for helping to collect, preserve and share the history of Callaway County through the legacy of automobiles.
Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Awards — Lori Franklin is one of our longest-serving volunteers. She began in the 1970s during a college course assignment. She served on the board of directors from 1983-1996, then continued assisting on a variety of projects. Once she retired, she became a weekly volun-teer and began ongoing tasks in inventory and organization of records, tasks she still continues. Lori can help you find anything! She enjoys helping our patrons who are doing genealogy research and especially likes sharing her knowledge of headstone cleaning and preservation. An active DAR member, Lori is a leader at local, state and national levels. She and her husband, Gary, are active in the VFW and are involved in the Central Missouri Honor Flights. Lori also volunteers for the Missouri State Archives. We commend Lori and thank her for her countless hours of dedication to KCHS. — Debbie Holland loves organizing files and data for KCHS. She has been helping for over 13 years. Initially she began working to create notebooks on various topics and filling them with items from the newspaper and other sources. To that task she has added tracking all the volunteer hours worked by the many people who help each week at the Museum and Research Center and also at our special events. This data is reflected in our annual numbers distributed at the Annual Meeting. Obituaries are another of her special areas as she not only records the initial obit, but works to include other items about the person. Being a great photographer, she has also taken photos at our Tractor Drives and at the annual Trivia Night event. We commend Debbie for being committed to her tasks and thank her for being a part of the KCHS team!
2024 winners
Individual Callaway County Historic Preservation Awards — Noel Anerson Crowson (Posthumously) - Noel passed away in October 2020 leaving a life and legacy of service behind him. Noel was in the U.S. Army for 37 years, serving in Vietnam and reaching the rank of Colonel in 2006. He then moved into the world of management of social service organizations, obtained his Ph.D., wrote magazine articles, and authored three books. Upon retirement, he became a Callaway County rancher. Always a great and entertaining speaker, he developed several historical presentations. He loved being a part of his community and promoting its history. Noel was active in the Auxvasse Lions Club, the Sons of the Confed-erate Veterans, and the VFW, and was pastor of the High Point Community Chapel for over 20 years. He and his wife, Mary Anne, were dedicated Civil War re-enactors. Noel researched, wrote and designed the panel information for the Auxvasse historic display in the local park. He was a man who loved history. KCHS is pleased to be able to present this award for his dedication to the preservation and sharing of Callaway history. — Bruce Hackmann and Bill Hamilton (Posthumously) Meet two men who LOVE history! Bruce Hackmann is a 16-year KCHS board member and leader. Over those years, he has provided great assistance to the Society by sharing his skills in writing, fundraising, leadership, and marketing. Bruce has a love of research so was a natural for helping to bring together two Callaway-focused books KCHS has sponsored. The newest book, Callaway Chalkboards: Remembering Callaway County’s Rural Schoolhouses, took more than two years of research, interviews, editing, and work with various individuals to capture the details and delightful stories of rural school days in Callaway. Assisting in all this was the work of Bill Hamilton, who also loved history. Bill, who passed away in 2005, spent many years researching both schools and post offices in Callaway County. Using Bill’s notes, Bruce was able to incorporate even more detail into the new book. KCHS is proud to present this award to these very deserving individuals.
Corporate Callaway County Historic Preservation Award — Since 1982, Moser's mission has been customer service and home town low prices. Moser's is locally owned and operated by Roger and Jeanie Moser of Fulton, MO, who opened the first grocery store on April 8, 1982. Moser's now has eight locations in central Missouri. They work hard to let customers know that Moser's appreciates their business. And they work hard to support the communities they serve. Moser’s supports local charities, events, and organizations with donations of food products, financial donations, and leadership. All done in Moser’s quiet manner. They are there to support and serve. Stores partici-pate in local Chambers of Commerce and store managers are members of local clubs and organizations. KCHS especially benefits from their “Receipts Program” which gives money to organizations that collect Moser’s receipts. They have also made in-kind donations along the way. KCHS is proud to award Moser’s this award for their strong and ongoing support of KCHS.
Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Awards — Janet Hafey has been a KCHS volunteer since 2004—- making this her 20th year of assisting! She loves what she does and the people she gets to work with. Janet’s primary job has become scanning and archiving of photos that come into KCHS - we currently have more than 22,000 images in our system. She also assists with many of our public events such as the fashion shows, tractor drives, and heritage days, and is one of the star question writers for Trivia Night each year. Janet loves to learn and that is not a problem at KCHS! She regularly volunteers two days a week at the Research Center and then frequently helps out at the Museum on Saturdays. Janet is dedicated, professional, organized, dependable, knowledgeable, efficient and FUN to work with. KCHS is pleased to honor her with this Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award. — Margaret and Tom Henline bring both volunteer power and corporate connections to KCHS. Margaret works at Walmart. They have an employee benefit that allows for financial contributions to organizations that employees volunteer for. Each year Margaret has helped KCHS receive donations through that program. She is also a dedicated volunteer at the Museum and Research Center and at many of our events. Tom has become a fixture at the Research Center since we moved there in 2019. He is great at organizing files, setting up shelving systems, and helping make the archives accessible. He is now applying some of those skills to the third floor area of the Museum. Tom has learned several new skills in the accession of donated items and in handling customer requests for research. KCHS is very pleased to honor this dedicated couple with the Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award for their many hours of service, dedication and support.
2023 WINNERS
Individual Callaway County Historic Preservation Award — David McDaniel for continuously supporting building restoration and its part in the history of Fulton. David was one of two men who took over restoring the old theater building when the initial team resigned. He not only worked on the building but also helped finance the work. David has served on the City’s Historic Preservation Commission for many years, often as president. His most notable project is the Palace Hotel building in Fulton. After purchasing the building, he restored the interior. The building has been in continuous use since, including housing his own real estate business and providing business rental spaces for others.
Corporate Callaway County Historic Preservation Award — The Callaway Bank for its long-standing tradition in Callaway County as always being community oriented. It believes in being involved in the communities it serves. Many organizations, institutions and historical entities are still here because The Callaway Bank helped guide them through challenging times, including The Great Depression and the many great Missouri floods. As John C. Harris, former board president, noted, “when you rely on a community to keep your doors open, you owe them. You must give back.” The Callaway Bank has certainly done so, providing support and resources to many for more than 168 years.
Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Awards — Donald W. Knipp for his high standards and his service to the Auxvasse community and others. The former councilman and mayor also served as president of the Auxvasse Community Center Board, home of the famous Loafer’s Week. In 1968, he joined the local Lions Club in Auxvasse and put his service ethic to work. Don has received multiple awards for those efforts at the local, state and international levels of the Lions Club and also served on the international board of directors. He is a Grand Prairie Baptist Church member, the church treasurer, and deacon. Don can always be called on to provide programs on the history of Auxvasse and the area. He has always been a good friend to KCHS. We are proud to present him with this well-earned BDH Volunteer Service Award. — Frances Vaughn for her dedication as a KCHS volunteer for over 13 years, with five of those as board treasurer. Frances also loves family ancestry and has lovingly researched the histories of each side of her family and her husband, Richard. As a result, massive genealogy books have been prepared and shared with KCHS and her family. Frances is currently on the City of Fulton Preservation Board. As a member of the VFW Auxiliary Post 2657, she has helped them properly archive old records and documents and served in many leadership positions. Before its closing, she was also very active in the Callaway Hospital Auxiliary. We are pleased and proud to recognize Frances with the BDH Volunteer Service Award.
2022 Winners
Individual Callaway Historic Preservation Award — Kelly English Borman for her work developing scavenger hunts in 2020 and 2021 in celebrating Callaway County and Missouri’s bicentennial.
Corporate Callaway Historic Preservation Award — New Bloomfield Area Historical Society for their mission to provide current, former and potential residents of our community with the means to make our history their own through the collection, preservation, and sharing of our historic images, documents and artifacts.
Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award — Michael A. (Mike) Boulware (posthumously) for his service on the KCHS board of directors for 17 years and serving as president from 2008-10. Mike also played a big role in the annual Tractor Drive. — Sheila Burre Guthrie for her 14 years of volunteer service highlighted by her role with the KCHS Fashion and Fun shows, as head of the KCHS Clothing Closet, and work with the Museum window displays.
2021 Winners
Individual Callaway Historic Preservation Award — Susan Grant Krumm and John Ovid Bell for their time and commitment as co-chairs of the Callaway 200 Committee.
Corporate Callaway Historic Preservation Award — Crane’s Museum in memory of Joe and Marlene Crane for its contributions to the collection, preservation, and promotion of Callaway County history. In the future, the award will be given to organizations, businesses, non-profits or places of worship whose contributions related to local history have created a lasting and positive impact.
Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award — Don Ernst for his service of over 23 years as a volunteer with KCHS and his extensive knowledge of military history. — Joe Holt for his service and leadership to the KCHS Board of Directors for 25 years.
2020 Winners
Individual Callaway Historic Preservation Award — Dr. William Parrish, a founding member of the historical society, former professor of Westminster College, and author of two books on its history.
Corporate Callaway Historic Preservation Award — The Fulton Sun for its contributions to the collection, preservation, and promotion of Callaway County history. In the future, the award will be given to organizations, businesses, non-profits or places of worship whose contributions related to local history have created a lasting and positive impact.
Barbara Dunavant Huddleston Volunteer Service Award — Barbara Huddleston, for whom the award is named, for her dedicated service to KCHS for over 50 years.