Union University honors Wilkey, Hall for coverage

South Carolina native Lonnie Wilkey, editor of Tennessee’s Baptist & Reflector, and Will Hall, executive editor of Baptist Press, became the first two fellows inducted into Union University’s Center for Media, Faith and Culture during Union’s summer commencement ceremony Aug. 2.

Will Hall

Lonnie Wilkey

As part of the ceremony in Union’s Fred DeLay Gymnasium, 290 students received degrees, bringing to more than 950 the number of Union graduates from the class of 2008 – the largest class in Union’s history. The service also featured the first graduating class from Union’s nurse anesthetist program.

Union president David Dockery honored Wilkey and Hall for their work in reporting on the Feb. 5 tornado that caused $40 million in damage to the Union campus in Jackson, Tenn. At a time when Union was without power and without a Web site to communicate emergency information, Dockery said, “Two major people and their staffs came to our help and our aid. They went above and beyond the call of duty.”

In the aftermath of the tornado, Baptist Press devoted a special page of its site to Union-related stories and helped provide up-to-the-minute information to Southern Baptist readers.

Two days after the tornado, Wilkey and other leaders from the Tennessee Baptist Convention were on the campus looking for ways to help.

Wilkey also ran several stories about Union – both in the Baptist & Reflector newspaper and on the Tennessee Baptist Convention Web site.

Dockery presented Wilkey and Hall with plaques, honoring them for their service to Union.

“We are deeply, deeply grateful,” Dockery said. “They are special friends.”

Wilkey has been editor of the Baptist & Reflector for the past 10 years. A native of Marietta, he graduated from North Greenville College and the University of South Carolina. He is a former staff member at North Greenville and Baptist College at Charleston, now Charleston Southern University. His home church is Lima Baptist in Travelers Rest. Wilkey is married to the former Joyce Day of Greenville. They have two children, Joanna and Daniel.