Family of the Year has deep roots in Buies Creek community

The winning essay that secured Ruth Quakenbush and her family Campbell University’s Family of the Year award began with the line, “I cannot recall a time in my life when I haven’t been a part of the Buies Creek community.” The award, which recognizes the contributions of students’ families to the Campbell community, was presented to the Quakenbush family during halftime activities at Campbell’s 2007 Homecoming celebration on Oct. 20. The daughter of Win Quakenbush, director of Financial Management at Campbell, Ruth is a junior majoring in religion. Her mother Anne and dad Win both attended Campbell and her paternal grandparents, the Rev. and Mrs. Aubrey Quakenbush, have supported the university through the establishment of endowed scholarships in their name and the names of their four children. Ruth’s ties to the community are further strengthened by her maternal grandmother’s friendship with the late Dr. Norman Wiggins, third president of Campbell University. Her grandmother once taught a Sunday school class with Wiggins in Rocky Mount. “My grandmother, Mrs. Mary G. Best, was a great influence on my life,” Ruth wrote, “always displaying immense respect for both intellectual and spiritual education.” But Ruth’s attachment to Buies Creek goes back even further, all the way back to her childhood when she was 3 years old and first moved to the community. “My childhood in Buies Creek was quite a rich one, though simple and peaceful at the same time,” she wrote. “Campus activities were always keeping our family busy–basketball and soccer games, movies in Turner Auditorium, swimming lessons at the indoor pool and piano lessons in the Fine Arts Building. I am so thankful to have been raised in such an environment where everything just feels safe and comfortable.” As winners of Campbell’s Family of the Year award, Ruth and her parents accepted a plaque. Ruth’s brother Mark, a senior at N.C. State University, could not attend the ceremony. Ruth also received a scholarship covering the purchase of her books for the spring semester. “It was a surprise,” said Win Quakenbush. “I wasn’t sure she was going to participate in the contest, but she wrote a wonderful essay. We’re really very proud of her.” Photo Copy: Campbell junior Ruth Quakenbush, left, and her parents Anne and Win Quakenbush were named Family of the Year at the Campbell University Homecoming celebration.