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Ron
and Becky Feder:
Kindred Spirits
to
Southernn Studies |
The
Center has received a $15,000 gift from Ron and
Becky Feder of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The
Feders, both graduates of Ole Miss, have split
their donation between the Oxford Conference
for the Book and the Southern Foodways Alliance.
Received in July, the Feders’ donation will
provide $10,000 to support program costs for
the Conference for the Book, helping to keep
the popular event free and open to the public.
The remaining $5,000 will be a challenge grant,
the lead gift in building an endowment for the
Southern Foodways Alliance. The Feders plan to
make matching contributions annually for the
next ten years. “It’s so important
to have interested people like the Feders to
continue to be able to offer really worthwhile
programming like the Conference for the Book,” said
Charles Reagan Wilson, director of the Center.
Long-time Oxonians will remember the Feders from their days at Ole Miss. Becky
worked as a cook at the much-missed Hoka Theatre. Ron earned his law degree here
in 1981 and now practices in Gulfport. The Feders longed for Mississippi when
Ron was stationed in the Philippines during his time in the Air Force. The couple
recalls how thrilled they were to listen to radio program Highway 61, broadcast
on the Armed Forces Radio Network from Mississippi, where it was produced at
the Center under the direction of Bill Ferris. “Highway 61 was a touching
reminder of home when home was 12,000 miles away,” said Ron, who still serves
in the Active Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel assigned to the Pentagon. The radio
program was just one of the things that led Ron and Becky to support the Center.
Aside from the blues, the Feders are keenly interested in literature, art, and
foodways—true kindred spirits to Southern Studies. “I have been fortunate
in my law career,” explained Ron, “and wanted to share my good fortune
with the things that are important to me, especially the unique aspects of Southern
culture that the Center seeks to preserve and celebrate.”
Angelina Altobellis
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