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| Welcome to Wesleyan Weekend |
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Distinguished Service to Wesleyan
Giving back to Wesleyan has been natural for Nedra Malone ’65. She’s been doing if for more than thirty years. Always willing to give time and talent to her alma mater, Nedra has devoted countless hours of service as the College’s alumna volunteer floral designer and event decorator. She is such a familiar face on campus that many people think she is part of the Wesleyan staff. Working behind the scenes, up to the elbow in buckets of flowers creating her trademark, stunning floral arrangements, or balancing on a twenty-foot ladder decorating the College’s Christmas tree in Burden Parlor, Nedra has remained steadfast, loyal, and committed to maintaining beauty on campus and enhancing the beauty of special occasions and large events at Wesleyan. She has decorated for three presidential inaugurals, served as Alumnae Weekend Decorations Chair since 1998 and served on the decorations committee since 1995.
Nedra’s love for flower arranging began at age 13 when she made an arrangement for a luncheon her mother was hosting. A local florist was impressed and took Nedra under her wing. It has been said, “She can make a pile of sticks and weeds look like a million dollars.” She often gathers flowers from her own yard, which includes about three acres right across the street from campus. For Nedra, giving back to Wesleyan is fun. She reminds us, “it is something anyone can do.”
Nedra grew up in Winter Haven, Florida, and first came to Macon at age 17 to attend Wesleyan. She had won a four-year scholarship to a fine arts school in Chicago, but her mother was eager for Nedra to attend a woman’s college (as she had done) and found Wesleyan to be a special place for her only child. At Wesleyan, Nedra studied elementary education and was part of the equestrian program. When her father became ill, she transferred to Florida Southern College to live with her parents. According to Nedra, her senior year was a busy one. She married during Christmas, completed her student teaching, and graduated. Following graduation she moved to Warner Robins, Georgia, where she began her first teaching job at Elmwood Elementary. With her husband serving in the Air Force, the next few years were filled with relocation - in Georgia, California, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee, states in which Nedra was certified to teach. She is also a licensed Georgia Realtor. The Malones reared three children. The eldest, Melissa Malone Constable, is an alumna from the Class of 1991.
Nedra has represented Wesleyan in the Macon community as well. She has volunteered with Girl Scouts, Brownies, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, The Cherry Blossom Festival, and at The Museum of Arts and Sciences. For decades, Nedra has staffed the Exchange Club food booth at The Georgia State Fair and was awarded Outstanding Exchangette Volunteer. She has been involved in numerous equestrian events at Wesleyan and in Georgia. Throughout the years she has hosted more than twenty Wesleyan students in her home and says her door is always open. Nedra never misses an opportunity to promote Wesleyan and has recruited at least half a dozen students to the College. She freely admits, “I have a habit of talking about Wesleyan everywhere I go.”
For countless hours of devoted service to benefit Wesleyan; for being an enthusiastic ambassador for the College; and for reminding us all that service gifts are an integral part of the College’s culture and history, the Wesleyan College Alumnae Association is proud to honor Nedra Martin Malone, Class of 1965, with the Alumnae Award for Distinguished Service to Wesleyan. |
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