Jamie Creamer
Auburn University College of Agriculture

The Auburn University (AU) Agricultural Alumni Association will pay tribute to five state industry leaders during its Alabama Agriculture Hall of Honor banquet Thursday, Feb. 8.

Three individuals will be inducted into the Hall of Honor, and two will posthumously receive the Pioneer Award at the Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel and Conference Center in Opelika.

Hall of Honor inductees are Glynn Debter of Horton, production; Horace Horn of Greenville, agribusiness; and Ron Shumack of Lenox, education/government. 

Debter is a lifelong cattleman whose exceptional breeding and management programs advanced the Hereford breed nationwide, leading to Debter Hereford Farm’s reputation as a premier Hereford ranch. A cattle industry advocate and educator, Debter is a leader in state and national Hereford and beef cattle associations. 

Horn, PowerSouth Energy’s vice president of external affairs, championed rural economic development since the 1980s. He is a former poultry producer and small-business owner and was state director of USDA’s Farmers Home Administration. He is chairman of the Alabama State Port Authority and received the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Cultivator Award in December.

Shumack is an AU agricultural education alumnus who served 36 years as a faculty member, researcher, extension specialist and administrator before becoming Alabama Agricultural Land Grant Alliance’s executive director. Shumack is recognized nationally for contributions to horticulture, turfgrass and landscaping.

Pioneer Awards will be presented to families of the late Thomas Eden Jr. of Auburn and William Jesse Forrester of Dothan.

Eden was a 1950 AU graduate in ornamental horticulture. He was a horticulture department instructor and taught landscape design on the Alabama Educational Television Network before becoming Alabama Textile Manufacturers’ executive director. In 1984, he started Garden of Eden, a nursery and landscape company near Auburn.

Forrester was a business and civic leader who co-founded Sanitary Dairy in Dothan, one of the most forward-thinking dairies in the South. He also advanced agriculture in the Wiregrass through the Dothan Chamber of Commerce and First National Bank of Dothan. Forrester was an Alabama Polytechnic Institute trustee. 

Learn more at agriculture.auburn.edu/alumni/hall-of-honor/.