The Murray High School (KY) Alumni and Friends Association announces the 2024 Distinguished Alumni recipients, G Greg Garfield ’78, Donna Grogan Herndon ’60, and Danny O’Shea Hudspeth ’74. These honorees mark the third class of MHS Distinguished Alumni recipients.
Founded in 2017, the Murray High School Alumni and Friends Association Distinguished Alumnus is the highest honor an alumnus can receive from the Murray High School Alumni and Friends Association. The Murray High School Distinguished Alumni Award will be presented bi-annually to alumni who have made meaningful contributions on a local, state, or national level.
To be eligible for the award, nominees must be a graduate of MHS for at least 10 years prior to nomination, distinguished by accomplishments that inspire others to dream and achieve, demonstrate a strength of character and service to humanity that goes beyond the boundary of a career. (Nominations will be kept on file for three years for future consideration.)
A panel of judges consisting of a MISD board member, a MISD faculty or administrative member and three active members of the MHS Alumni and Friends Association will select the winner(s).
The Murray High School Alumni & Friends Association Distinguished Alumni dinner ceremony will be held, Saturday, April 20 at 5:30 p.m. The event will be at Murray High School in the Lobby area. Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased by contacting Sherry Purdom, MISD alumni relations, at 270-753-4363.
The following MHS graduates are recognized as this year’s 2024 MHS Distinguished Alumni recipients:
G Gregory Garfield
Lieutenant Colonel G Gregory Garfield, United States Marine Corps (retired), and former Command Pilot for the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps at Andrews Air Force Base (AFB), is a 1978 Murray High School graduate.
Garfield received a Master of Arts Degree in History from Norwich University, a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Vanderbilt University in Business Administration through a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Scholarship, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Southern New Hampshire University in Political Science (Summa Cum Laude and Distinguished Scholar). Garfield has lived in fourteen states, visited all fifty states and sixty-nine countries.
Garfield is a graduate of U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, U.S. Navy Aviation Safety Officers Course, and the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN).
Garfield served at eleven U.S. Marine Corps Duty Stations from 1982-2005. He was a F-4S and F/A-18 Fighter/Attack Pilot (his call sign is Pookie) and served as the Commanding Officer of Marine Transport Squadron-1. His overseas deployments included three six-month Western Pacific Deployments in the F-4 and F/A-18 to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan and an eight-month deployment on board the USS Gunston Hall for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
During Garfield’s Marine Corps career, he received numerous decorated awards including the Meritorious Service Medal (3rd award), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3rd award), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal (2nd award), Southwest Asia Service Medal (with 2 Campaign Stars), Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia), and the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait).
After his retirement from the Marine Corps, Garfield worked as a pilot for NetJets International and NetJets Aviation for 15 years.
Garfield is married to Sheila Moyles-Garfield and they live Patterson, CA. Garfield has one son, Christopher Jensen Garfield, who is married to Allison (Keener), and resides in Franklin, Tennessee.
Garfield is the son of the late Dr. Gene Garfield, a retired MSU political science professor, and his mother, Roberta. His sister, Natalie Garfield, is a 1981 MHS graduate, who is the MSU associate athletic director-business strategy.
Donna Ruth Grogan Herndon
Donna Herndon is a 1960 Murray High School graduate and a Murray State University Summa Cum Laude graduate. Herndon has served as a pioneer of numerous initiatives that reach throughout Kentucky and the Murray/Calloway community. She holds membership on seven non-profit boards serving the entire Commonwealth.
As Director of Alumni Affairs at Murray State, Donna was involved in the establishment of the Murray State University Golden Horseshoe Award (which she received herself in 2017), MSU Tent City and MSU Student Ambassador program. After leaving MSU to become coordinator of the first Family Resource Center in the county, she blazed trails in the Murray and Calloway community. Through her leadership, Herndon saw many local needs and coordinated attempts to meet them, including The Santa Project, Calloway United Benevolent Services (CUBS), Calloway County CASA, Angels Attic, Angels Community Clinic, CC-ASAP, and MCC Homeless Coalition, and HOPE Calloway.
Throughout Herndon’s career she has received numerous recognitions including 2000 Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, KY United Way Volunteer of the Year, the Kathie Gentry Lifetime Achievement Award, Rotary Club Paul Harris Fellow, 2018-19 Murray Woman’s Club Volunteer of the Year, CUBS Lifetime of Service Award, state FRYSCKy Coalition Above and Beyond Award, National Kraft Foods Award for Community Collaboration, and was named a National Sigma Sigma Sigma Woman of Distinction. Two local awards are given in her name: the Donna Herndon Lifetime Achievement Award given by CASA and the Donna Herndon Award for Civic Engagement established by Murray State University.
She demonstrated leadership in her early years with election as state vice-president of the KY 4-H Club. She was a charter member of the 1984 Leadership Murray Class, a 1987 Leadership KY class member, a member of the Leadership KY Board, and the LKY Wilson Wyatt Lifetime Alumni Society.
Most recently, Herndon served as Chair of the Enduring Hope Campaign to raise funds for the new Murray-Calloway County Hospital Regional Cancer Center, an effort most meaningful to her. She was a member of the Calloway County Bicentennial Committee and served as a writer for the bicentennial book.
A National Merit Finalist while at MHS, Herndon was student council president her senior year, a four-year band member, Tiger Newspaper Sports Editor, and assistant editor on the Tiger yearbook staff.
Donna was married 53 years to her high-school sweetheart, Clarence Woodrow Herndon Jr. “Woody,” who passed away in 2017. Herndon was a 1961 Murray High School graduate and a member of the1961 State runner-up football team. He was a pilot for 28 years until he became disabled due to Agent Orange exposure. Herndon was a US Army Vietnam veteran who attained the rank of Major after 11 years of active duty. While they were stationed in Berlin, Donna was honored in 1972 with the Berlin Distinguished Community Service Award, recognizing Herndon’s passion for creating a support system for wives of the enlisted men.
They are the parents of two children, Melissa H. Graves Schiele and Roger Herndon, who died in a flight training accident at West Point in 1991 at the age of 21.
Herndon is the daughter of the late Leon and Virgil Grogan of Murray.
Danny O’Shea Hudspeth
Danny Hudspeth is 1974 Murray High School Graduate, and 1978 Murray State University Graduate, retired after 32 years at Briggs & Stratton as the Senior MRO Commodity Buyer.
Currently a Murray City Council 34-year member, with over 20 years serving as Mayor Pro-Tem, Hudspeth served as the Mayor of Murray from October 2009-December 2010. During the appointment Hudspeth served on the Murray Calloway County Hospital Board, The Murray Calloway County Economic Development Board, and the Purchase Area Development Board, and had oversight of the Murray Human Rights Commission.
A 3-yearMHS basketball letterman, Hudspeth was a member on the first MHS First Region Boys Basketball Tournament to advance to the 1974 Sweet 16 State Tournament after clinching the regional title. Hudspeth continued his education on a basketball scholarship at East Arkansas Community College, where he graduated in 1976. Hudspeth returned to Murray and graduated from Murray State University in 1978.
An MSU Alumni Association Board of Governor member 1993-1996 who also served on the MSU Athletic Title IX Review Board, Hudspeth has been instrumental in preserving the long-standing history of the African American educational opportunities in the area community, as well as in Kentucky’s Historic Society. A current member of the Douglass High School & Community Reunion Committee, Hudspeth served on the 200-Year Anniversary of the Murray/Calloway County Committee. Hudspeth was a major force in commemorating Douglass Graded and High School, through the Kentucky Historical Highway Marker #2650, memorializing Douglass Graded and High School, which served Murray’s African American community during the era of racial segregation until it finally closed in 1967. The Douglass marker is now one of 2400 around Kentucky, with at least one in every county. Hudspeth has worked with the former City Administrator to secure Community Development Block Grants to upgrade Housing in the Douglass Community and worked with Habitat for Humanity to secure two home projects in the community.
Hudspeth served on the MHS’s Site Base Council for seven years, was past president of the MHS Booster Club, and coached Youth Sports for over 18 years. A 25-year Murray Calloway Park Board member, Hudspeth has served as a member of the local NAACP, the Local Douglass Civic Improvement Club, and a supporter of the Main Street Youth Center. A member of the PHA Masons-Ruling Star Lodge #51, Hudspeth is a Past Master, and currently the Lodge secretary.
Hudspeth is married to Regina (Bumphis) Hudspeth, a 1977 MHS graduate. Regina is a Murray State University Instructor in the Organizational Communication Department. Their two sons, O’Shea is a 1998 MHS graduate and is married to Brooke, with three children, Lalia, Tripp, and Kingston. Their son, Dominique, is a 2004 MHS graduate, and is married to Deanna, and they have two children, O’Brien, and Hallie.
Hudspeth is the son of the late Lewis and Florence Hudspeth.