Sigma Beta Delta Celebrates Annual Initiation, Dinner

By Wayne Sheets, Contributing Business Writer
Sigma Beta Delta, the international honor society in business, management and administration, celebrated its annual initiation and dinner April 1 at the Elkins Motor Lodge. Twenty-one members of the Business and Economics Department of Davis & Elkins College were inducted into the honorary society along with local businesspeople Sue and Myron Tomblyn, the community honoraries, and Dr. Phillip Bussey and his wife, Carolyn, who were recognized as administrative honoraries.

The Tomblyns moved to Elkins in 1965 and established the Tomblyn Funeral Home on Oct. 18, 1968. Sue Tomblyn was born in Buckhannon and graduated from Upshur High School with the class of 1952. Myron Tomblyn was born near Buckhannon and lived and worked with his parents on the family farm until graduating from Upshur High School in 1948. He attended Glenville State College and graduated from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science in 1959.

The Tomblyns have been active in community social and charitable organizations. Sue was a member and past matron of Randolph Chapter No. 74 Order of the Eastern Star, Lady Templars of Pilgrim Commandery No. 21, Delphia Rebekah Lodge No. 62 IOOF, Creative Homemakers Club and the Women’s Club of Elkins. She is the first person to receive the honor posthumously.

Myron Tomblyn is a past president of the Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental in founding the Elkins Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. In 2002, he was awarded the Charles E. Dodd Award as Funeral Director of the Year by the West Virginia Funeral Director’s Association. He is a member of the First United Methodist Church of Elkins, BPOE Lodge No. 1135, Elkins Lodge No. 108 of the AF & AM, IOOF Lodge No. 116 of Elkins, the National Funeral Directors Association and the West Virginia Funeral Directors Association. Twenty-one years ago, He received the Outstanding Businessman Award from Beta Alpha Beta honorary business fraternity at Davis & Elkins College.

The Tomblyns enjoyed more than 52 years of marriage prior to Sue’s death on March 17. They are the parents of three children, Mark, Phil and Lisa Tomblyn Preusch, all of whom work in the family business.

The Busseys reside in Lanham, Md., where Dr. Bussey is part owner of Bussey, Davis & Associates Inc., a firm that provides rehabilitation counseling and consulting services to individuals, corporations and government agencies in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, as well as in European and Asian countries since 1980. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School, and is the current Board chairman of The Alliance-Baltimore Inc., one of the larger rehabilitation centers in the United States.

He is a 1963 graduate of Davis & Elkins College and is currently serving as a member of the board of trustees. According to Bussey, he was drawn to a career in rehabilitation counseling because it uses both his major and minor fields of study — economics and psychology — in evaluating and treating the impact of severe disability on a person’s life, particularly on their capacity to work and earn a living.

Carolyn Bussey, in the many posts of her professional life, worked in the executive offices of the Washington Post as a member of the staff of its president and CEO, Katherine Graham. She worked as an executive assistant to Paul Pearson, an entrepreneur and developer of the Historic Inns of Annapolis, Md. She worked with the Historic District Commission and the constructions and rehabilitation companies, and the city of Annapolis to bring the three-hotel project to fruition.

Dr. Gloria M. Payne, chair of the Davis & Elkins College Business and Economics Department, and secretary/treasurer of the honorary fraternity said of Carolyn Bussey in her remarks bestowing the honor, “She has been very active with our department and has helped make a difference on our campus. She has spent countless hours in helping to preserve and analyze the Darby Collection, and has helped with activities sponsored by the business department. She is our partner in education. We are indeed fortunate to have one with such exceptional credentials and professional record to join us in Sigma Beta Delta.”î

In his keynote speech, Dr. Bussey told the students, “I welcome you to the world of business and economics and wish you a long and successful career. Of all the people who have gone to college only 15 out of 100 will do as well as you have by being admitted to this honorary society. I think this is a tremendous compliment to you for your achievements.

“My first point to you tonight is to trust your education. You have received, or are receiving, a good one here. About the third time you read in the Wall Street Journal about some idea that you’ve had several times, you will begin to trust your thinking. It’s not just the trust of your own thinking that’s important, but it also involves the development of your thinking and sharpening it. Your education is not over here; your education really is just beginning. I encourage each of you to expand your education.

“First, you have the advantage of energy in your youth. Use that energy in the next five or six years to pick up a second degree. In the modern world, there are several ways to do that. You can go to the brick-and-mortar type of university or you can study online. Today, about 25 percent of all graduate education if offered by online services.î”

Bussey also advised the students of the challenges in the business and economics world by foreign countries.

“Today, we cannot assume that we will be doing business here in the United States only. I invite you to pick out a country of interest to you, study it, learn it, learn the language of that country. In a world economy, that will better prepare you for upper-level management jobs,” he said.î

“I also advise you to keep trying. To quit trying is to get comfortable with your life as it is day to day. For people that is OK; but for those with your intellectual capacity, that is not OK. You have to keep trying and developing yourself. The pay off will be a more interesting life,” he said.

“Another component that will take you a long way in life is simple politeness,”î Bussey said. “The simple use of please, thank you, and remembering a person’s name is going to be a very important part of your background. Being able to say ‘thank you’ in a foreign language is another important advantage.”î

Bussey also told the students that there are also many opportunities in the military. “Not all positions in the military involve being shot at,î he said. “Working to obtain a commission in the military can be very challenging and rewarding.î”

Payne, in her remarks to the students, advised them that the education they receive at Davis & Elkins College is just the beginning.î She challenged them to continue their hard work and dedication that earned them the honor of being inducted in the Sigma Beta Delta.

To be considered for an invitation to the society, students must rank in the upper 20 percent of their class. The purposes of the society are to promote higher scholarship in education for business and to recognize and reward scholastic achievement in business subjects.

Sigma Beta Delta was founded as a national organization in 1994.