Fall Fest will be the setting for Bethel College to recognize its three alumni award winners for 2026.
This is especially appropriate because one of the awardees, Patty Shelly, is a member of the Golden Thresher 50th-reunion Class on 1976, although the award will be given posthumously.
There will be an awards presentation and luncheon for the three recipients and their invited guests on Fall Fest Friday, Oct. 16.
Patricia J. Shelly will receive the Outstanding Alumnus Award, which will be accepted by her sister, Doris Whillock, Newton. The award is “given on the basis of character and citizenship, service to church/community or college, or other outstanding achievements, honors and recognition.”
Deborah J. Wiebe, Merced, Calif., is the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award, which acknowledges character and citizenship, achievement in a chosen profession or vocation, and work of benefit to humanity. Wiebe graduated from Bethel in 1981 with a degree in psychology.
Taylor McCabe-Juhnke, Columbus, Ohio, is also a Bethel psychology graduate, from 2012, and will receive the Young Alumnus Award, recognizing character and citizenship, achievement or service rendered, and honors and recognition received. The recipient must be 39 years of age or younger.
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel is ranked #25 in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Regional College Midwest for 2026. Bethel was the only Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Community Healing and Transformation (TCHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see www.bethelks.edu
