NEWPORT-Cocke County natives Esther Houston Vassar and James Franks, Jr. received standing ovations from over 200 friends, family, and community members Thursday evening when they were honored by the Cocke County Education Foundation as recipients of the group's Celebrate Our Success honor.

The Foundation annually bestows the award on two graduates of local high schools who have then achieved outstanding successes in their chosen fields.

Vassar, a Tanner High School graduate, Class of 1962, recently retired as U. S. Small Business Administration National Ombudsman and Assistant Administrator of Regulatory Enforcement Fairness.

Franks, a Cocke County High School Class of 1960 graduate, is senior research scientist and fisheries biologist at the University of Southern Mississippi Center for Fisheries Research and Development's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and is also an adjunct faculty member of the University of Southern Mississippi's Department of Coastal Sciences and an associate graduate faculty member of the University of Southern Mississippi's Graduate Program.

For more details, please see the weekend edition of the Newport Plain Talk.