Joining keynote speaker John E. McLaughlin in receiving honorary degrees were three other local and national leaders.

Former Wittenberg Choir conductor L. David Miller received the Wittenberg Medal of Honor, which is awarded by the board of directors in recognition of service and dedication to Wittenberg as a liberal arts institution.

A 1939 graduate of Lenoir Rhyne College and the 1999 recipient of the Department of Music’s prestigious Canticum Novum Award, Miller served as director and then dean of the School of Music from 1955-1978.

An ordained Lutheran pastor, Miller also served as minister of music at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Dayton during his years at Wittenberg. In addition, Miller conducted the Wittenberg Choir, a responsibility he had until the early 1970s.

Under his leadership, the choir toured around the globe, and it was heard weekly on a national radio broadcast.

Miller’s daughter, Andrea, received the award from President Tipson on her father’s behalf following his unexpected hospitalization. Betty Braun Pitzer ’33, former executive director of Elderly United of Springfield, received a Doctor of Humane Letters.

Pitzer directed Elderly United from its founding in 1968 until 1991.

In that capacity, she planned and coordinated programs for the more than 24,000 elderly people in Clark County, and she was instrumental in securing $1.2 million in 1981 for the renovation of the present site of Elderly United into a multipurpose center.

The center was recently renamed in her honor. Pitzer also served on many city, county and state advisory boards and committees, including the Governor’s Conference on Aging and White House Conference on Aging.

In addition, she received the Governor’s Award in 1982 for excellence of achievement benefiting mankind and improving the quality of life for all Ohioans.

Wittenberg also honored her with the Golden W and Alumni Citation Award. The Rev. Harvey Spencer Peters Jr. ’56, a retired Lutheran pastor committed to social justice, received a Doctor of Divinity.

A former member of Wittenberg’s board of directors, Peters earned his Master of Divinity in 1959 from the Hamma School of Theology.

He is currently on the board of directors of the San Diego Organizing Project, a faith-based community organization of 23 congregations representing 42,000 families and addressing issues related to the working poor and homeless.

A previous recipient of the Alumni Citation Award, Peters served as pastor of four churches in the last 40 years, and he has also worked for the Division for Mission in North America, Lutheran Church of America.

Peters has been the assistant executive director of urban ministry, assistant director in the Department for Special Services, assistant director for program development, Board of American Missions, and mission developer for the Northern New Jersey Lutheran Parish.